1. Elvis Costello Imperial Bedroom [F-Beat]
Produced by Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick in Air studios (as he was simultaneously doing the honours for Paul McCartney’s Tug Of War’), Imperial Bedroom saw Elvis experiment with a more elaborate, baroque sound. Written almost entirely in the studio, songs like ‘Beyond Belief’ and ‘Man Out Of Time’ betrayed McManus’s big band family background. It also featured a revisiting of ‘Almost Blue’.
2. Kevin Rowland + Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Too-Rye-Aye [Mercury]
3. Van Morrison – Beautiful Vision [Mercury]
4. The Beat – Special Beat Service [Go-Feet]
5. Kid Creole + The Coconuts – Tropical Gangsters [Ze]