Music
02 Jul 25

On this day in 1982: Elvis Costello & The Attractions released Imperial Bedroom

On this day in 1982: Elvis Costello & The Attractions released <i>Imperial Bedroom</i>

Elvis Costello - 1982 Imperial Bedroom promo poster

On July 2, 1982, Elvis Costello & The Attractions released the acclaimed Imperial Bedroom. Produced by former Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, the project went on to be crowned Hot Press's Album Of The Year. To celebrate, we're revisiting Niall Stokes' reflections on Imperial Bedroom, taken from his 'Critics Roundup 1982' feature...

Niall Stokes' reflections on Imperial Bedroom, originally published in Hot Press in 1982:

"...Elvis Costello’s achievement with Imperial Bedroom was less publicly celebrated but no less impressive. If anything, his increasingly prolific output damages Elvis’ commercial impact: in terms of shifting units, as the warped business phrase has it, the resourcefulness and depth of his genius has become a liability.

"Bizarre but true, Imperial Bedroom dented the charts but no more. It contained no barnstorming chart-topping single. But it was nonetheless a sustained tour de force of lyrical insight and melodic inventiveness.

"Its choice as Hot Press Album of the Year – Elvis’ second running, Trust, having wiped the floor with last year’s opposition – was utterly deserving..."