Spinning Songbook Countdown: Imperial Bedroom

Imperial Bedroom is one of my favorite Elvis Costello albums. A big departure from his previous efforts, featuring a new producer and every type of instrument you can think of, this 1982 album has some of the best songs he's ever written. I also think it honestly captures what Elvis Costello was going through at this point in his career. A crumbling marriage, an alcohol regimen and a resounding disappointment with the alluring first-flickers of love; all these thing show up in this album. On Imperial Bedroom, things get real.

Just listen to "Almost Blue," the darkest song in the album - a mournful take on infidelity and the guilt carried with it. The disillusionment with marriage and love continues with "Long Honeymoon," a tale of a doubtful wife, and the melodrama of "Boy With a Problem," which also mentions "night spend drinking to remember..." Though there are bright moments throughout, "Human Hands" and "Pidgin English" come to mind, the album can be kind of gloomy. "Town Cryer," best exemplifies this with the line: "love and unhappiness go arm in arm." Alcohol and unhappiness reappear on another timeless classic from this album, "Man Out of Time."

"You drink yourself insensitive and hate yourself in the morning," I love that line and it's a sentiment that I've embraced many times since I first heard it. For me "Man Out of Time" has always been about becoming self-aware, realizing your detachment from a life viewed with both cynicism and wonder. The kind of thing you realize after a night of heavy drinking.

Classics: Beyond Belief, The Long Honeymoon, Shabby Doll, Almost Blue, Man Out of Time, Human Hands, Town Cryer

Songs I'd like to hear live: Beyond Belief, Man Out of Time, Almost Blue, The Loved Ones, Human Hands, Boy With a Problem, Town Cryer.

Spinning Songbook Countdown: Almost Blue

With 1981's Almost Blue, Elvis Costello tried to turn his fans onto Country and Western music. I'd like to think that in most cases, he succeeded. The album seems like a huge gamble, something that a record company would shy away from nowadays. Starting with producer Billy Sherrill, known for working with Tammy Wynette, who wasn't crazy about the cover songs picked, according to Costello's liner notes for the album. There's also the abrupt change from the previous two albums Get Happy and Trust. It's no wonder some vinyl pressings came with a sticker that said "Warning! This album contains Country & Western music and may produce radical reaction in narrow minded people."

Almost Blue features covers of songs from legends like George Jones, Hank Williams and Gram Parsons. The covers themselves are not radical re-workings, except for maybe the punk-like stomp of "Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used to Do," but several come close to matching the originals. I love Gram Parsons and I credit Costello for kindling that appreciation but the versions of "How Much I've Lied" and "I'm Your Toy," or "Hot Burrito #1," are gorgeous. Steve Nieve's piano on the former is perfect and Costello does this emotive vocal in the latter that is heartbreaking. That same voice appears in "Good Year For The Roses," a George Jones song that Costello makes his with a very understated performance that places you in the middle of the marital dispute that's the subject of the lyrics.

There's one more highlight surrounding this album that is not part of the track list but a B-side to the "Sweet Dreams" single. A live rendition of Leon Payne's "Psycho" recorded in 1979. Costello also recorded a version with Billy Sherrill but the live version is the best in my own opinion. The singer fully embracing what he would come to call "method singing" for this creepy but affecting song about a serial killer, complete with a twist at the end. The Attractions sound just as insane as the song's subject with the help of a menacing pedal steel guitar played by John McFee. That performance, along with some of those songs on Almost Blue, are a great preview of the singing Costello would evoke in his next album, a masterpiece?

Classics: Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used to Do, Sweet Dreams, I'm Your Toy, Good Year For the Roses,

Songs I'd like to hear live: How Much I've Lied, I'm Your Toy, Psycho

Spinning Songbook Countdown: Trust

"Watch Your Step" snuck up on me. It wasn't even while playing this album but while listening to a Rykodisc compilation of Elvis Costello's best songs that I bought for the woman who would become my wife. I got her the album to introduce her to Costello. We were driving around listening to this CD featuring the best of the Attractions years and "Watch Your Step" came on. At first I couldn't recognize it and wondered how could I have missed it, this gorgeous keyboard-driven song with some of Costello's best singing yet that's incredibly catchy. I looked up the song online and found that I had it all along on an used copy of Trust, Elvis Costello's 1981 album. I couldn't believe that I had missed it. It's now my favorite song on this album, which is a hard thing to say because there are many.

Trust is Costello's fifth album in five years and one that expands the creative relationship between him and the Attractions. Trust also shows some of the fatigue from continuous touring and recording, as well as the drug and alcohol infused lifestyle that went with it, on several throwaway songs that made it in to the album. I'm sorry but "From a Whisper to a Scream" just sounds like the theme song to some cult '80s TV show that was canceled too soon. "Luxembourg" is rockabilly din that could have worked better as a B-side. Still, most of the album sounds excellent with yet another outstanding performance from the Attractions. Steve Nieve is the MVP here I think with his rich piano flourishes on songs like "Shot with His Own Gun," and "New Lace Sleeves." Still Trust is a great band record with Costello leading the Attractions through thrilling tracks like "Lovers Walk," and "Strict Time" while also dropping hints about his next project with the country-themed "Different Finger." Rediscovering "Watch Your Step" has changed this record for me, helping me appreciate the hidden gems in it and reminding me that there are still many to find.

Classics: Clubland, Lovers Walk, Strict Time, Watch Your Step, New Lace Sleeves, Shot with His Own Gun, Big Sister's Clothes

Songs I'd like to hear live: Lovers Walk, Pretty Words, Watch Your Step, New Lace Sleeves, Fish 'N' Chips Paper ( I work at a newspaper - "Yesterday's news is tomorrow's fish and chip paper") and Big Sister (an different version of Big Sister's Clothes)

Spinning Songbook Countdown: Get Happy!!

This is the album that makes me wish bassist Bruce Thomas continued to make records with Elvis Costello. He is all over Get Happy!!, expertly playing a bass guitar that seems to have an infinite amount of strings. It's hard not see why his role was so prominent in this album when you realize that it was influenced by the Stax sound of Booker T and the MGs along with other classic soul records Costello picked up while touring in the U.S. Those albums are all about bass and keyboards and while Steve Nieve perfectly hits the right notes, Thomas' bass stands out throughout the albums' 20 tracks.

Now that's another great thing to get happy about, a 12-inch slab of vinyl with 10 tracks per side. Some pressings even included a notice assuring the listener that the production was still top notch despite the massive track list. Released in 1980, Get Happy!! was another hit for Costello and signaled a further departure from the Punk wave he rode through the late '70s. Each song goes by fairly quickly nearly all are memorable, from the full blown attacks on High Fidelity and King Horse to the slower, darker tunes like Clowntime is Over and Riot Act.

For me, Get Happy!! is a joy to listen regardless of your state of mind. The title perfectly captures what these songs do when you're singing along to them in your car, even the ones like Motel Matches - a sad, country-tinged tune that always breaks my heart. Sometimes singing along to someone else's heartbreak can make you feel better about your own.

Classics: Opportunity, Possession, Clowntime is Over, New Amsterdam, High Fidelity, I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down, Motel Matches, Temptation, Riot Act

Songs I'd Like to Hear Live: King Horse, Possession, I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down ( the slow version,) Black and White World, Motel Matches, I Stand Accused

Spinning Songbook Countdown: Armed Forces

"Oh I just don't know where to begin..."

Elvis Costello's third album is another one of his bests and shows how fast he was growing as an artist then. It's not very often that your listen to songs about executive ambition (Senior Service,) military efforts (Oliver's Army and Good Squad,) and relationships (Party Girl, Big Boys and Two Little Hittlers) in the same album. Armed Forces also foreshadows how versatile and proficient The Attractions would become as a band in the ensuing years. Originally titled Emotional Fascism, this album was released in 1979 and became Costello's first major hit in both sides of the Atlantic. It's another great place to start if you've only heard the classic tunes.

I like Armed Forces a lot. I don't think I could have gotten through my years as a waiter without reciting: "And I would rather be anywhere else but here today," a phrase from Oliver's Army, Costello's take on the push for military work. It also has so many other classic songs but there's one that I think is vastly underrated and near perfect, Two Little Hitlers.

I love everything about this song, more so than the US final track and more well-known- (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding? There's the ear-wormy guitar riff, borrowed from Bowie's Rebel, Rebel, and those amazing pun-heavy lyrics that sound more like ramble than a typically structured song. It's such a fun, pop tune that I never really realized how great it was until several years after I bought the album. It's the only song in this album on which I always hit repeat after each listen.

Classics: Accidents Will Happen, Oliver's Army, Green Shirt, Party Girl, (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding

Songs I'd like to hear live: Big Boy (though preferably something like the demo version not the one on this album) Goon Squad, Oliver's Army and Two Little Hitlers

Spinning Songbook Countdown: This Year's Model

This is the album I want Elvis Costello to sign when I see him live in April. This Year's Model is one of my favorite albums and the one that turned me into the Obsessive-compulsive fan that would listen to all his albums in the run-up to a concert. If you've heard it, you'd understand.

This Year's Model is an undisputed classic in every respect. It's Costello's first album with the Attractions, the excellent backing band that would become such an integral part of Costello's early albums. It's also the Elvis Costello album that is pure punk, emerging in the middle of British punk's heyday and delivering genre classics like Pump It Up and Radio, Radio. The vinyl version has an inspired gag by designer Barney Bubbles, the title being cut off and the color bars making the cover look like a brilliant mistake. It's also a perfect album with no clunkers and a thrilling, frenetic sound and that will make you forget about the speed limit if you're listening to it while driving.

This is the first album I listen to whenever I go on a road trip because it's such an unrelenting burst of music that makes any dull highway somewhat fun. The Attractions deliver such a great performance, from Peter Thomas' fast-paced drums to Bruce Thomas' bass on a never-ending groove and Steve Nieve's driving keyboards. Then there's the man himself, singing songs on the mean side of those on My Aim Is True. Each song tinged with cynicism and the frustration of lust, love and youth.

Classics: No Action, The Beat, Pump it Up, You Belong to Me, (I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea, Lipstick Vogue and Radio, Radio.

Songs I'd like to hear live: No Action, You Belong to Me, Hand in Hand, Lipstick Vogue, Night Rally and Radio, Radio.

Spinning Songbook Countdown: My Aim is True

It's the end of the welcome week for many but the start of a grueling nine-day schedule for me but it's OK, I got something to look forward to. In about 7 weeks I'll be following Elvis Costello's latest tour, seeing him live three times as he makes his way through Florida. I've been looking forward to this since last October and I cannot wait for his Spectacular Spinning Songbook to roll into the sunshine state. The tour features a gigantic wheel of songs which audience members get to spin, a set up that brings back a similar theme Costello used for his concerts during the '80s.

So besides kicking off this crazy week with "Welcome to the Working Week" from Costello's My Aim is True, I'm also launching the Spinning Songbook Countdown and listening to each of the man's albums in chronological order as the first concert approaches. Costello's debut is filled with clever songs, including five now-classic songs. Even though the instrumentation, provided by Clover - later known as Huey Lewis and the News - has its limitations, the album accomplishes to match the live pub rock sound that inspired Costello at the time.

It wasn't my introduction to Costello and it's not my favorite but it remains a great listen throughout. The greatest thing about being an Elvis Costello fan is how many times each of his albums rewards you with things you've never noticed before. When your first listen is all about his witty, heartfelt lyrics and the captivating hooks and melodies, later listens reward you with surprising delights. In My Aim is True you can find these in the walloping drum sound in "Waiting for the End of the World" and the frenetic organ sound in "I'm Not Angry." It's no wonder that My Aim is True stands as one of the greatest debuts of all time.

Classics: Welcome to the Working Week, Alison, (The Angels Want to Wear My) Red Shoes, Mystery Dance, Watching the Detectives

Songs I'd like to hear live: Welcome to the Working Week, Mystery Dance, I'm Not Angry, Less than Zero, Waiting for the End of the World