While each Elvis Costello record felt like a new and immediate masterpiece when it arrived – think "This Year's Model" or "Get Happy!!!" or "Trust" – everyone could tell there was something extra-special about the baroque Beatles-esque pop of 1982's "Imperial Bedroom."
The record sits at No. 166 in Rolling Stone's top 500 albums of all-time list, with the explanation, "Costello wanted his music to be as complex as his lyrics (which increasingly documented marital tension). So for his seventh album he and Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick experimented with an adult sonic palette (accordions, Mellotron, horns) that highlighted grown-up stress and sorrow."
Since it's all the rage to tour a classic LP, why not do it with "IbMePdErRoIoAmL" (sorry, Elvis geek alert)? The tour arrives at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee on Sunday, July 16.
Tickets range from $55.50 to $99.50 and go on sale this Friday, March 3 at noon.
The same venue hosted Costello's amazing solo performance a few years back.
Alas, trainspotters, The Attractions – who made the record with Costello – will not perform it with him, though 66.67 percent of the group will: drummer Pete Thomas and keyboardist Steve Nieve. Because bassist Bruce Thomas has long since been replaced by Davey Faragher, you'll get The Imposters, instead, and that's just fine. Also on tap will be backing singers Kitten Kuroi and YahZarah.
The "Imperial Bedroom & Other Chambers" tour kicked off last year and the Milwaukee date is part of another 23-date leg.
"We never intended to recite this book from cover to cover," says Costello. "Listen to our new arrangement of 'Tears Before Bedtime,' it gets straight to the real meaning of that song, the way we hear and feel it today. Back in 1982, I might have been a step or two ahead of our crowd in the tragic, romantic stakes but I sense that they've all caught up with me now."
As for the "Other Chambers," Dec sez: "You never know who or what you are going to encounter down the corridor to those 'Other Chambers.'"
At other shows on the tour, standards like "Alison" and "Everyday I Write the Book" have made the cut, alongside deeper cuts like "King Horse," "American Mirror" and "This House Is Empty Now."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
