166) Imperial Bedroom : Rolling Stone

"I was trying to think or feel my way out of a defeated and exhausted frame of mind to something more glorious," Costello said of his seventh album. With his lyrics about marital stress growing more complex, he decided that their sound should reflect that same ambition. So he enlisted producer Geoff Emerick -- the engineer on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band -- and experimented with what was his idea of an adult sonic palette: accordions, Mellotrons, horns and whatever else struck his fancy. Not all of the songs reveal their charms quickly, but "Man Out of Time" is immediately soaring and sorrowful.

Total album sales: Under 500,000

Peak chart position: 30

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