“The Loved Ones” by Elvis Costello & the Attractions

"The Loved Ones" turns up on Imperial Bedroom, Elvis Costello's seventh studio album and his sixth with the Attractions (Steve Nieve on keyboards, Bruce Thomas on bass, Pete Thomas on drums), released on 2 July 1982 through F-Beat in Britain and Columbia in America. Costello wrote it alone, and Geoff Emerick produced it, as he did the whole album, cut at AIR Studios in London from late 1981 into early 1982.

That was a record made by tinkering: Costello kept rewriting songs and piling on overdubs, the band reached for harpsichord, accordion and strings, and the production got so ornate that commentators brought up the Beatles and Phil Spector. Love and relationships, and the emotional mess people make of them, run through most of the set, and critics greeted it with huge acclaim.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.