(1975), records that "also seemed 'important' when they appeared". Aftermath and legacy After recording Imperial Bedroom in November 1981, Costello and the Attractions underwent the Almost Blue Tour from December to January 1982, playing major cities in the US and the UK. The setlist was composed of country songs from Almost Blue, as well as older and newer originals. On 7 January, Costello played to a sold out show at the Royal Albert Hall, fronting the 92-member Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The show received praise from Allan Jones, who hailed that "Costello's voice raided every emotional avenue on its way to the heart." A live version of Parsons' "I'm Your Toy" from the show was released as a single in April, backed by renditions of Cash's "Cry! Cry! Cry!" and Joe Werner's "Wondering". Costello and the Attractions continued touring throughout the spring and summer of 1982, before Imperial Bedroom was released in July. Although Costello had planted seeds of shifting musical styles with Get Happy!!, Almost Blue stood as the first true departure for the artist, predicting a career of ever-changing songwriting approaches, musical styles and experimentation. In 2016, Hodge commented that since Almost Blue, Costello has released several "unconventional and unexpected" albums amidst his "normal" albums, from the orchestral instrumental of G.B.H. (1991), the jazz ballads of North (2003), a ballet score (Il Sogno, 2004) and a collection of classical string quartet pieces with The Juliet Letters (1993), and further acknowledging the artist's collaborative records with the Roots (Wise Up Ghost, 2013), Burt Bacharach (Painted from Memory, 1998) and Allen Toussaint (The River in Reverse, 2006). Costello even made a return to country music in the late-2000s with the back-to-back releases of Secret, Profane & Sugarcane (2009) and National Ransom (2010). Hodge summarises: Retrospective appraisal Retrospectively, Almost Blue has received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. In 1991, Armond White of Entertainment Weekly referred to the album as "Down-home homework by a brilliant student." Three years later, Q magazine's David Cavanagh acknowledged that "its exact point eluded most of us, although it arguably turned many others on to the genre from which it drew", further remarking that its first expanded reissue presented it as "a little too good to class as a career blip". Senior AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine agreed, arguing that Almost Blue stands as "one of the most entertaining cover records in rock & roll" due to the enthusiasm