Armed Forces (album)


Armed Forces is the third studio album by British musician Elvis Costello, released in the UK by Radar Records and in the US by Columbia in 1979. It was his second album with the Attractions, and the first to officially credit the Attractions on the cover. The album had the working title Emotional Fascism.
The North American version omitted the track "Sunday's Best" and replaced it with Costello's version of Nick Lowe's " Peace, Love, and Understanding," which had been released the previous November as the B-side of Lowe's "American Squirm" single. Initial pressings of the album in the UK and US also included a promotional three-song EP, Live at Hollywood High.
Armed Forces has appeared on various "greatest albums" lists in both Q magazine and Rolling Stone magazine.

Background

After 1978's punk-inspired This Year's Model, Costello moved in a direction more influenced by new wave music. About this change, Costello remarked, "At the time, it seemed as if we were making an impossibly sophisticated leap from the sound of This Year's Model, but listening now there are very few production devices that sit between the listener and the songs. The confidence and cohesion of The Attractions' playing is the product of 12 months of intense touring. The sessions were not without dissent and tension, but we probably never had quite this level of consistent musical agreement again."
Armed Forces was originally intended to be named Emotional Fascism; Costello explained, "Two or three half-formed notions collided uneasily in that title, although I never would have admitted to having anything as self-conscious as a ‘theme’ running through the songs. Any patterns that have emerged did so as the record was completed or with the benefit of hindsight. Personal and global matters are spoken about with the same vocabulary; maybe this was a mistake. Betrayal and murder are not the same thing. The first of them only deadens the soul. Some of the highly charged language may now seem a little naive; it is full of gimmicks and almost overpowers some songs with paradoxes and subverted clichés piling up into private and secret meanings. I was not quite 24 and thought I knew it all."

Reception

;Initial
In a 1979 review in Rolling Stone, Janet Maslin felt the album was a "killer in several senses of the word," remarking on the brief, energetic songs with dense and sometimes overly clever but snappy lyrics. Maslin felt that Costello "wants to be daring, but he also wants to dance." Robert Christgau, in a 1979 review in The Village Voice, felt Costello was using words to "add color and detail to his music" rather than as "a thinking, feeling person," though he approved of the "intricate pop constructions" and found the album overall to be "good" but not "great." Both reviewers felt that the album was more densely or richly produced than its two predecessors.
;Retrospective
In a retrospective commentary for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt that Armed Forces was a more "detailed and textured pop production" than Costello's first two albums, making the music more accessible, though the lyrics were "more insular and paranoid." In a 1991 review, Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune called the album "Costello's 'political' record, and also one of his most irresistibly melodic." Matt LeMay, in a 2003 review for Pitchfork Media, also commented on the production, which he felt was "extravagantly layered with dense instrumentation and rich, effusive textures" that "often serve to conceal, rather than reveal the nuances of Costello's songwriting." LeMay concluded that "the greatest strength of Armed Forces may be the same thing that makes it less viscerally powerful than Costello's two prior records – its songs absolutely demand to be appreciated for their craftsmanship." LeMay argued that the album marks the point at which Costello found his voice as a songwriter.
In 2000, Armed Forces was voted #264 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.
In 2000, Q magazine placed Armed Forces at #45 in its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever." In 2003, the album was ranked #482 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time," and then was moved to #475 on an updated list in 2012. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Artwork

While the album's artwork was largely designed by Barney Bubbles and Bazooka, the original UK LP cover, featuring a herd of stampeding elephants, was designed by Tom Pogson. Initial pressings of the LP featured a die-cut fold-out sleeve, which also included four postcards of the band. The American version opted for a standard LP jacket and featured a piece of paint-splattered artwork by Bubbles and Bazooka for the cover, which had also been featured inside the fold-out UK version.
Initial pressings also included the bonus EP Live at Hollywood High, recorded on, and initial UK copies came with a red-and-yellow sticker on the front with the words "Free EP inside."
The album was released in a variety of configurations in different territories, alternating between the two different cover designs and inclusion or exclusion of the bonus EP.

Track listing

All songs written by Elvis Costello.
The American and Canadian releases omitted "Sunday's Best" and added " Peace, Love, and Understanding" to close Side 2.

''Live at Hollywood High'' promo EP

  1. "Accidents Will Happen" – 3:18
  2. "Alison" – 3:08
  3. "Watching the Detectives" – 5:51

    Reissues

When Armed Forces was reissued on CD by Rykodisc in 1993, the single disc featured the original album as well as bonus tracks. Rhino Records reissued the album in 2002 as a two-disc set; Disc 1 contained the original UK album plus " Peace, Love and Understanding?", and Disc 2 contained the bonus tracks.

1993 Rykodisc reissue bonus tracks

  1. " Peace, Love, and Understanding" – 3:31
  2. "My Funny Valentine" – 1:28
  3. "Tiny Steps" – 2:42
  4. "Clean Money" – 1:57
  5. "Talking in the Dark" – 1:56
  6. "Wednesday Week" – 2:01
  7. "Accidents Will Happen" – 3:18
  8. "Alison" – 3:08
  9. "Watching the Detectives" – 5:51
  1. " Peace, Love, and Understanding" – 3:32

    2002 Rhino reissue bonus disc

  2. "Tiny Steps" – 2:42
  3. "Busy Bodies" – 3:48
  4. "Talking in the Dark" – 1:56
  5. "Big Boys" – 2:56
  6. "Clean Money" – 1:57
  7. "Wednesday Week" – 2:01
  8. "My Funny Valentine" – 1:33
  9. "Accidents Will Happen" – 3:18
  10. "Mystery Dance" – 2:01
  11. "Goon Squad" – 3:42
  12. "Party Girl" – 3:19
  13. "Stranger in the House" – 3:52
  14. "Alison" – 3:08
  15. "Lipstick Vogue" – 4:26
  16. "Watching the Detectives" – 5:51
  17. "You Belong to Me" – 2:39
  18. "Chemistry Class" – 2:34

    Personnel

;The Attractions
;Technical
;Weekly charts
Chart Position
Australian Albums Chart9
Canadian Albums Chart8
Dutch Mega Albums Chart13
New Zealand Albums Chart9
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart12
Swedish Albums Chart11
UK Albums Chart2
United States Billboard 20010

;Year-end charts
Chart Position
Australian Albums Chart32
Canadian Albums Chart60
UK Albums Chart13

Certifications

certification Table Entry|title=Armed Forces|artist=Elvis Costello|type=album|relyear=1979|region=United Kingdom|award=Platinum