Armed Forces is an Electronic album by Elvis Costello And The Attractions, originally released in 1979. On Gatefold: 165 pressings tracked, owned by 83 collectors.
About
Elvis Costello’s third album is fueled by wonderfully harnessed emotions like anger (“Chemistry Class”), love (“Two Little Hitlers”), and paranoia (“Goon Squad”). Sing-song hooks, elaborate metaphors (using war for love), and dense musical passages twirl around like carnival rides (check the waltzy “Sunday’s Best”) so it sometimes sounds unusually, and blissfully, claustrophobic. “Oliver’s Army” is the only power-pop smash ever written about militaries stocked with impoverished boys, and the unironic, Nick Lowe-penned powerhouse “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding” simply soars.
via Apple Music
The Clerk says
The Clerk knows this whole record — the pressing quirks, the credits, the take.
Tracklist
Side A
- A1Accidents Will Happen3:00
- A2Senior Service2:17
- A3Oliver's Army2:57
- A4Big Boys2:55
- A5Green Shirt2:42
- A6Party Girl3:20
Side B
- B1Goon Squad3:15
- B2Busy Bodies3:33
- B3Sunday's Best3:23
- B4Moods For Moderns2:49
- B5Chemistry Class2:55
- B6Two Little Hitlers3:10
Side C
- C1Accidents Will Happen3:23
- C2Alison3:06
Side D
- DWatching The Detectives6:07
Sound DNA
- Electronic
- Synth-Pop / New Wave
- brittle
- anxious
- art school
Armed Forces is Elvis Costello's third album, his second with the Attractions, and the first to officially credit the Attractions on the cover. It was released in the UK by Radar Records and in North America by Columbia in January 1979. The album had the working title Emotional Fascism, which is also printed on the inner sleeve.
Many initial pressings of the album were issued in a die-cut fold-out sleeve including four postcards and a promotional 7" single, 'Live At Hollywood High', which was recorded on 4 June 1978. The live tracks, also produced by Nick Lowe, are 'Accidents Will Happen', 'Alison' and 'Watching the Detectives'. The packaging uses an ingenious cruciform design by an uncredited Barney Bubbles that can be folded in several alternative ways and even reversed to give a completely different front cover (US, Canadian and Japanese pressing use this alternative cover). The four postcards are cropped from the four corners of the complete square card, measuring approximately 62cm x 62cm.
The American version omitted 'Sunday's Best' and replaced it with Costello's version of '(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding', which had been released the previous November as the B-side of Nick Lowe's 'American Squirm' single, at the end of side two. The Yugoslav edition omitted 'Two Little Hitlers' and replaced it with 'Radio, Radio'.
The album has appeared on Q magazine and Rolling Stone magazine lists of "greatest albums". In the 1982 film E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Elliott's brother, Michael (played by Robert MacNaughton), sings 'Accidents Will Happen' in the family kitchen after coming home from school.
Armed Forces was the first barcoded release issued by CBS, at the request of Elvis Costello and his management.
Credits
The people behind it.
Performers
- Bruce ThomasBASS
- Elvis CostelloGUITAR , VOCALS GUITAR, VOCALS VOCALS, GUITAR
- Elvis Costello & The Attractions
- Pete ThomasDRUMS
- Steve NieveKEYBOARDS
- Dave EdmundsBACKING VOCALS
- The AttractionsBACKING VOCALS
83 collectors on Gatefold own this · 165 pressings tracked on Gatefold
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