Elvis Costello - Armed Forces (Dig) (Spkg)
List Price:
Our Price: $6.38
You Save: $4.61 (42%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.36 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: Elvis CostelloEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2007-05-01
Music Label: Hip-O Records
Soundtracks:
- Accidents Will Happen
- Senior Service
- Oliver's Army
- Big Boys
- Green Shirt
- Party Girl
- Goon Squad
- Busy Bodies
- Sunday's Best
- Moods For Moderns
- Chemistry Class
- Two Little Hitlers
- (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding
Music reviews of Armed Forces (Dig) (Spkg)
Music Review: Elvis completes his trifecta
Rating: 5 Stars
"Armed Forces" was Elvis and The Attractions' claustrophobic pop masterpiece, loaded with melody and paranoia, fueled by cramped touring vans, hotel rooms and long stretches of listening to ABBA, Kraftwerk, Bowie and the Beatles while driving between gigs. It was also the last of the Elvis albums that mirrored the tightly wound image/cliched "angry young man" singer-songwriter of the new wave world. It also happens to be one of the most indispensable albums of the 70's.
Songs like "Oliver's Army" and "Two Little Hitlers" brimmed with neo-fascist imagery and highly charged sexual/emotional content, yet flourished with pop-hooks. "Accidents Will Happen" portrays a barely apologetic philanderer as he tries to explain the infidelities of his life, and uses one of early Elvis' frequent descriptions of romantic partners as a "victim." (Think of how many times that word appears on his first three albums.) Many of the songs bear unmistakable ominous threatening qualities, like the roar of "Goon Squad," the hushed fear that underscores "Green Shirt" and the implied threat of "they took me in the office and told me very carefully, the ways that I could benefit from death and disability" (from "Senior Service").
Nick Lowe deserves a good deal of the credit for keeping this album in check (and when is he going to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?!?!). It is likely his pop sophistication that gave some of "Armed Forces" levity in its darkest points. It is also Lowe's one song - and the first cover to appear on a proper EC album - that brings the relentlessly downward outlook to a more optimistic close. "(What's So Funny About) Peace Love and Understanding" was the kind of song that, once Elvis claimed it as his own, provided a banner to his part during the formation of Rock Against Racism.
Unfortunately for this reissue, Rhino's 2002 double CD issue was also the CD that most justified Rhino's double disc reissues of Elvis' work. "Armed Forces" is the kind of album that more than holds its own as a singular entity, and the Ryko release that tacked the bonus selections on the same disc distracted from that sense of "piece" to me. So to have some excellent material on a bonus disc is just cream on the berry. Especially since it included the entire "Live at Hollywood High" recording as opposed to the three song bonus vinyl that was included in the original album. If it was possible to add a bonus star to an already 5 star album, Rhino managed that trick. That is the essential "Armed Forces." I understand that the rights to the EC CBS years catolog have turned over once again, but the double CD is really worth seeking out.
Description of Armed Forces (Dig) (Spkg)
Produced under the direct supervision of Elvis Costello. Housed in a slim-line package, each rerelease contains a deluxe 28-page booklet with brand-new liner notes by Elvis Costello, rare photos, reproductions of memorabilia, and printed song lyrics. Album includes an entire second disc of bonus material!Armed Forces was the last title in a trilogy of albums that rank with the greatest three-LP series in pop-rock history. In retrospect, it also now appears to be the one on which the young Costello's pop tendencies peaked, right before they began to "mature" and grow less accessible. "Accidents Will Happen" features a melody line as beautiful as any ever written; "Oliver's Army" easily competes with the best of Abba and Brian Wilson among pop masterpieces. This is also where Costello's early themes--most notably romantic rejection equated with the horrors of neo-Nazism and modern politics--came together most precisely (the album's working title was "Emotional Fascism"). Rhino does its usual superb job, with wonderful remastering, in-depth liner notes by Costello himself (including a catty paragraph about famous groupie-author Bebe Buell, who often claims this album is about her), and a second disc of concurrent singles and alternate versions. Best of all are nine live tracks from the legendary June 4, 1978, Hollywood High School show, fully documenting that Costello & the Attractions were once among the all-time dynamic live rock acts. --Bill Holdship
Less hot under the collar than This Year's Model, Armed Forces was partly inspired by Elvis Costello and the Attractions' 1978 American tour. The songs are set to deceptively poppy arrangements that use plinky Abba keyboards ("Oliver's Army," a hit single about mercenaries), Beatles-ish devices (the fade on "Party Girl"), and whimsical waltz-time signatures ("Sunday's Best") to mask their core cynicism. "Goon Squad," "Busy Bodies," and "Accidents Will Happen" are among Costello's most melodically powerful songs to this point, leading the way to the masterful Get Happy!!. --Barney Hoskyns
Alternative Rock CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Alternative Rock CDs
Bouncing Souls - Maniacal LaughterRelease date: 1996-01-26; Music CD
Best price: $30.00
Blondie - Parallel LinesRelease date: 1994-07-29; Music CD
Best price: $149.98
Doors - L.A. WomanRelease date: 1993-04-09; Music CD
Best price: $99.99
Amon Duul - Phallus DeiRelease date: 1997-04-08; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Tangerine Dream - MelroseRelease date: 1990-10-02; Music CD
Best price: $74.98
Tangerine Dream - Private Music of Tangerine DreamRelease date: 1992-11-10; Music CD
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
![Ska Explosion [VHS] Image](/images/Ska-Explosion-VHS-6303381014-X.jpg){kind=small}
Ska Explosion [VHS]Cleopatra; Release date: 1995-02-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
![Little Earthquakes [VHS] Image](/images/Little-Earthquakes-VHS-6302488664-X.jpg){kind=small}
Little Earthquakes [VHS]Atlantic / Wea; Release date: 1992-11-10; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops:
Exileby Geoffrey Oryema
Music CD
Best price: $4.95
![Louder Than Live [VHS] Image](/images/Louder-Than-Live-VHS-6301627865-X.jpg){kind=small}
Soundgarden - Louder Than Live [VHS]A&M Video; Release date: 1991-07-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $192.68
Similar CDs
The Clash - London CallingCLASH; Release date: 2000-01-25; Music CD
Best price: $4.66
Price in other shops:
Elvis Costello - Almost Blue (Dig) (Spkg)Release date: 2007-05-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops:
Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings & FoodTALKING HEADS; Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $5.04
Price in other shops:
Elvis Costello - Trust (Dig) (Spkg)Release date: 2007-05-01; Music CD
Best price: $10.36
Price in other shops:
Elvis Costello - King of America (Dig) (Spkg)Release date: 2007-05-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.55
Price in other shops:
Elvis Costello - Blood & Chocolate (Dig) (Spkg)Release date: 2007-05-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.52
Price in other shops:
Elvis Costello - Get Happy (Dig) (Spkg)Release date: 2007-05-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.61
Price in other shops:
Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom (Dig) (Spkg)Release date: 2007-05-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.63
Price in other shops:
Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True (Dig) (Spkg)Release date: 2007-05-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.16
Price in other shops:
Elvis Costello - This Year's Model (Dig) (Spkg)Release date: 2007-05-01; Music CD
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops: