Armed Forces - Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1979)

(The Nines - looking for some rhyme or reason for what to pick next, i started with a 2019 record and then went back ten years each time.)

I don’t know a lot about Elvis Costello. He’s been a constant presence in rock and pop for decades, but I’ve never spent a lot of time with one of his records. This one is a gem.

There are so many things that he seamlessly integrates into his own music: Springsteen’s bombast, Bowie’s sonic exploration, old time rock and roll, and the ska sound that was ever-present in British rock in the late 70s. And yet this is all in service to a singular vision that sounds like a lot things, but doesn’t sound copied.

Costello is famous for his lyrics as much as his music, and they don’t disappoint either. Some of it is hyper-specific to British politics of the era (Oliver’s Army), which I have no context for, so it doesn’t mean much. A lot of them are so oblique that you probably need some reference material to make sense of them.

Tracks i liked:

Senior Service - The will to power, but catchy

Green Shirt - political paranoia that’s a good example of those oblique lyrics I mentioned.

Goon Squad - I swear this sounds like Costello’s answer to The Clash’s London Calling, but if the Internet is right about the dates, this song came out almost a year before that song. so…

Moods For Moderns - Similarly, there’s a little bit here that sounds like it’s quoting Funkytown, again, before that song was released.