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Armed Forces | 
 enlarge | Artist: Elvis Costello & The Attraction
Label: Hip-O Records
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $9.97
You Save: $4.01 (29%)
New (46) Used (8) from $7.99
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 20570
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.7 x 0.4
MPN: 000863002
UPC: 602517260818
EAN: 0602517260818
ASIN: B000OHZJKU
Release Date: May 1, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | 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 |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential recording
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Witty and Fun Costello November 26, 2008
At the time of its release I liked a few songs but didn`t appreciate this album as a whole. Bought it recently because of the few good tunes I remember liking only to be surprised at how good the other tunes are. This relates especially to what used to be B-side material when records were the music media; notable tracks being Sunday`s Best and Two Little Hitlers.
I recently read that Costello listened a great deal to ABBA shortly before recording this album. This is evident in the fluency of the songs, many very catchy tunes that is maybe disguised by the more organic production style. The style of singing by Costello is marvelous, a very descriptive way of expressing the words as in "...add to your collection" in the brilliant Accidents Will Happen. The texts are, by the way, well worth going through with a booklet in hand while listening.
A highly recommendable album that has aged well, a must have for anyone liking Elvis Costello.
At The Top Of His Game September 3, 2008
This is one great collection of songs by Elvis Costello. This disc stands out as one of the best coming from an artist who cosistantly hits the ball out of the park. Costello has a huge catalog with some of the finest music there is.This one is one of the must haves.
rock's greatest one-two punch July 5, 2008
Most of us, even with our very favorite CD's, will have one or two tracks we will always skip over for no other reason than that the style varies a little bit making it not quite to our taste. Well the performances here and on 'This Year's Model' are so flawless that I will not listen to any EC music unless I am in a position to hear every single song on both of the original versions in one sitting.
Musically, the arrangements here are substantially more ambitious than the first two albums, but the instrumental sophistication is always serving the craft of the song - Nick Lowe's production really shines. Steve Nieve stakes his claim as one of rock and roll's all-time great sidemen - he provides incredible power to both the rhythm and melody in "Oliver's Army", "Goon Squad" and "Moods for Moderns".
But once again, the songwriting is nothing short of miraculous. With TYM providing the greatest songwriting performance ever, it seems unimaginable that he could maintain that standard - but he does! Witness lines like "it's a death that's worse than fate", "who put these fingerprints on my imagination" and "are you ready for the final solution?"
Without a doubt, two truly ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS!
 box too large May 17, 2008
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
I received my order of two cd's in a very large box, what resulted in a extra custom's tax of 10 euro (= 16 dollar!). So would you please want to sent the cd's for buyers in Europe in a smaller box or envellope!?
Classic Costello January 10, 2008
With Nick Lowe producing, Armed Forces turned out to be an album of very catchy tunes, which masks the acerbic tone of the lyrics. The arrangements are especially great on songs like Busy Bodies, Green Shirt and Big Boys. My favorite track is the lilting ballad Oliver's Army, but every single song has a unique pop appeal.
Costello is amongst the most literate and versatile of rock musicians and especially on this album, the tight writing and clear melodies are prominent, whilst The Attractions must be the best band he ever recorded with. Armed Forces is a classic of late 1970s punk rock, but has always been accessible to pop fans and timeless in its melodious appeal.
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