Meanwhile, the guitar lines that evoke Tom Verlaine with the legendary Television CBGBs its way on Armed Forces’ “oddest and most overwrought” track, “Goon Squad,” which was the first record Elvis had written with a keen awareness of an “audience” in mind. It’s also the powerhouse rocker that coincides with the personal fame or infamy he was then receiving and the disagreeable character he felt he was becoming when he hit the road during his first streaks of independence and youthful indiscretion. Whether true or not, the situations and worst case scenarios as realized — in addition to stirring the unfeeling apologies of “Accidents Will Happen” and the wish fulfillment of “Party Girl” — recall several Costello lyrical snippets, titles, themes, album names, or all of the above:
- I surrendered to temptation, committed selfish acts of betrayal, and destroyed any possibility of trust and reconciliation in my marriage…. Now whispered persuasions, ultimatums, and the closing time seductions passed for an emotional life. I was looking to do everything to discourage admiration and flirting with a sort of controlled fall from grace.
Not that these are all internal forces fighting. Betrayed by its ABBA-esque beginnings, the musically majestic and sublime “Oliver’s Army” is almost cheerful, hook-laden for a mess o’ class and nation and visions of mercenaries and marauding imperial armies. Meanwhile, the “sick little waltz” of “Sunday’s Best” was meant to be sung by a bewildered, xenophobic character to give full tilt to a song “constructed out of shop signs and newspaper slogans”: “Times are tough for English babies / Send the army and the navy / Beat up strangers who talk funny / Take their greasy foreign money...”
Costello credits producer Nick Lowe for retaining the heart and pop soul of Armed Forces. And just look at the quality overflow from that retention: the scathing but admittedly bygone “Tiny Steps” and the powered-up pop of the chugging and charming “Talking in the Dark” were both left out of the final mix of the original release, and Costello shows his mind is not undone as he riddles us why.
Article comments
1 - Josh Hathaway
Fantastic work as always, Gordon.
2 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks Josh, appreciate it.
3 - Glen Boyd
I met Nick Lowe right around the time him and EC were recording this album, and Lowe told me at the time he was trying to make EC's "Abba" album. The density of the recording, along with the abundance of pop hooks on Armed Forces almost bares that out. Great read Gordon.
-Glen
4 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks Glen: I'd take that as gospel. There isn't anything in the way of pure pop that the jesus of cool doesn't know. GH
5 - JC Mosquito
I assumme we're working up to Get Happy! directly.
I was never a big fan of This Year's Model or Armed Forces. I allways felt there was something calculated about both of them, like EC was trying too hard to convince everyone he was both clever and angry. I preferred his outtakes from these sessions, maany of which ended up on Taking Liberties - his writing felt more natural to me. And Get Happy for me was exactly his most perfect moment - clever, funny, angry & sensitive all at the same time. Oh - and it rocked, too.
6 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
"Get Happy," JC? Got Happy almost a year ago in these pages. And as much as "Get Happy" is in my top 5 EC albums, your case of it being "clever" could almost be too much of a good thing, with Costello resorting to clever wordplay for the sake of resorting to clever wordplay:
"You lack lust, you're so lackluster..."
So fond of the fabric
So fond of fabrication...
"...she knows the kind of tip that she is gonna get
A lot of loose exchanges..."
7 - JC Mosquito
Ah, yes... I see Vern Halen's name amongst the comments - he must've forgot to mention that he read your article when he vacated his position here on bc and left it to me. In any case, on reflection, I think it's the unmistakeable British contexts that made TYM & AF hard for me to identify with, whereas the American r & b flavour of GH! made EC's English social landscapes easier to understand in context.
8 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
I know that EC intentionally went after a Motown and R&B sound for "Get Happy," but it seems forced to see a promotion of its "American r & b flavour" with a UK spelling. (Yes, I know "flavour" in this case is really Canadian, but still...)
9 - JC Mosquito
'Sfunny - I actually thought about that spelling as I was typing that. I decided to leave it in good ol' Canuckistani in honour of the NHL playoffs, where many products of Canada's junior hockey program get to compete for Lord Stanley's mug with some Americans and nowadays a whole schwack of Europeans, in mostly American centres for msotly American dollars.
Ah - who'm I kidding? I'm just irked that I couldn't say EC made a Canadian r&b album.