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Give Elvis Costello credit for not polishing up his act on this, his third U.S. album. He's still telling us he suspects everybody and everything.
It's doubtful any of these tunes will make any AM playlist. Armed Forces was going to be called Emotional Fascism. The songs do have heavy-handed overtones. "Senior Service" tells of "a death worse than fate" and "Oliver's Army" is a sarcastic celebration of the military life — although the idea seems comic with the overblown pop format.
"Green Shirt" builds with tense drumming and Elvis says, "You can please yourself but somebody's gonna get it." It creates a tension that is never relieved. "Two Little Hitlers" (a strange romantic tale) and "Goon Squad" with its menacing hook carry the theme along. Elvis' bitterness is best stated in "Chemistry Class" — "You got a chemistry class, I want a piece of your mind; You don't know what you started when you mixed it up with mine."
The gem on Armed Forces is the strangely out-of-place "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding." The Nick Lowe song features Elvis on vocals backed by Brinsley Schwarz's band. The song has more movement and structure than the others and it's more a full-blown rock tune than sarcastic ditty (it has the only guitar solo on the album).
Nick Lowe's production is, again, gritty and basic. The sound is layered a bit more than in the past. The fullness comes at the expense of some of the more frantic playing which characterizes much of the New Wave sound.
The instrumentation is sparse at times. Costello's songs are a caustic agent destroying smugness with a cleansing action of heavy-handed rhythm section (Pete and Bruce Thomas), dominating keyboards (Steve Neieve) and an eccentric vocalist.
Buy now and you get a bonus EP: it was recorded live in June at Hollywood High School. The disc includes a mellowed out version of "Accidents Will Happen," an intense reggae version of "Watching the Detectives" and his love song, "Alison" (it was this performance that inspired Linda Ronstadt's version).
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