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"I just don't know where to begin," begins Elvis Costello on Armed Forces, his third LP, and immediately confronts a typical pop music dilemma. Namely, a rock musician spends approximately 20 years preparing for his debut records and then must deliver a follow-up in six months. In the case of the rather prolific Costello, his first two albums, all top-flight material, were released in the span of less than a year. While Armed Forces cannot boast a tune to match such gems as "Alison" from My Aim Is True or "Radio, Radio" from This Year's Model, it is nevertheless an intriguing collection. If Elvis' first two efforts were designed to capture the public's attention, Armed Forces presumes an already captive audience. The dense, multilayered production, with voices and sounds interwoven masterfully by Nick Lowe, makes repeated listenings mandatory. Like the last Clash LP, Armed Forces builds with understated intensity, as lyrical and musical ideas slowly emerge from an oozing mix and bubble to the surface.
The album was originally dubbed Emotional Fascism until record-company pressure forced a switch, and this title goes a long way towards articulating Costello's theme of sexual politics. While his first two LP's were crammed with anger and hostility, the new record finds a somewhat subdued Elvis, whose success has doubtlessly mellowed him. New songs like "Senior Service," "Oliver's Army" and "Goon Squad" may be obviously anti-war, but they are also, on a deeper level, not so much about physical violence as emotional. Sex and politics, though, like the album's two titles, must be considered two parts in the same equation. The glimmer of compassion Elvis has shown in the past amid his tirades flowers on the new album into a full-blown humanistic philosophy. Elvis doesn't point the finger at others as much now: He is looking straight into his own eyes and sees room for improvement.
One of the more interesting aspects of the Elvis Costello persona was how his hate always managed to turn back on himself. The difference on Armed Forces is the maturing Elvis' ability to accept his own limitations as well as others'. On the first cut, "Accidents Will Happen" (of which Elvis does a live version on a free EP included with the album), he sings, "You used to be a victim, now you're not the only one." Costello admits later in the same song. "There's so many people to see / So many people you can check upon / And add to your collection ... I don't want to hear it / Because I know what I've done." The Attractions, now sharing full billing with Elvis, beatifically repeat the refrain "I know" to fade-out. Don't be fooled by the smoothness of the Costello vocal; these revelations are not easy ones for him to make. As with Neil Young's Comes a Time, there are dark recesses in the mellow manner.
Throughout the course of Armed Forces, Elvis eschews language, claiming the meaning of words is too relative, too ambiguous to express truth. On "Oliver's Army" he sings, "Don't start your talking / I could talk all night." Once more, amid lyrics about Checkpoint Charley, itchy triggers, white niggers, Palestine, Johannesburg, darkies, Chinese lines and the like, Costello's theme is less concerned with the military than with an entire way of life. He proceeds to turn thumbs down on it eloquently with the bouncy, cheerily delivered punch line, "I would rather be anywhere else but here today," reminiscent of David Byrne's similar disavowal on "Big Country" — "I wouldn't live there if you paid me to."
Elvis continues his battle against neuroses with "Big Boys," once again underlining the futility of language with, "You can talk till you're blue in the face" but you still can't dissuade someone from "trying so hard to be like the big boys." "Big Boys" draws a connecting line between the stereotyped macho ethic and political repression, as Elvis ties the twin targets of his titles neatly together.
The first side closes with one of the two best songs on the LP, "Party Girl," a tune which works on at least two levels, one as a very personal situation, the other as a metaphor for the renunciation of the materialistic dream offered by Costello's American successes. Held by a "grip-like vise," Elvis tries to pull himself back from the siren-like lures of America, the ultimate party girl. In a magnificent cop, the Attractions borrow the final fade-out riff from Abbey Road in a stunning musical solution to the perplexing problem posed in the number. This is Costello at his finest: With his portentous quote from the Beatles, he admits there are feelings above and beyond words which music is capable of tapping. It is a moment of great release as Elvis manages to touch on another dominant theme in Armed Forces: the truth in abstraction. Opposing the abstract truths of Springsteen, Elvis refuses to preach. For Costello, truth can only he found in the opaque, ceaseless flux of reality, and it is not easily revealed.
Side two begins with "Goon Squad," in which the singer vows, "You won't make a lampshade out of me." All in all, its polemical nature ruins it, despite some hilarious punchlines. "Busy Bodies" casts a wary eye on the nature of modern relationships, while "Moods for Moderns" offers a perspective on their transience. The next two numbers, "Chemistry Class" and "Two Little Hitlers," are exercises in materialist speculation about a world in which cloning is a common occurrence. The culture shock is couched in clever lyrics like, "Are you ready for the final solution?" and "You don't know what you started / When you mixed it up with mine," sung compassionately. In "Chemistry Class," love is turned into the result of a purely chemical reaction, in more ways than one. In "Two Little Hitlers," The Boys from Brazil finds its musical equivalent as Elvis sings with tongue firmly planted in cheek, "Two little Hitlers will fight it out / Until one little Hitler does the other one's will / I will return, I will not burn."
The finale is a classic, Costello's manically funny cover of Nick Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?" Not included on the English LP (which replaces it with ... "Sunday's Best"), it serves as a marvelously ironic summary to Armed Forces. Elvis' attempt to burst the barriers of the modern world, social and political, ends with fashionable Seventies malaise — he realized the only things he can really change are himself and his music. With this awareness, "Peace, Love and Understanding" becomes a joyous ode to maintaining your sense of humor in the face of hopelessness.
After Elvis' first two albums, Armed Forces may seem a slight disappointment, with its weaker melodies, apparently murky mix and almost complete lack of guitars. Still, the Attractions shine on this LP, especially keyboardist Steve Naive, providing Elvis with a remarkable complex rhythmic base. The singer himself is becoming a confident and unique song stylist, more than enough to make Armed Forces the most impressive work of this young year.
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