Armed Forces

Armed Forces, 1979

UK Cover, 1979

From the Rykodisk liner notes:
"Armed Forces was recorded at Eden Studios, London. The sessions took what we regarded as a very extravagant six weeks. Strangely, the first track to be released came out as a B-side. Credited to "Nick Lowe and his sound", "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, And Understanding" appeared on the back of Nick's Radar single "American Squirm" for reasons nobody can remember. I do recall that Nick was pictured on the sleeve wearing a pair of my dark hornrims, clutching my Jazzmaster, with the name "Costello" inlaid on the neck. I think it was what you might call a clue.

Later it was added to the Columbia edition of Armed Forces in place of "Sunday's Best" which was deemed to be "Too English". The album was released in February 1979. The single "Oliver's Army" stuck at number two in the British charts, despite selling over 400, 000 copies.

Having completed an extensive Canadian Itinerary and made our first trips to Japan and Australia since finishing the recording we now began our most intensive period of touring, playing something like thirty-eight back-to-back dates in Britain (Our one day off being a trip to Holland for a TV show!), followed by eight weeks of concerts and misadventures in the USA."

UK tracklist, 1979 Side 1 01. Accidents Will Happen [3:00] 02. Senior Service [2:17] 03. Oliver's Army [2:57] 04. Big Boys [2:55] 05. Green Shirt [2:42] 06. Party Girl [3:20] Side 2 01. Goon Squad [3:15] 02. Busy Bodies [3:33] 03. Sunday's Best [3:23] 04. Moods For Moderns [2:49] 05. Chemistry Class [2:55] 06. Two Little Hitlers [3:10]

US tracklist, 1979 Side 1 01. Accidents Will Happen [3:00] 02. Senior Service [2:17] 03. Oliver's Army [2:57] 04. Big Boys [2:55] 05. Green Shirt [2:42] 06. Party Girl [3:20] Side 2 01. Goon Squad [3:15] 02. Busy Bodies [3:33] 03. Moods For Moderns [2:49] 04. Chemistry Class [2:55] 05. Two Little Hitlers [3:10] 06. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? [3:30] Note: Sunday's Best was replaced by (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding? on the original US release.

Credits

• Produced by: Nick Lowe
• Musicians:

Elvis Costello - vocals and guitar

Steve Nieve - keyboards

Bruce Thomas - bass

Pete Thomas - drums

Original discography pages

• Home Page discography page | A01 | A02 |
• Singles: S01 | S02 | S03 | S04 | S05 | S06 | S07 | S08 | S09 |

External links

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