Armed Forces 33⅓ Network

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Armed Forces 33⅓ Network.jpg

From November 10, 2020, Elvis curated a playlist on Spotify, pairing tracks from the expanded box set reissue of Armed Forces with tracks by other artists. This was presented as:

"Armed Forces 33⅓ Network

On Twitter he introduced it thus:

"Spin the dial to this frequency to hear songs and cues and catches from the 20th Century jukebox and radio airwaves that were enlisted into ‘Armed Forces’”

Armed Forces 33⅓ Network - November 10, 2020 - ?

number song album note
01. Clean Money “Sketches For Emotional Fascism” The opening track of our 1979 album was supposed to be, “Clean Money”. It was definitely indebted to The Beatles “Back In The U.S.S.R” and a favourite group of ours from Madison, Wisconsin: Cheap Trick. Indeed, Rick Neilsen generously introduced us to a slightly skeptical crowd at “Bunky’s” in Madison in the Winter of 1977. I never did learn how to juggle all those guitars.
02. Big Eyes In Color by Cheap Trick
03. Accidents Will Happen Armed Forces Many songs and much mischief went in to what eventually became the first cut on “Armed Forces”. The most obvious is a half-quotation from the lyrics of Randy Newman’s “I Don’t Want To Hear It Anymore” as sung by my favourite singer.
04. I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore Dusty In Memphis by Dusty Springfield
05. Breaking Glass Low by David Bowie The many miles of our first tours of the U.S. had a limited soundtrack, the few cassettes on which we could agree, among them the “Berlin” records by David Bowie and Iggy Pop, I hear a reference to a track from “Low" in the background voices and tremolo guitar of the third song on “Armed Forces”.
06. Senior Service Armed Forces
07. Oliver's Army Armed Forces The tie-breaker in our “Tour Station Wagon Soundtrack Stand-Offs” was often this ABBA album. We loved ABBA so much that we even bought their Swedish language albums on our first venture to the country, shortly before making “Armed Forces”.
08. Dancing Queen Arrival by ABBA My song about boys being sent off to do other people’s dirty work was heading for a B-side pile until Steve Nieve borrowed Benny Andersson’s grand piano style and turned the song into a Top Five U.K. hit.
09. Big Boys Armed Forces I’m sure the idea of starting “Big Boys” with a single note drone came from too many hours listening to the second side of Bowie’s “Low” or Iggy Pop’s “Mass Production” but as a member of the audience at Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run” concert in London in 1975, I’m pretty sure that this is where I got the idea of the “She’s the one” refrain in “Big Boys.
10. She's The One Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen
11. Green Shirt Armed Forces Steve Nieve had added a Polymoog and Mini Moog to his armory and alchemy by the time we entered Eden Studios to make “Armed Forces”. Neither came with an instruction manual, so we took cues for electronic music from The BBC Radiophonic Workshop and Kraftwerk.
12. Autobahn Autobahn by Kraftwerk
13. Party Girl Armed Forces I always tried to keep my quotations of The Beatles songs under control and leave that to Mancunians in the future. However, it’s pretty hard to deny that the guitar figure on “Party Girl” was an idea that occurred after combining “Abbey Road” with a bottle of gin. At least I’d wait a few years before writing a song with the same title.
14. I Want You (She's So Heavy) Abbey Road by The Beatles
15. Goon Squad Europe ’79: Live At Pink Pop Believe it or not this record by the great Don Covay was the record that the Attractions and I were attempting to imitate when we cut this song about a young man gone wrong.
16. It's Better To Have (And Don't Need) Single by Don Covay Due to our nervous disposition, the musical reference was mostly lost on the audience, although this ferocious Attractions performance from the summer of ’79 is something else entirely. P.S. Don’s record is way better.
17. Busy Bodies Armed Forces Cute observers of the time probably thought they were pretty sharp when they noticed that the guitar riff on this song owed something to Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” but I do not recall anyone recognising a hint of Tony Hatch’s soap opera theme in the arrangement.
18. The Theme From “Crossroads” TV theme by Tony Hatch
19. Sunday's Best Armed Forces This song was a catalogue of small-minded English prejudices and seething sanctimonious preferences. It took its cue from what, in my ever so ‘umble opinion, is the greatest record ever released on Stiff Records. It is the Ian Dury song, “England’s Glory” performed by the great music hall comedian and actor, Max Wall.
20. England's Glory Single by Max Wall
21. Moods For Moderns Armed Forces This song began an earlier life as a roll call of the American television shows that filled childhood hours from Whirlybirds to The Adventures of Hiram Holiday.
22. TVC-15 Station To Station by David Bowie

External links