11.06.2020
ELVIS COSTELLO CURATES DEFINITIVE TIME CAPSULE OF CLASSIC THIRD ALBUM ARMED FORCES
The complete Armed Forces explores the album across nine pieces of
vinyl, collecting together b-sides, demos, outtakes, alt versions and 23
unreleased live recordings in a lavish box set to provide an
illuminating picture of this revered record.
Features new 2020 Remaster of original album to match sonic
fidelity of 1979 UK pressing.
Personally curated by Elvis Costello,The Complete Armed Forces is the
definitive statement of the legendary songwriter and musician’s revered
and essential 1979 album, featuring the classic hits “Accidents Will
Happen,” “Green Shirt,” “Oliver’s Army” and “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout)
Peace, Love & Understanding.” Leaving no musical stone unturned, no
lyric notebook unrifled through and no detail left out, this new super
deluxe edition vinyl box set is a thorough excavation of Costello’s
vault from this metamorphic period of his early beginnings, painting as
complete a picture as possible of the events that led to the making of
the album, its creation, and the wild success that followed for him, and
his band The Attractions, and ignited his career. Armed Forces is
explored across nine pieces of vinyl (3 12-inch LPs, 3 10-inch LPs and 3
7-inch singles), including a new 2020 remaster of the album, B-sides,
alternate versions and outtakes, demos, and a slew of live recordings –
including 23 unreleased live tracks taken from three especially riotous
concerts.
Releasing November 6 via UMe, The Complete Armed Forces will be
exclusively available via Elvis Costello’s official online store and
UMG’s online stores uDiscover and Sound of Vinyl, in two vinyl versions
– 180-gram black vinyl and limited edition 180-gram multi-color opaque
vinyl. It will also be available digitally for streaming and download.
The collection is proceeded today with the release of a three-track
digital EP featuring unreleased live performances of “(What’s So Funny
‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?,” “Goon Squad” and “Pump It Up,”
taken from the new live LPs, Christmas In The Dominion – Live 24th
December ’78, Riot At The Regent – Live In Sydney ’78 and Europe ’79 –
Live At Pinkpop.
Purchase & Stream The Complete Armed Forces here:
This lavish box set fully embraces iconic designer Barney Bubbles’ epic
pop-art packaging, including the paint-splattered cover artwork by
Bubbles and Bazooka (used for the American release and included in the
fold-out UK version) and features a unique origami cover that folds out
to beautifully display the bold art and graphics and the six vinyl LPs,
which are rounded out by three 7-inch reissues of the album’s singles
“Oliver’s Army,” “Accidents Will Happen” and Nick Lowe’s “American
Squirm” b/w “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?”
This treasure trove contains seven custom notebooks with newly updated
liner notes from Costello, totaling nearly 10,000 words, facsimiles of
first-draft, handwritten lyrics and examples of his lyrical working
methods from his personal archive as well as rare photos, memorabilia
and concert ephemera. The notebooks offer fascinating insight into
Costello’s songwriting process, showing the evolution from idea to
finished work, while the liners detail the making of and stories behind
the songs. The accompanying photos and memorabilia provide a vivid
window into this exciting era. “Most of this record was written in hotel
rooms or on a tour bus, scribbled in a notebook which rarely left my
side or failing this, from fragments and phrases scrawled on paper
cocktail napkins or hotel notepaper,” Costello writes in the liners.
The comprehensive set also includes a print of the vintage grenade and
gun poster and the four original postcards of each band member.
Additionally, Costello commissioned acclaimed artist Todd Alcott to
create pulp novel book covers of songs from Armed Forces starring
himself as the protagonist in a variety of precarious situations.
Armed Forces has been newly remastered by Costello and mastering
engineer Bob Ludwig from the original analog tapes to match the sonic
fidelity of the initial 1979 UK pressing. Striving for the utmost
authenticity, they took care to match the feel and intention of the
original mastering. “It sounds as close to the way it sounded to us in
the studio as we could make it,” Costello recently revealed to MOJO.
“That’s a beautiful thing.”
The album’s evolution is documented on the 10-inch, Sketches For
Emotional Fascism A.K.A. Armed Forces, which assembles together B-sides,
demos and alternate versions, making many of these songs available on
vinyl for the first time in decades.
Costello and The Attractions live prowess is fully celebrated with
several previously unreleased concert recordings that bookended the
recording and release of the album. Along with selections from the
band’s legendary 1978 Hollywood High show, the collection shows off what
a powerful force of nature the band was with three additional shows
including highlights from the notorious Riot At The Regent – Live In
Sydney ’78 and a Christmas Eve concert at London’s Dominion Theatre that
same year, presented here as Christmas In The Dominion – Live 24th
December ’78. “Riot At The Regent is a souvenir from our days Down Under
and a second snap-shot of the Attractions in action during six months
either side of the recording of Armed Forces,” Costello pens.
Continuing, “We played right up to Christmas Eve and certainly sound
full of cheery spirit on ‘Christmas In The Dominion,’ playing a version
of ‘No Dancing’ in an apparently spontaneous arrangement that sounds as
if we had just heard Blondie’s ‘Heart Of Glass’ on the radio and decided
to re-work my song with a similar approach before closing the stand with
the same song with which we had opened it: ‘Peace Love &
Understanding.’”
Costello’s full set at PinkPop in The Netherlands in 1979, titled Europe
’79 – Live At Pinkpop, is a thrilling concert that showcases the
well-oiled band in fine form, exactly one year after their appearance at
Hollywood High School, and sees them road testing songs that would end
up on their follow up record, 1980’s Get Happy. All of the unreleased
live recordings, taken from the original 2” multitracks, have been
remixed by Costello’s longtime producer and mixer Sebastian Krys who
recently mixed his forthcoming new album, Hey Clockface, and co-produced
his 2018 GRAMMY® Award-winning album, Look Now.
Produced by Nick Lowe, Armed Forces was Elvis Costello’s third album and
his second with The Attractions – Steve Nieve (keyboards), Bruce Thomas
(bass) and Pete Thomas (drums) – following on from the immense success
of their first effort, This Year’s Model. As a result, the songs for the
album were written on the road while the band were on a non-stop tour
where they were becoming tighter and tighter by the show. Moving away
from the punk that inspired the previous record, Armed Forces, as
Pitchfork wrote in their nearly perfect review of the album, “is
extravagantly layered with dense instrumentation and rich, effusive
textures,” adding “the production works to the record’s advantage,
filling the songs out with bombastic power-pop arrangements and giving
weight to their urgency.” At just 23 years old, the album cemented
Costello’s legacy as one of the most gifted and articulate songwriters
of his generation. Since it’s release it has only grown in popularity
and stature, continually landing on best albums ever lists and finding
new fans each year.
With The Complete Armed Forces, Costello has provided an exhaustive time
capsule that lets us celebrate this timeless album and understand how it
came to be.
THE COMPLETE ARMED FORCES TRACKLISTING
Armed Forces 12” LP
SIDE A
1. Accidents Will Happen
2. Senior Service
3. Oliver’s Army
4. Big Boys
5. Green Shirt
6. Party Girl
SIDE B
1. Goon Squad
2. Busy Bodies
3. Sunday’s Best
4. Moods For Moderns
5. Chemistry Class
6. Two Little Hitlers
7. (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?
Live at Hollywood High & Elsewhere 1978 12” LP
SIDE A
1. Accidents Will Happen
2. Mystery Dance
3. Goon Squad
4. Party Girl
5. Stranger In The House
SIDE B
1. Alison
2. Lipstick Vogue
3. Watching The Detectives
4. You Belong To Me
5. Chemistry Class (Live at The Warner Theatre, Washington D.C.)
Europe ‘79 – Live At Pinkpop 12” LP
SIDE A
1. Goon Squad
2. B-Movie
3. Green Shirt
4. (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea
5. Opportunity
6. So Young
7. High Fidelity
SIDE B
1 Lipstick Vogue
2. Watching The Detectives
3. Big Boys
4. Pump It Up
5. You Belong To Me
6. (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?
Sketches for Emotional Fascism 10″ LP
SIDE A
1. Clean Money
2. Talking In The Dark
3. Wednesday Week
4. Tiny Steps
SIDE B
1. Crawling To The U.S.A.
2. Big Boys (Alternate Version)
3. Green Shirt (Demo Version)
4. My Funny Valentine
Riot At The Regent – Live In Sydney ’78 10” LP
SIDE A
1. Oliver’s Army
2. Waiting For The End Of The World
3. Big Boys
SIDE B
1. This Year’s Girl
2. You Belong To Me
3. Pump It Up
Christmas In The Dominion – Live 24th December ‘78 10” LP
SIDE A
1. (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
2. No Dancing
SIDE B
1. I Stand Accused
2. (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?
“Oliver’s Army” 7″
SIDE A
1. Oliver’s Army
Side B
1. Big Boys (Demo)
“Accidents Will Happen” 7”
SIDE A
1. Accidents Will Happen
Side B
1. Busy Bodies (Alternate)
Nick Lowe & His Sound – “American Squirm” 7″
SIDE A
1. American Squirm
Side B
2. (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?