Elvis Costello

The bilious emotions hurtling through Elvis Costello's previous release, This Year's Model, may've taken some attention off of the consistently high level of his songwriting. The less sonically brutal Armed Forces helped change that. The album's slightly retro-futurist keyboard sound still screams "NEW WAVE!" but the stylistic underpinnings of each track show that Costello had a keen interest in pretty much every single pop form of the past. The era-defining songs include "Oliver's Army," "Accidents Will Happen," Party Girl" and "Green Shirt." Costello's third masterwork in a row, this was his only album to enter the American Top 10.

Consider "Oliver's Army," the pièce de résistance on Elvis Costello's Armed Forces, an
album that's a killer in several senses of the word. The tune sounds bright and bouncy,
with a jangly keyboard riff along the lines of "Here Comes Santa Claus," and it's enough to
make you want to rock around the room. But sit down, Fred, and get a load of the lyrics
you're dancing to: There was a Checkpoint Charlie He didn't crack a smile But it'... More >