Armed Forces

Used to listen to this one a lot

Eh

2

it's interesting...it feels like glam rock and reggae fusion a little bit. i could NOT get through this album when i first tried to listen - now that i am getting through it its pretty good... i would say 3.5 but ill round down because it was so hard to listen to at first. oliver's army is a good song but has a little bit of a jumpscare! my favorite was probably sundays best

My actual favourite Elvis Costello album. Yes, he has too many albums on this here list. This one deserves its place on any list. All killer, no filler. What's So Funny..... is one of the best cover versions of all time.
Great Cover Art.

Elvis Costello has recorded in so many various styles over the years. I like some of his work but wouldn’t call myself a super fan. But this album has some good energy and I like it more than not. 3.75

I admit the snarling nasal voice does tone down somewhat as he gets older, but on here it's in insufferable overdrive and it cancels out any toleration credits that are earned by the presence of a couple of minor hits (Accidents Will Happen & Oliver's Army). All the other tracks are gratingly similar.

Regarded as a generational talent. I just don't get it.

Good stuff but need to lyrics more closely.

How many more records by this insipid toad must I endure. This is number 5 at least on here so far and I have two more in my backlog. This one is not made better by the clownish Bowie impersonation and Nazi references.

Elvis Costello is never a bad listen, but nothing on this album was particularly exciting either. It did do a good job getting my head bobbing though, so I will give it that.

Awful

I will never get Elvis Costello. This is a good album, but is it actually great?

Look, I don’t dislike Elvis Costello. He’s perfectly fine. Listening to this album was a pleasant enough experience. He’s got some fun little songs. But why oh why are there FIVE more albums of his on this list?!? I know there’s worse stuff on here but plenty of good music was left off so we could listen to six full albums from Elvis Costello

Елвіс Костелло це загадка для мене. Багато разів я намагався слухати, але так і не зміг зрозуміти прикол цієї музики. Звісно ж це не є поганий альбом або щось таке, але і зрозуміти в чому суть я не можу.

I don't understand the enthusiasm for Elvis Costello. The pop is mediocre, Elvis' voice is terrible. After listening to a few tracks, this album got on my nerves so much that I didn't want to hear the rest of it. This is now the third album of his in this project. But since he seems to be very popular with the editors, I fear that my hope of finally being done with him here is unfounded. 1/5

Probably the best Costello album I've surfaced through this, still too many but shame they're not all this good

What can I say, it's a typical Elvis Costello album. I enjoyed some of the songs and the overall album was pretty decent, if not very impactful to me. I feel that part of the reason Elvis Costello became a bit of a meme on here is because he doesn't just have 7 different albums, but they all sound similar to each other. I've heard 4 of them so far but none of them really sounded all too different from one another. Elvis Costello isn't a Tom Waits or David Bowie who made radical stylistic changes throughout his career. He's just a guy who makes well written pop rock songs.

An important album stylistically, though admittedly not his best. Arriving between the peak of the punk movement of the 70s and New Wave that is about to burgeon in the 80s, Armed Forces presages the trends and sounds that would dominate the next decade.
Costello seemlessly moves from style to style, hitting the early alternative notes of Green Shirt, the pop-rock ballad of Big Boys and the hard rock style of Goon Squad with ease. His voice is not the most tuneful or melodic you’ve ever heard, but the delivery is so filled conviction and passion, it works. And he writes great songs, lyrically and musically, even if both are a bit quirky. He doesn’t sound like anyone or anything else out there and that is what makes him so iconic.
There are better albums that show the depth of his work and more growth and maturity, but this early stuff is still a pretty engaging listen.

Costello continues with his 50's inspired new wave sounds, sounding as effortlessly cool as ever. However, I will say that it's just not really grabbing me. Luckily, they remembered to have hooks this go around (Imperial Bedroom was hookless), but yeah. Just not hitting my ears like Next Year's Model did.

It's better than Imperial Bedroom, just Next Year's Model is my benchmark for 4s when it comes to Costello, and this doesn't hit that level.

Solid album though.

Sudden n-word, the infamous goon squad, 2 little austrian painters. And of course random elephants on the cover. ABSOLUTE CINEMA

Wieder basic rock :/…
4/10