Record (Re)Collection: Clark Westfield Of The Gay Blades On Elvis Costello & The Attraction’s “Armed Forces”

Let’s face it, who doesn’t love at least one Elvis Costello record? True, the man may be judged for his latter day sins at this point, but the man created some perfect pop records early on in his career. The Gay Blades guitarist/vocalist Clark Westfield examines Costello’s Armed Forces in his Record (Re)Collection. Check it out below. Be sure to check out The Gay Blades latest full-length Ghosts, out now from Triple Crown/4Never Records.

“Alison” is a song that lives in the ether of music history. It’s a song that everyone knows, but when you are a kid, you never bother to know who the artist is. It isn’t The Beatles or The Stones. It isn’t Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. It isn’t even David Bowie, not that you know any of his songs besides “Captain Tom” anyway. “Alison” sounds like something in which Steely Dan (who you know cause your dad loves “Reeling In The Years”) might have had a hand in, and it really is good enough to live on the fringe of the great song lists. It’s pleasant and interesting enough to remember the words, but as a budding adolescent barraged with terrible pap and no cool older siblings, it’s never intriguing enough to really turn you on.

But a bunch of years later, when the old man plays My Aim Is True in its entirety, however, I finally discover the context in which “Alison” exists. On a record of bashed out concise pop songs, so brittle and urgent, so refreshing and yet so ancient sounding, the very plain and jazz tinged ballad is luckily the red herring. It’s an important discovery, because even though I love the collection of songs, I feel myself loving the artist even more. True, My Aim Is True is as brilliant a debut as one could hope for and This Year’s Model is a nearly perfect pop effort, but Elvis Costello’s third full length, Armed Forces, is just fucking aces, and in this humble, barely literate fan’s opinion, it is Costello’s best work.

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Somehow, it just feels like the most important of the three; maintaining that unmistakably melodic and irreverent tongue that drew me in the first place and making him my ultimate hero.

Armed Forces begins with “Accidents Can Happen” and my hero’s perfectly choked tenor “OHHHHH I-I-I-I-I-I” completely unaccompanied until The Attractions fall in line on the hardest third syllables ever uttered in the history of music. It’s the most deliciously disjointed piece on the record. Elvis’ vocal melody and bass line joust back in forth for the entirety of the song, handing off the responsibility of leading the fray. You can feel the weight of this record from its heavy production, so clean and smart, that’s also raw enough to hear the musicians behind the effort playing with, well, effort. As you maniac audiophiles know, Elvis shared production duties with none other than Beatles’ engineer and sonic genius, Geoffrey Emerick.

There’s something all grown up feeling about this record that isn’t felt on MAIT and TYM. The lyrics were always smart, but these lyrics are smarter. Maybe it’s a little less “fun.” Maybe it’s a bit more challenging sonically, lyrically and arrangement-wise. I don’t know what it is, but come on, “Goon Squad” is so strange and provocative, drenched in reverb and [a] punchy bass line.

“Green Shirt” is a perfect example of how they use the instrumentation as the main characters in the stage production Costello’s biting lyrics are narrating. It’s practically a fucking rock opera.

As a whole, I think Elvis Costello’s career is a perfect arc for an artist. You grow up and create more challenging work until you alienate everyone and then emerge for the next generation to unearth your earlier shit. All the while you’re relevant, but maybe just on the fringe of the greatest hits set. Plus, he never did interviews and probably never wrote about his favorite artists in a music blog (the lack of music blogs notwithstanding.)

Elvis Costello has been there whether I knew it or not. God damn, he’s amazing. Go listen to Armed Forces right now and tell me you don’t just smile in awe of his brilliance and kick yourself for not being so unique and your band for not being as smart.