Armed Forces (studio album) by Elvis Costello And The Attractions

Armed Forces by Elvis Costello And The Attractions
Year: 1979
Overall rank: 931st   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 452 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 1979 (16th)
Award Top albums of the 1970s (199th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (931st)
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Elvis Costello And The Attractions - Armed Forces FoldOut LP + 7" EP + Postcards
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A602508852336 Elvis Costello And The Attractions - Armed Forces (Super Delu4e
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Elvis Costello And The Attractions Armed Forces Vinyl LP
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Elvis Costello And The Attractions bestography

Armed Forces is ranked 3rd best out of 12 albums by Elvis Costello And The Attractions on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Elvis Costello And The Attractions is Imperial Bedroom which is ranked number 803 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 2,247.

Elvis Costello And The Attractions album bestography « Higher ranked (879th) This album (931st) Lower ranked (2,380th) »
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Armed Forces track list

  Track ratingsTrack ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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2.
Rating: 83 (64 votes)Comments: 0
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Rating: 89 (121 votes)Comments: 0
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Rating: 80 (57 votes)Comments: 0
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Rating: 85 (75 votes)Comments: 0
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Rating: 84 (65 votes)Comments: 0
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Rating: 84 (72 votes)Comments: 0
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Rating: 82 (59 votes)Comments: 0
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Rating: 79 (58 votes)Comments: 0
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Rating: 80 (61 votes)Comments: 0
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Armed Forces rankings

Armed Forces collection

Armed Forces ratings

Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 452 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 452 ratings for this album.

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03/09/2024 04:23 Proto  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 62442/100
 
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02/26/2024 10:37 Johnnyo  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 8,66677/100
 
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02/21/2024 11:20 JamesMowbray  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 3,88470/100
 
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02/16/2024 00:28 sszwalbenest  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,62476/100
 
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02/10/2024 04:32 Gendjar  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 4,69856/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.6/100, a mean average of 78.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.9.

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Armed Forces comments

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Rating:  
90/100
From 12/10/2023 22:27
Finishes off a really strong late '70s trilogy for Costello off the heels of My Aim Is True and This Year's Model. I don't think it's quite as strong as those two, since it doesn't quite reach the same heights and sags a little in the middle, but still a great album replete with Costello's snarky vocals and lyrics. Accidents Will Happen, Green Shirt, Senior Service, Goon Squad, Oliver's Army, Party Girl—all excellent songs. Here's a rare instance where the American version is superior to the original, as the album's worst track (Sunday's Best) is replaced in favor of what becomes the album's best track (What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding).
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Rating:  
85/100
From 01/07/2023 18:21
Elvis Costello's third album, "Armed Forces" is, like all his early albums, inspired and full of fine songs. Nick Lowe produced Costello's first five albums and thus he played a big part in securing Costello artistic and commercial success. In contrast to the raw and slightly punky sound of the first two albums a more produced and polished sound characterizes this album.
You might thus well fear that Costello's music would lose some of the edge that made him interesting and relevant in the first place. This is by no means the case, partly because his songwriting on this album is so strong, probably the most consistent of any of his numerous albums.

Songs like "Accidents Will Happen" and "Oliver's Army" with its Abba sound are well-known classics, but several of the lesser known songs also have a durability that makes them great listening still and songs you may feel like singing along with. "Busy Bodies," "Two Little Hitlers" and the magnificent "Chemistry Class" are among my absolute Costello favourites. In fact there is only one or two songs on this highly successful album which do not quite hold level. "Moods of the Modern's" has never really been my cup of tea, and "Goon Squad" is a rather ordinary rocker.

As an added bonus, this edition features Costello's version of Nick Lowe's legendary "What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding" - a song originally found on Brinsley Schwarz's last album.

If you think you could settle for just one Costello album, "Armed Forces" would be a good choice.

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Rating:  
65/100
From 09/13/2022 09:53
There is so much filler content on this record and the album only has 2 or 3 great songs and the rest just fade into the background. The ones that always stand out to me are Oliver's Army and Accidents Will Happen. Both are classic Costello with his infectious voice dominating the tracks and the Attractions putting in a fantastic performance in backing him up. These two songs are so energetic and catchy and this makes the dramatic fall off of the record feel even worse. Basically every song except the two I mentioned are filler and provide nothing to the record. You could skip those songs and I don't think anyone would be missing out on anything. None of the songs are bad but they just do nothing and don't really have that charm and infectious nature we are used to with Costello. Overall, this was quite a disappointing record for me as Costello has shown he can create brilliant music but he doesn't show it on here.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 06/16/2022 15:13
Not as good as his previous records, but still very strong album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 10/14/2021 18:30
superb - not flawless
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Rating:  
100/100
From 07/23/2019 18:34
Favorite Tracks:Big Boys, Busy Bodies, Sunday's Best
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Rating:  
80/100
From 10/16/2018 13:03
Accidents Will Happen, Oliver's Army and Goon Squad are great tracks, the rest are mediocre at best.
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Rating:  
70/100
From 02/25/2018 06:30
This is the weakest of Costello's run of albums from his debut to 1982's Imperial Bedroom. This is somewhat of an unpopular opinion, and there was a time when I would have disagreed with anyone who held it. But, it is hard to deny that it sounds a bit dated, and after the first five songs, which are ridiculously strong, I find myself less enamored with the others (except Little Hitlers, which I think is a fine closer). Still a great album - at this point Costello was incapable of making anything less - but not one of my favourites.
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Rating:  
80/100
From 02/15/2018 00:01
My first Elvis Costello album. Really, really good all the way through. Songs are good or great.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 02/04/2018 17:52
Definitely some of Elvis Costello's best songs, but they're not all great.
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Best Albums of 1979
1. London Calling by The Clash
2. The Wall by Pink Floyd
3. Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division
4. Fear Of Music by Talking Heads
5. Entertainment! by Gang Of Four
6. Breakfast In America by Supertramp
7. Off The Wall by Michael Jackson
8. Rust Never Sleeps by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
9. Highway To Hell by AC/DC
10. Tusk by Fleetwood Mac
11. Reggatta De Blanc by The Police
12. Damn The Torpedoes by Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
13. Metal Box by Public Image Ltd.
14. The B-52's by The B-52's
15. Specials by The Specials
16. Armed Forces by Elvis Costello And The Attractions
17. Singles Going Steady by Buzzcocks
18. 154 by Wire
19. Setting Sons by The Jam
20. Y by The Pop Group
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