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Armed Forces, best version

david ellwood

david ellwood

Kirabosi Kognoscente
I was listening to a little Elvis this evening and got to thinking if I should look out an earlier pressing than my Imp reissue.

It’s a porky’s prime cut if that’s worth owt?
 
david ellwood said:
I was listening to a little Elvis this evening and got to thinking of I should look out an earlier pressing than my Imp reissue.

It’s a porky’s prime cut if that’s worth owt?
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The IMP is just fine. This one if you want the fancy die cut sleeve. It won't have the single any longer but you might find the postcards. Don't drop the money on a mfsl you won't beat the Porky :)

https://www.discogs.com/release/546103-Elvis-Costello-And-The-Attractions-Armed-Forces

This CD has those free tracks and more

https://www.discogs.com/release/1348690-Elvis-Costello-And-The-Attractions-Armed-Forces
 
Radar first press is all I’ve ever listened to on vinyl. The Rhino 2CD was ok but not noticeably better.
 
I’ve got the UK original with the fold-out sleeve and can’t see any reason to change that. It sounds great IMO. One of the better albums before he started trying to put far too much on each side. A lot of the later stuff would really benefit from being cut as a double.
 
Get Happy! is certainly a bit full but thats not true of all the rest because some of the songs are quite short. Trust, Almost Blue, Imperial Bedroom, Punch The Clock, Goodbye Cruel World and Blood & Chocolate all sound very good (whatever we might think of Langer and Winstanley!) King of America, Spike and Mighty Like a Rose are a bit long possibly but they did have computer controlled cutting gear by then and that was the end of the classic LP era. Interestingly (?) he did release When I Was Cruel on double LP in 2002 (that's a pretty rare record today).
 
Tony L said:
Clive Langer was a member of Deaf School and Big In Japan, so can do no wrong!
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Clanger! He think he even signs himself off that way.

I do like Punch The Clock myself but Goodbye Cruel World doesn't work, although some of the material is excellent.
 
gavreid said:
I do like Punch The Clock myself but Goodbye Cruel World doesn't work, although some of the material is excellent.
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Punch The Clock is a great sounding album IMO. Maybe a bit of a shock at the time as it was an obvious change of direction from what went before. I can’t remember ever hearing Goodbye Cruel World! I’ve not got a copy. Langer and Winstanley produced a lot of good stuff over the years, list here on Wikipedia. A lot of very different sounding stuff too, so they didn’t seem to force a band into their already defined aesthetic world the way many producers can (e.g. you can spot Phil Spector, Martin Hannett, Martin Rushent, Trevor Horn etc a mile away).
 
Goodbye Cruel World was a huge disappointment at the time. He’d been playing a lot of the songs live and they were really damn good but unfortunately the performances and production on the album just didn’t work. Daryl Hall and Green feature but it was I guess a case of diversifying a bit too much too soon.
 
Just skipped through a few tracks from Goodbye Cruel World and I agree. It just doesn’t work. I like a good naff ‘80s production as much as anyone, but it grates there. As a comparison Teardrop Explodes’ Wilder is great.
 
EC hated it and it didn't help that the band was falling apart too but it is the production that's at fault. This from Wiki

Although he hated the record on its initial release, Costello's view on Goodbye Cruel World has lightened in subsequent decades. Describing it as "the worst record of the best songs that I've written",[2] he felt the lyrics were stronger than Punch the Clock, but believed its production led to the songs' lack of success; in the 2004 liner notes, he deemed Nieve's Yamaha DX7 synthesiser as having dated the record's sound more.[6][5] He also regretted bringing back Langer and Winstanley as producers.[6] The former even recalled, upon receiving a final copy: "I remember listening to it and saying, 'Oh ****, it's no good.' It's a crap album."[4] Although their future with the artist had been unclear, particularly following Costello's dismissal of them during the sessions for King of America (1986), Costello brought the Attractions back for Blood & Chocolate (1986).[39] Bruce Thomas later said that Goodbye Cruel World "would have been a rotten album to end on."
 
I read that earlier. I’m surprised by the extent Langer and Winstanley appeared to push the direction given the diversity of the rest of their catalogue. Obviously very hard to get a clear picture given it sounds like the whole band was imploding, but it is a shame it fell so far from Costello’s ‘ragged folk rock’ intent. Hard to picture it falling any further from that to be honest. I guess so many bands were doing that slick shiny ‘80s digital sound at the time (Prefab Sprout etc) it was just expected.
 
Tony L said:
I read that earlier. I’m surprised by the extent Langer and Winstanley appeared to push the direction given the diversity of the rest of their catalogue. Obviously very hard to get a clear picture given it sounds like the whole band was imploding, but it is a shame it fell so far from Costello’s ‘ragged folk rock’ intent. Hard to picture it falling any further from that to be honest. I guess so many bands were doing that slick shiny ‘80s digital sound at the time (Prefab Sprout etc) it was just expected.
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In contrast, do you remember his solo performance of All You Need Is Love at Live Aid? I don't think many could have pulled that off.
 
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