475: Elvis Costello & The Attractions — Armed Forces (Radar/Columbia, 1979)

Overall rating: 4
Level of Prior Familiarity: 4
How I Listened: Vinyl, then on Spotify while writing this

Weekends are made for vinyl. Despite working in the music business, and every office having a turntable, I listen to surprisingly little vinyl at work. Mostly this is because I’m interrupted by sound every couple minutes — the nature of working in the digital sphere is that I’m constantly watching/editing/shooting video, proofing MP3s, previewing assets, or whatever.

This is exactly why I embarked on this RS500 experiment to begin with: to restore my attention span.

As I mentioned in a prior review, vinyl is a format that demands attention. If you want to get all the way through an album, you have no choice but to flip sides, at least once, sometimes more. And the format itself begs for attention, with its giant artwork and liner notes and all the other fun things that have been left by the wayside in our streaming world.

I’ve listened to this album dozens of times, mostly back in the MP3 era. But pulling out the vinyl and letting it rip is a different experience entirely. The tight instrumentation, and Elvis’ in-your-face vocal mix just pops on a turntable. It’s a fine work of art, a collection of truly great songs, equal parts humorous and political and just plain fun. It’s not my favorite Costello album (that one comes in at #168 on the list!), but it’s a great way to spend an hour on a weekend afternoon.

Bonus points: I love the cover artwork.

Extra bonus points: That section of “Party Girl” that rips the ending of “You Never Give Me Your Money” and “Carry That Weight.”