Elvis Costello revealed he's prepping a major boxed set edition of his 1979 classic third album, Armed Forces. Costello will release his latest album, Hey Clockface, on October 30th.
Costello — who's renowned for the generous helping of rare and unreleased material he offers up each time his catalogue gets reissued — spoke about the latest overhaul by Universal, telling Billboard, “I can’t imagine there being another edition of releases after this one. And the first will be a six-record set based on Armed Forces. There are all those sayings about history repeating itself. It’s not something you can plan for. That said, I think Armed Forces holds up pretty well. And the package includes three live recordings ranging from the summer of ‘78 to the summer of ‘79, so it traces the development of the Attractions as a live act, from a club combo to a successful pop group — it’s quite interesting to hear. I had expert help in photographing my handwritten notebooks. So you’re getting something.” There's been no announcement as to when Costello's latest reissue series will kick off.
Costello shed light on the period covering the album and its subsequent tour dates, which flung the Attractions all over the globe: “There’s a difference between the person who made the record and the person who was on the road — constantly from the summer of 1977 to the summer of 1979, while making two albums during that time. The disarray of my life has been written about. So look at what the songs are saying, not the words that came out of my mouth on one night.”