The troubles in Northern Ireland during the 1970s inspired the song Oliver’s Army, which served as the lead single from Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces album. Despite its serious subject matter, the song’s upbeat music (with the keyboard riff inspired by ABBA’s Dancing Queen) made it a hit, spending three weeks at number two and remaining in the UK charts for twelve weeks, becoming Costello’s most successful single in the country.
The contrast between the lyrics and music is stark, a point acknowledged by Costello himself. The song was recorded at Eden Studios in London, utilising a custom 32-track console based on Neve circuitry and JBL 4350 monitors. The recording was done on an Ampex MM1200 with Dolby A noise reduction, running at 15 ips.
Effects were used sparingly on the recording of Oliver’s Army, including EMT 140 plate reverb for vocals, Urie 1176 and DBX160 compressors, an Electro-Harmonix Phaser, and an early harmoniser
