'Til Tuesday - Voices Carry

Voices Carry was the debut album by 'Til Tuesday, and the title track is one of the best songs to come out of the '80s. Of course I'm a wee bit biased. The band would only release three albums before calling it a day. Oddly the band's commercial trajectory was inverse to the quality of its releases (at least that's how I remember it, I've not listened to them in decades). I really liked the followup Welcome Home, but I loved the band's final album Everything's Different Now - but by the time it was released people had moved on, and as time marched on 'Til Tuesday was more or less relegated to one hit wonder status. Which was a shame. When Aimee started dropping solo records I picked them up as they came out, although I'll admit that after Lost in Space in 2002 my interest started to wane but I kept up with things until 2012's Charmer. I have yet to hear her last few albums.

I've gotten way ahead of myself.

When this dropped in '85 it was so fresh, and so different and so good. "Voices Carry" was the single that resonated, and it's really the only song I remember hearing on the radio and the video got a lot of airtime. The song obviously struck a chord and people wanted to hear more ... I wanted to hear more. The album would go gold in the US and in Canada.

Aimee Mann is a ferocious bass player and her voice conveys so much emotion she could recite an eye chart and I'd get a lump in my throat. The bass is forward in the mix, and it's tight, crisp and hits you in the chest. A big part of the band's sound was grounded in Robert Holmes' ethereal guitar work. One could simply say he was simply extending the "Edge Effect" but let's be honest, U2 was certainly a big band, but The Joshua Tree was a couple of years out on the horizon. If anything I'd go out on a thin branch and say the architect a lot of '80s guitar players emulated, whether it's acknowledged or not, was the bespectacled Paul Reynolds from A Flock of Seagulls. This isn't to sleep on drummer Michael Hausman and keyboardist Joey Pesce. 'Til Tuesday was a band, and everyone was in sync and while Aimee was the face and voice they were a band.

It's funny, despite "Voices Carry" being the band's signature song, this was the album I tended to sleep on when thinking of the relatively short run 'Til Tuesday experienced. It's been a real treat going back and spending time getting reacquainted with the album Voices Carry. This was so much better than I remember it being, and I always thought it was good, I'd forgotten how good.

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