Retro Spins: 'Til Tuesday - Welcome Home

It's been a bit since I first touched base with 'Til Tuesday. When I played through their debut, Voices Carry, I stated that while the album was pretty good, it was lacking commercial hits, beyond the title track.

The band was formed in 1982 by Aimee Mann, Robert Holmes, Joey Pesce, and Michael Hausman. Together, they found early notoriety by winning Boston's WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble in 1983. Soon thereafter, their single, Love Is A Vacuum began to see steady rotation on radio stations. This garnered the attention of Epic Records, who signed them.

While the single would be re-recorded for their 1985 debut, the title track, Voices Carry would become their breakthrough single, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video would become a staple on MTV, aiding in album sales. This was followed by the minor single, Looking Over My Shoulder, which reached number sixty-one. As a whole, the album would push enough units to gain gold certification in both Canada and the USA.

Their follow-up, 1986's Welcome Home, would also produce a couple hits, and reach gold certification in the USA. However, it's overall performance would fail to meet expectations. Lead single, What About Love, would peak at twenty-six, and the album's second single, Coming Up Close, at Fifty-Nine. Despite this, critical reaction was generally in favor of the record.

Playing through it, the band seems to have abandoned their prior rock / new wave sound, instead drifting into a more straightforward rock, if not soft rock album. The tracks are okay; they just don't pack any punch.

What About Love, Coming Up Close, and Lovers' Day, while standout tracks among the bunch, weren't what I'd call great, nor memorable. Frankly, I'm not surprised. I mean, respectfully, essentially the entire world moved on from 'Til Tuesday relatively quickly. Like I said in my previous post, most people consider them a one hit wonder.

Upon its release, Pesce would leave the band, and be replaced by Michael Montes. The band would come back with one final record, 1988's Everything's Different Now, an album heavily shaped by lead singer Mann's breakup with Jules Shear. We'll get into all of that tomorrow.

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