Voices Carry

Fans of Aimee Mann's uniformly excellent solo work get spitting mad when this is pointed out, but to the average radio listener, the Boston-bred singer-songwriter is a one-hit wonder from the mid '80s. This one hit, 1985's "Voices Carry" is one of the most distinctive radio singles of its era, it's true: Mike Thorne's airy, spacious production does wonders both for Mann's breathy voice and the time-release hooks in the chorus, which brilliantly releases the tension that builds throughout the stark, paranoid verses. Unfortunately, more people remember the gimmicky, dialogue-filled video, Mann's in retrospect unfortunate hairstyle (remember the teensy little braid?), and the fact that the rest of this album was actually pretty dire than checked out Til Tuesday's far superior second and third albums, cementing the place of "Voices Carry" in the retro hell in which it remains.