(New Wave, Synth-pop) [12"] [24/96] 'Til Tuesday - Voices Carry (Promo) [1985, USA, AS 2010] - 1985, FLAC (tracks)

"Voices Carry" is a song by American new wave band 'Til Tuesday. Written by Aimee Mann, the song was produced by Mike Thorne for the group's debut album Voices Carry, released in 1985.
"Voices Carry" was recorded in 1985 at RPM Sound Studios in New York. The song is about past sour relationships, and was originally written and sung by Aimee Mann as to a woman. 'Til Tuesday rehearsed that format in Boston the previous summer, but Epic was unhappy with the lyrics, they thought that it was a "very powerful, commercial song", and wanted to remove the lesbian components to appeal to the mainstream market.
Despite the pressure to replace the lyrics, producer Mike Thorne thought that "it didn't matter any to the impact of the song itself", and the band eventually changed the gender of the love interest. At the beginning, 'Til Tuesday and Thorne were undecided between "Love in a Vacuum" and "Looking over My Shoulder" to be released as the first single, but ultimately Epic's A&R executive Dick Wingate chose "Voices Carry", because it "define precisely the band and its style". According to Thorne, his contract stated that he had the right to be the first to remix the song for the 7" single release. He was then told that it was remixed by Bob Clearmountain, about this he commented, "not what the rules were but it sounded pretty good, as well it might coming from one of the finest American engineer/producers".
"Voices Carry" was released in the United States in March 1985. It first appeared on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number four, the next week it debuted at number eighty-one on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached a peak position of number eight in its fourteenth week, and stayed twenty-one weeks on the chart, becoming the band's first and only top ten single in the United States. The success of the single helped their debut album reach the top twenty on the Billboard 200 chart, and pushed it past the gold mark.
In Canada, the single entered the RPM singles chart on June 1985 at number ninety-four, peaked at number fifteen for two weeks in August 1985, stayed twenty-two weeks in total, and was certified gold by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). In Australia, "Voices Carry" entered the Kent Music Report on June 17, 1985; it peaked at number fifteen, and spent fourteen weeks on the chart.