'Til Tuesday - Welcome Home (1996)

It took a lot of guts and integrity for 'Til Tuesday to record Welcome Home. Hitting big with 1985's Voices Carry, Tuesday became known for a sleek, high-tech style of new wave, and it would have been easy enough for the Boston band to come out with a similar album for a follow-up. But instead of playing it safe, Tuesday gambled with inspiration and moved from new wave to a less keyboard-driven, more folk-influenced approach. Listeners who knew Tuesday for "Love in a Vacuum," "No More Crying," and Voices Carry's hit title song found things to be a lot more organic on such personal pop/rock offerings as "David Denies". Lead singer Aimee Mann sounds consistently inspired, and the writing is superb. From a commercial standpoint, the album was too radical a departure from its predecessor. But creatively, Welcome Home was quite a triumph for 'Til Tuesday.