Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark - Sugar Tax

My best friend in high school, Todd, bought this album on December 21st 1996. I remember because we were at Rockaway Records (now Rockzone Records) and I bought four CD's (Return of the Rentals, 1977,  Fables of the Reconstruction, and The Eagles Greatest Hits, the last one being a Christmas gift for my Dad). It was the day after we saw Weezer on the Pinkerton tour at the long gone Electric Ballroom in Tempe, AZ. We listened to our new acquisitions on the four hour ride back home. I heard this album somewhere between Globe and Show Low.

Enough with the specifics of where I heard this album for the first time. Sugar Tax seems to be a bit controversial. Critics don't like it, and the fans are split on whether or not it is any good. I really love it, but I don't think it has anything to do with when or where I heard it. Todd also bought a double disc live Eurythmics album that I couldn't stand, so I know it isn't nostalgia that makes me love Sugar Tax so. I just really love the songs. I think "Pandora's Box" "Was it Something I Said" and "All That Glitters" are among the very best OMD songs ever written. I'm never not moved by "Apollo XI" no matter how hard I try. "Big Town" hits me in the same place Petula Clark's "Downtown" does. I just really really like this album and have nothing to say to critics and haters that would make them change their minds. I think it's really a matter of personal preference. Anyway, give Sugar Tax a listen and you'll either love or hate it.