newgazzi Vol 22

We had a lot of fun making this one for you this month.  Sequencing provided by the lovely and talented Heather Heisler, the future Mrs newgazzi!

Track #1 ("Why Not" by Anna Vogelzang)
Hear the entire EP, "Driftless" at Anna's bandcamp page.  It's fantastic!




Track #2 ("Hope Springs" by Wilder Maker)
The very last song we picked for this month's playlist.




Track #3 ("Looped" by Kiasmos)
There is a 2 and a half hour version of this song looping on YouTube!  Sexy!!




Track #4 ("Sweet Ophelia" by Zella Day)
Also featured on Paste recently.




Track #5 ("All the Other Girls" by Avid Dancer)
A favorite of mine (Joey's) this month.




Track #6 ("Kansas City" by The New Basement Tapes)
This generation's Traveling Wilburys?




Track #7 ("Half Crazy" by The Barr Brothers)
Was under consideration for newgazzi Vol 21, but we felt it fit better here.  Great song.




Track #8 ("I'll Make Time For You" by Kristin Diable)
The first 2015 song on newgazzi!

Hear it here !


Track #9 ("Home (Leave the Lights On) by Field Report)
Milwaukee's Very Own !!




Track #10 ("Platinum Girls" by Diarrhea Planet)
My daughter laughs at the band name.  So do I, who am I kidding ...




Track #11 ("Gloria" by Celestial Shore)
From one of my favorite albums of 2014 ...




Track #12 ("Wonderful Things" by Ryan Corn)
Found this on Antenna Sampler.  Very good ...




Track #13 ("Quartz" by TV on the Radio)
Another great 2014 album.  I need to give Return to Cookie Mountain another chance.




Track #14 ("Let It Go" by Saint Saviour)
Not the one all us parents hate.




Track #15 ("Who Are You Waiting For" by Melissa Etheridge)
If I didn't listen to Howard Stern in the morning, I wouldn't be aware this was out.




Thank you so much for reading newgazzi.  Starting on January 1st, 2015, all your favorite newgazzi content can be found exclusively on Facebook.  "Like" newgazzi today on Facebook and you will get your monthly newgazzi playlist and much more pop culture nonsense!

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#38)

(#38, Meet the Beatles! by The Beatles)

I think James Robert Buchholz is smiling down on Belgium, WI this morning.  This album served as an introduction to The Beatles for many Americans, as this was their first release on Capitol Records.













Here is "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Little Child" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#39)

(#39, Reckoning by R.E.M.)

Their best album, could listen to this all day, every day, but I won't, because as much as I love this record, there are 38 albums I love just a little bit more ...














Take a listen to "South Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" and "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#40)

(#40, River of Dreams by Billy Joel)

I had no idea at the time that this would be his last album, and if he never changes his mind, and this winds up being the last album he gave us, he ended with a bang.  Each side of the record has a different feel.  The first side, he's angry.  It's edgy.  It's fantastic.  On the second side, Joel sounds like he's accepted what he's angry about, and while the edge is not there, the songs still work.  Great, great album that I can't get enough of.









Take a listen to "No Man's Land" and "Two Thousand Years" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#41)

(#41, Before These Crowded Streets by Dave Matthews Band)

The songs are a bit darker, but in my opinion, this is Dave Matthews and his band at their very best. The music is very powerful, and the lyrics here are some of Dave Matthews' most personal.  A 71 minute record really needs to be good for me to put it this high on the list, and this is indeed the goods.











Take a listen to "Rapunzel" and "Halloween" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#42)

(#42, Wildflowers by Tom Petty)

The Heartbreakers play on this record, but more as session musicians, for this is a Tom Petty/Rick Rubin brainchild.  This album has everything.  Hard rockers, slow songs that aren't sappy, and everything else in between.  This is his magnum opus.













Here is "Honey Bee" and "To Find a Friend" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#43)

(#43, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane by Elvis Costello)

Perhaps my daughter's favorite album ever.  The music here is some of Costello's best, and damn I love the songs.  I simply have to pick this up on vinyl.














Take a listen to "Down Among the Wines and Spirits" and "My All Time Doll" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#44)

(#44, Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin)

Simply put, one of the greatest hard rock albums of all time, perhaps the greatest, depending on your definition of "hard rock".  42 minutes, very well spent ...















Here is "Black Dog" and "Going to California" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#45)

(#45, I Hate You.  You Always Do This.  by Union Pulse)

Perhaps the greatest album title on this list.  And I'm noticing for the first time today the comma.  James, if you're reading this, shed some light on how you came up with the title of the record.  As for the rest of you, it's time to pony up $9.90 plus tax and buy this on iTunes.












Here is "Do You Wanna Be Right, or Do You Wanna Be Happy?" and "Walking Home Again" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#46)

(#46, Trust by Elvis Costello and the Attractions)

This album really doesn't have any what you would call "signature" Elvis Costello songs, but in my opinion, as a whole, it's one of his finest accomplishments.  Costello calls it "the most drug-influcenced record of my career".  Nevertheless, it is a gem.











Here is "Strict Time" and "Shot With His Own Gun" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#47)

(#47, Time Out by The Dave Brubeck Quartet)

I don't remember exactly where and when I heard this, but I do remember hearing Billy Joel say that this is one of his favorite albums.  Curiosity soon killed my cat, and I had to hear it for myself.  I was instantly hooked.  As I get older, my appreciation for jazz grows and grows, and of all the jazz records I've given time to over the years, this is still my favorite.









Take a listen to "Blue Rondo a la Turk" and "Take Five" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#48)

(#48, Murmur by R.E.M.)

Another album that took me a while to like, because of the quality (or lack thereof) of the disc I owned.  I bought this used at Exclusive Company in the late 90s, and the disc looked like Abdullah the Butcher's forehead.  There's my Dennis Miller wrestling reference for the week.  This was one of the first albums I ended up buying on iTunes about 10 years ago, and a whole new love affair started with the album.










Take a listen to "Radio Free Europe" and "We Walk" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#49)

(#49, Made in England by Elton John)

I've gone on record many times, saying Elton John was the greatest album artist of the 70s, and this album is his best album since the mid 70s, and he hasn't been able to touch it since.  Musically, this may be his best record ever.  I've listened to it hundreds of times, and it seems to get better with every listen.












Take a listen to "Made in England" and "Belfast" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#50)

(#50, Nevermind by Nirvana)

Back in high school, you had your Pearl Jam contingent, you had your Nirvana peeps, and of course, you had Greg Maternowski, waxing poetic about House of Pain.  I was in the Nirvana camp.  Oh, and Butch Vig's mustache.














Take a listen to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "In Bloom" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#51)

(#51, Class Clown Spots A UFO by Guided By Voices)

After disbanding in 2004, the "classic lineup" of GBV reunited in late 2011, releasing six albums over a 30 month period between Jan of 2012 and May of 2013.  Four of them sucked.  One was decent.  And this album is my 51st favorite album of all time!   And this is exactly why I'll take someone like Pollard, who puts out a new record every six months, and in any given 5 year period, 8 of them might be forgettable, but 1 or 2 of them are going to be brilliant.









Here is "Keep It In Motion" and "All of This Will Go" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#52)

(#52, Graceland by Paul Simon)

I remember Mike Birkenbach being a big Paul Simon guy.  Hey, whatever happened to Mike Birkenbach?  Or Dan Gray?  Or Dan Goetzinger?


This is a great record.













Here is "Graceland" and "You Can Call Me Al" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#53)

(#53, The Beatles (White Album) by The Beatles)

I learned with this album that you must have quality copies of the discs to enjoy what is being presented. For years, I didn't like this record, and it turns out it was because my ex-wife had such a crappy copy of the album, that I never could get into it.  It wasn't until the re-issues came out that I gave the album another chance, and it felt like I was hearing these songs for the very first time.  The musicianship is amazing here, and the song cycle is incredible.  So many fantastic tunes here ...








Take a listen to "Glass Onion" and "Blackbird" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#54)

(#54, Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen)

The Boss's self-proclaimed "shot at the title", this is the album that propelled Springsteen into the mainstream.   I still consider this to be his magnum opus, and seeing this performed live in its entirety is still a highlight of my concert going experiences.













Take a listen to "Night" and "Jungleland" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#55)

(#55, The Shepherd's Dog by Iron and Wine)

Kudos to Todd Kemper for being persistent in getting me to give this gentleman my listening ear.  I wasn't a fan at first, but I remember one night, I cleared all my appointments and made it an Iron and Wine night, and finally heard what Todd did.  This is the one I always come back to, the musicianship is incredible, and there's something about his voice that feels like home.











Take a listen to "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car" and "Boy With a Coin" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#56)

(#56, Small Change by Tom Waits)

I read recently that Dave Grohl hates the idea of artists performing classic albums in their entirety at shows.  I'd give anything to see Tom Waits perform this entirely in a small club.















It might sound something like this ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#57)

(#57, Boxer by The National)

Move over U2.  This very well may be the best band in the world.  A big thank you to Matt Schewe for introducing them to me years ago.  While I love this album, you'll have to wait until late December to find out which album of their's I like more ...













Here is "Fake Empire" and "Slow Show" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#58)

(#58, Angel on a Wire by Union Pulse)

Maybe I'm being a homer, but there are five or six songs on this record that are better than most of the songs I hear on the radio on the way to work each morning.  The gentleman behind these song is named James Tristan Redding, who wrote and recorded my 2013 album of the year, Walking Into Brooklyn.    James put out five albums under the moniker "Union Pulse" from 2003-2011, before moving to New York to embark on a solo career.  These songs will always be home to me ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#59)

(#59, Sea Change by Beck)

This came out about six weeks before I moved back to Milwaukee from Eagan, MN, and I probably listened to this every night from the day it came out until I was back, and then some.  Yes, this is Beck's "sad bastard" album, but the music and lyrics are some of his finest ever.













Here is "Guess I'm Doing Fine" and "Lost Cause" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#60)

(#60, Led Zeppelin II by Led Zeppelin)

Not as good as Rocky II, way better than WrestleMania 2, and my 60th greatest album of all time.
















Here is "Whole Lotta Love" and "Heartbreaker" ...

Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums (#61)

(#61, My Aim is True by Elvis Costello)

This is the debut album of one Elvis Costello, but no, Huey Lewis did not appear on this record.  His first backing band, known as Clover, did appear on the record, but were not credited.  There are many signature Costello tunes to hear on this album, and I've been wearing this out for some time ...










Here is "Alison" and "Less Than Zero" ...