Are you listening?
Subtitle: the top 100 albums of 2001-2010 from New Jersey artists
By: Gary Wien ; foreward by Lazlo of Blowupradio.com
Publisher: [Gary Wien Publications]
Published: 2011
Place of publication: [Belmar, N.J.]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 314
ISBN-13: 9780983685715
Subjects: Music; History and criticism; Biography; Musicians; Pictorial works; Popular music
Description: "This past decade will be looked back upon as a rather significant one for the record industry. It was the era when compact discs would begin to be replaced by digital downloads; thus ending a long line of storage media for music from 78s to vinyl, eight-tracks to cassette tapes. Ironically, it was also an era that saw technology make the recording process easier and more affordable than ever for artists; leading to the development of home studios that could create products equal to the best commercial recordings. The years 2001-2010 may be remembered as the final decade of the recording industry as we knew it. The idea of documenting the best records from the end of the compact disc era to the beginning of the digital era fascinated me. Since this time period was also the first decade in which I was actually able to make a living as a music journalist, I felt a special connection to the albums that I covered. My writings largely dealt with local artists, so I decided to focus on the artists with a strong connection to New Jersey. Since most of the decade followed 9/11, I thought it would be interesting to see how that event affected the music from this area. This also was the first generation in a long time to come of age with America at war for most of their lives. I wondered how growing up with war would seep into the lyrics of emerging songwriters. Looking back through the albums in this book, much of the best work was inspired by 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over the years I had amassed a collection of nearly 1,000 records by New Jersey artists released between 2001 and 2010. That was my starting point . I then spent several months searching the web for any mention of artists who might be from New Jersey and tracked down their music from websites like Napster.com and CDbaby.com. By the end, I had listened to and graded about 2,200 records. Each grade was put into a MYSQL database which produced a list of the top 100 records. I listened to those 100 records hundreds of times to come up with the final order. I was looking for great records not just records with a great song or two. Digital downloads of singles harken back to the beginning of rock and roll and 45s. With more and more artists releasing songs one at a time, the concept of the album may be obsolete. These 100 records are the best of an era that we may never see again.-----Gary Wien."
Notes: Special color and e-book versions available at www.njmusic.org.

Two pages are devoted to each album. One page has a photograph of the artist or group with the album title and list of songs on the album. A facing page contains commentary about the album and some biographical information. On pages 210-213 there is the author's list of the top 100 songs of the decade compiled while ranking the albums which would result in "a 6 and 1/2 hour mixtape of Jersey music."
Table of contents: title: Welcome interstate managers  -- Fountains of Wayne; title: The rising / Bruce Springsteen --; title: The black parade  -- My Chemical Romance; title: Pride: the cold lover  -- Red Wanting Blue; title: Further down the line  -- Brian Fitzpatrick; title: The '59 sound  -- The Gaslight Anthem; title: Razing a nation  -- Arlan Feiles; title: Come on get gone  -- The Commons; title: Temperance & the devil  -- Brian Molnar and the Naked Hearts; title: Who the hell is John Eddie?  -- John Eddie; title: Sunlight searchparty  -- Val Emmich; title: The long evening  -- Keith Monacchio; title: Ghosts  -- The Gay Blades; title: The model citizen LP  -- Tommy Strazza; title: Euphoria  -- Echo Screen; title: The lights of Brigantine  -- George Wirth; title: Shades of the prison house  -- Anthony D'Amato; title: Between the city & the stratosphere  -- Maybe Pete; title: This town  -- Jon Caspi; title: An endless doubt  -- Zak Smith; title: Anchors aweigh  -- The bouncing souls; title: Live like you know what you're leaving  -- Wicker Hollow; title: Sitting/Waiting / Bruce Tunkel --; title: Slow down kid  -- Val Emmich; title: Eastern empire  -- Lost in Society; title: Crazy places we take ourselves  -- Casual Gypsies; title: Dirt waffle  -- The Commons; title: Everything between the moon and the sun  -- The Amboys; title: These magnificent miles  -- Red Wanting Blue; title: Songs for a sinking ship  -- April Smith & the Great Picture Show; title: Eddie knows  -- Jon Caspi; title: The company you keep  -- John Gorka; title: Come Sunday morning  -- Arlan Feiles; title: Everybody dies  -- Dramarama; title: I slept ...  -- Mimi Cross; title: How I spent my summer vacation  -- The Bouncing Souls; title: Pancakes and martinis  -- Maybe Pete; title: Declaration of codependence  -- Rick Barry; title: Smile goodbye to the kings & clowns  -- James Dalton; title: American anthems vol. 1  -- The Milwaukees; title: The life you're faking  -- Dipsomaniacs; title: Down wires  -- Anthony D'Amato; title: When the day breaks  -- Joe Whyte; title: South Ridgeway avenue  -- Ken Shane; title: American slang  -- The Gaslight Anthem; title: The gold record  -- The Bouncing Souls; title: Definitely overdue  -- Divine Sign; title: Paint your dreams  -- Lisa Bouchelle; title: An American tale  -- Echo Screen; title: Brian Molnar  -- Brian Molnar; title: Maria Woodford & Alex Radus  -- Duende; title: Transcendence  -- Fairmont; title: Cymbals at dawn  -- Bob Burger; title: Bleed together  -- The Contes; title: The monitor  -- Titus Andronicus; title: Worse for wear  -- Brian Fitzpatrick and the Band of Brothers; title: I'm all in  -- Christine Martucci Band; title: Butterflies and passerbys  -- James Dalton; title: The mill stone  -- Alex Brumel & Janel Elizabeth; title: Social crutch  -- Dipsomaniacs; title: I'm not angry ... anymore  -- Jon Caspi; title: Peripheral division  -- Frank Thewes; title: What in samhill?  -- Highway 9; title: Laura Warshauer  -- Laura Warshauer; title: On the second floor  -- Jessie Poland; title: The last good kiss  -- George Wirth; title: Christian Beach  -- Christian Beach; title: 4th and Broadway  -- Eryn Shewell; title: Greatest hits vol. 1  -- Status Green; title: Through the feeling  -- Soul's release; title: Anna Kournikova  -- Binge; title: Rusty water  -- Janey Todd; title: Songs about you  -- Sunday Allstars; title: In the basement with Rosie  -- Michael Brett; title: Neptune City  -- Nicole Atkins; title: Alive on the vine  -- Readymade Breakup; title: Stereosoul  -- Stereosoul; title: All man the guns for America  -- Steel Mill; title: Return to me  -- Sean Cox; title: Skip the goodbyes  -- Amfibian; title: Fire away  -- Kill The Alarm; title: Foundry street  -- Bill Owens Five; title: Living well is the best revenge  -- Midtown; title: Little daggers  -- Val Emmich; title: Songs of freedom  -- Mark Linskey; title: When strangers say hello  -- Anthony Walker; title: Day I forgot  -- Pete Yorn /; title: Cheap sunglasses  -- Status Green; title: Priorities  -- Temporary Grace; title: Spanish Radio  -- deSol; title: War all the time  -- Thursday; title: The successful failures  -- The Successful Failures; title: The twelve o'clock ep  -- Jason Lockart Band; title: Full out freak  -- Full Out Freak; title: Find your way home  -- The Silence; title: Revolutions  -- Agency; title: Shadow & splendor  -- Stacie Rose; title: The rise of palace depression  -- The Cryptkeeper Five; title: There and back again  -- Wiser Time; title: Little things -- Toby Lightman.