Eric Spitznagel

Books and Music are my life. The only thing that keeps me going other than reading is music. I can't even read while listening to music because my brain automatically starts grooving with the beat. That's why I didn't want to let go of the opportunity to read this book. It seemed like a great way to discover the music preferences of those who make us dance to their beat.

One line in this book says, "If you really wanna know a person, know more about the album they listened to in the dark." show more That sort of sums up the premise of this book. Author Eric Spitznagel meets with quite a few rockstars to get to know what they rock to. His interesting range of questions makes his respondents open up their hearts to the music of their earlier years. The musicians come from varied social levels, varied educational backgrounds, and varied genres of music. Honestly, I haven't even heard of many of those interviewed for this book. But that doesn't take away from the experience. What binds them all is the name they have made for themselves in the rock world and the passion they have for music. Both of these come out vividly in this book and hence the lack of familiarity isn't a constraint. I really enjoyed getting to know the artists better.

The book reaffirms the idea that all of us stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. It was so interesting to get an insight into what motivated those who motivated us towards music. The resultant list reads like the who's who of the music world. This book is a treat for all rhythm afficionados.

In fact, the entire book creates a great deal of nostalgia. As the musicians mention A tracks and LPs and cassettes and record shops, you can't help but go down memory lane. As one of the musicians says,
"Most of what's there today is just show." And I completely agree. Autotune can never substitute true talent, and Spotify can't replace the experience of browsing through record stores.

In an interview, the questions are as important as the responses. The author, who is also the interviewer, is very knowledgeable about his topic, and it shows. He knows exactly what to ask to make the interviews interesting and keep the conversation following. He also interjects humorous retorts in between the responses. The result is that the book doesn't become repetitive and boring in its content, though it could easily have because of its essential structure. The entire credit for this goes to Eric Spitznagel.

However, as far as the audiobook goes, I wasn't quite satisfied to the same extent. How I wish there were multiple narrators for a book based on the interview format! The narrator does read with clarity but he doesn't vary his voice between the interview questions and responses, forget about male and female responses. The result is that the audio production sounds like one big nostalgic drama instead of an interview. After a while, you do get attuned to having a single narrator playing the double role. But it's not much fun. This audio would have functioned much better with three narrators, one for the interviewer and one each for the male and female musicians interviewed. Of course, a better solution would have been to use the actual interview recordings for the audio version.

In spite of this minor drawback, I would recommend the book to every music lover, especially to those into rock and punk. I enjoyed this book much more than I expected to.

Thank you, NetGalley and Highbridge Audio, for the Advanced Audio Review Copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

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I loved this book. The guy is the same age as me, had his kid at the same age, drives the same car as me and has the same passion for music as me, if not slightly different taste. There was a ton of overlap though. I still have all my old vinyl, and while listening to this audiobook in the car I actually stopped at a best buy on the way home from work one day to maybe pick up a new turntable. Mine disappeared a few receivers ago. I have my eye on one now though, and hope to get into all the show more records that just never were released digitally.
Just like the mixtapes we made as kids where hearing one song makes you anticipate the next, the specific sounds of your own records, the pops, skips and hisses are like a fingerprint in your aural dna and you know when you hear it. This brought back a ton of memories and had lots of laugh out loud moments. Loved it. show less

I never owned an extensive music collection. I like music, I listen to music daily. I have my favorite bands and singers (Stevie Nicks, Pearl Jam, U2, Jimmy Buffett), and I love to go to concerts. But, I’ve never been obsessed with my MP3, CD, tape, or in this case, record collection. Yes, I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and I remember records. I even owned a few: Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Xanadu, some Duran Duran albums, and some K-Tel albums. I listened to them over and over as an show more adolescent, but I honestly haven’t thought about them in years.

However, author Eric Spitznagel feels differently about his record collection. Also a child of the 70s and 80s, he accumulated a large record collection over the years, and then gradually sold them off as he moved into adulthood. Now married and a father, he realizes he misses his record collection and wants to get his records back. But not just the same records by the same artists, he wants back the ACTUAL copies that HE owned. This book chronicles his quest to find HIS records and what he learns along the way.

One of my favorite things about the book was the trip down memory lane. I grew up in the same time frame as the author and shared many of the same cultural references. I listened to the same types of music and in the same forms. I shopped at the same types of music stores. I felt a strong sense of nostalgia reading this book.

There is also a very poignant and beautifully written passage where Spitznagel explains the comfort and familiarity of listening to your own copy of record. He relates it to a restaurant he used to frequent with his family. The restaurant burned down and was rebuilt, but the experience wasn’t quite the same. This passage really touched me, and I finally got his attraction to his record collection.

Although, I did really enjoy these parts of the book, as a whole, I just didn’t click with this book. That’s not to say it isn’t worth reading for someone else. It just didn’t resonate with me, however, I don’t think I am the target audience. I believe audiophiles will enjoy the book immensely. show less

It would seem that a book about someone trying to find their old records that have been gone for years would be deadly dull. But the author is such a good writer, you want to cheer him on and help him find those records. I'm not sure this book will appeal to everyone or just record collectors. As a long time collector, I enjoyed it immensely.