Reviews
“Memories are far more indelible when married to the physical world, and Spitznagel proves the point in this vivid book. We love vinyl records because they combine the tactile, the visual, the seeable effects of age and care and carelessness. When he searches for the records he lost and sold, Spitznagel is trying to return to a tangible past, and he details that process with great sensitivity and impact.”
—Dave Eggers, author of The Circle
“Spitznagel’s quest for the actual records of his youth could have been a gimmick. Instead it’s a touching exploration of loss: of opportunities, of loved ones, of the ability to even remotely discern what’s hip. Hilarious and heartfelt, this is a book for anyone who has ever spent entire years of their lives haunting record stores, dissecting the merits of Doolittle, and studying liner notes with the intense focus of a Talmudic scholar.”
—Jancee Dunn, author of But Enough About Me
“I’m working on a list of things that make me laugh harder than Eric Spitznagel’s writing. So far, it includes old Albert Brooks movies, videos of animals riding bicycles and. . . well, that’s about it. What I’m trying to say is: Eric Spitznagel is hilarious. And this book is perfectly Spitzagelian: Funny, smart, even a bit wistful at times. The way he feels about the Pixies—that’s similar to the way I feel about Spitznagel’s writing.”
—AJ Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically
“I can’t remember when a book had me get out my black pen and underline so many wonderful things. Maybe never. Loss and laughter and all those denizens of sonic ghost town record stores willing but often unable to make us all whole again. Something on every page to stoke the geek heart with sad recognition and hope.”
—Marc Spitz, music journalist, author of Poseur
“The perfect combination of a vinyl completist’s dream and nightmare.”
—Patton Oswalt, author of Zombie Spaceship Wasteland
“Spitznagel’s funny and thoughtful account, with its thrills-of-the-hunt through the backrooms of used vinyl dealers and under swap meet tables manned (usually literally) by like-minded manics, doesn’t disappoint.”
—The Amazon Book Review
“When Spitznagel visits his old college frat basement, writes about his father’s obsession with Willie Nelson’s ‘Always on My Mind’ or reconnects with his first girlfriend High Fidelity-style, it becomes less about the records and more about life itself. A beautiful passage involving Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ even has the unfathomable ability to pull the reader out of the convoluted sap of the overplayed song and into misty-eyed heartache over love and the passage of time. Really. I’m not kidding.”
—KQED
“Readers who obsess over their own record collections will understand Spitznagel’s arguments on why holding vinyl is thrilling or how certain songs are tied to emotional bonds. Music lovers will find Spitznagel’s quest noble, while others think it ludicrous, which he is fully aware of. Still the honestly, heart, and the journey itself all make for a book you’ll struggle to put down.”
—Examiner.com
“For anyone who’s ever sought to reclaim a part of their past and, in essence, a part of themselves, Old Records Never Die offers a knowing resonance that gets to the heart of what can only be described as the mid-life crisis of an avowed music nerd.”
—Pop Matters
“To say Old Records Never Die is a book about music is to say On The Road is a book about cars. Really, Eric Spitznagel’s energetic and endlessly engaging memoir is a book about the ways we seek to discover and recover our essential selves. Music lovers will love this book; unrepentant nostalgiacs, like myself, can expect to be absolutely riveted.”
—Davy Rothbart, creator of Found Magazine and author of My Heart is an Idiot
“A funny and heartfelt memoir about music collecting that gives birth to a new branch of social science: Gen-X archaeology.”
—Neal Pollack, author of Alternadad
“Eric Spitznagel is just like Captain Ahab, if Ahab were chasing Billy Joel albums instead of a white whale. As he recounts in this very funny book, Spitznagel found way more than he bargained for. And just like Ahab, he dies in the end. (Spoiler alert.)”
—Rob Tannenbaum, co-author of I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution
“Eric Spitznagel is the only music nerd in the world who’s not entirely insufferable. Old Records Never Die will make you wish you were his roommate.”
—Martha Plimpton, actress
