There’s one easy question to ask to help determine how much you’re likely to relate to this comic: was the first music you purchased physical or digital? People who have only ever pirated music, stay out of this one. If your answer was “digital,” there’s still plenty in here for you to like, specifically his talk of making mix tapes (“playlists” now, basically) along with a detailed, nostalgic walk through how buying and listening to music evolved over the years. For everybody who bought their first music in a physical format (cassette tapes for me), good lord are you ever going to have a lot to relate to in here. The overall theme of this one is the joy of discovery; this may be the most lighthearted comic of David’s yet. Or maybe not, as the man has made a whole lot of comics. But it’s definitely one of them! This one is 46 pages of a love letter to music, told through his own experiences and mixed in with stories from family members of different generations. One through line of David’s experience: he never stopped loving vinyl. I mean, even when it was literally impossible to get, he’d still go very far out of his way to try, and he never bought into any arguments about the “superior sound quality” of compact discs. Pops and crackles forever, and honestly I’d say he’s been proven correct over the years. Stories in here go all over the music landscape, and deal with trying to decide a favorite band as a kid, making a drum kit out of what was lying around, discovering Adam Ant (and finding out that he used to be punk), the benefits of getting a single versus the entire album, having physical pictures to look at while listening to music (some of the artwork in records was glorious, as was the giant posters of the bands), favorite records that have held up over the years, taping theme songs from tv shows, compiling a bunch of his old ticket stubs from live shows (a project I’ve been halfway working for a while now), a girlfriend going to a Yes concert because of his love for it (and her hating it), and taking the assignment too literally when asked to make a scary compilation. Along with many other stories, because, like I mentioned, this thing is huge. If reading this doesn’t make you nostalgic for some of your favorite music (and, most likely, dig out some older music you haven’t listened to in years), then I’m afraid that you just don’t have any soul in you. Yes, I’d call that highly recommended, wouldn’t you? $10 (ish, I still don’t know how to convert the cost to dollars)
Posted by Kevin 
