UNSPOOLED: An Adventure In 8-Tracks by Tim Durling

Make no bones about it folks, Tim Durling is a huge music fan. So much so that he decided to write a book on that long lost format known as the 8-Track.

WHUT?!!

It must have been about half a year ago that I read that Tim started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for  “Unspooled” to be published in hard and soft cover form. I’m always up for supporting anyone local whose trying to do something   that they believe in.

Now when I say local, Tim is in New Brunswick and I’m in Ontario but regardless I’m supporting someone who is taking a major undertaking in releasing a book that they are passionate about. Plus Tim’s a fellow Canuck! So I consider him local.

Let’s rewind for a minute..

I  have only ever owned one single 8-Track in my life (Billy Joel’s “Glass Houses”) It was vinyl from the start with the odd cassette tape thrown in and as the 80s progressed I got into CD’s and gave up on vinyl (my bad!) but once I hit 50 years young four years ago it was time for a vinyl resurgence in my world.

My earliest recollection of an 8-Track was my parents who at the tail end of the 70’s had ABBA (and a bunch of country artist’s) and I never understood the whole deal of the 8-Track kicking out, clicking and than the song continuing. In case you are wondering why I had only “Glass Houses” on 8-Track the answer is that my parents had joined Columbia House and decided to let me pick out a selection. For some reason I could not find any KISS/Cheap Trick/Judas Priest 8-Tracks as those were my go to bands in 1980.

Remember those Columbia House adds? I do as they would come in Saturdays newspaper as a supplement here in Thunder Bay.

My pal Chico was the first guy who had a copy of AC/DC’s “Back In Black” on 8-track and I still recall this day sitting in his parents car (we were only 13 at the time in 1980) and blasting “Black In Black” in its entirety on the tape deck inside the vehicle.

It was all about the discovery of music back then as a pre teen!

Man, I miss those days…

Fast forward to the present…

So this past week “Unspooled” was delivered to my  mailbox. For someone (moi) who never bought into this 8- Track concept, I love this book as Tim does a deep dive into his  collection as he goes from the years 1981-1988. So cool to see a ton of photos of all kinds of what are now considered Classic Rock artists/bands in these pages and the stories that are behind them.

How about coming across a garbage bag that was headed for the dump that had a copy of Van Halen’s second release along with Kansas in it.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Tons of info regarding many artists and bands and what a great layout this book is as well as you know Tim put a real labour of love into the making of this project.  So much so that he had Martin Popoff write the forword and you know Martin would not put his name to it if he didn’t believe  in it.

Spread out over 190 pages I’m really enjoying reading the backstory on a format I ignored over four decades ago as it’s really cool to see one man’s passion to put together a project that means lots to him.

I have to add that Tim was very hands on at keeping everyone updated on “Unspooled” through his Kickstarter page. He even sent a full PDF file as the book went to print. Great job Sir!

Yes Tim, Blame it on Journey!