I saw All Things Must Pass, Tower Records movie

Looking forward to it!

 

Nice! I remember hearing Colin Hanks (Tom's son) was doing this; happy to see it's getting a release!

 

Trailer looks promising...

 

I'll be seeing this. Spent many hours at Seattle's Mercer Street and Bellevue's 8th Street stores.

 

It's funny, but I never saw Tower Records as this homegrown indie place like they're making it out to be. I would go the Tower Records in New York City and it was just crammed to the gills with records -- almost unpleasantly. That store was claustrophobic. But like all New York stores, it was cha-ching cha-ching fast paced, show us your money, and out the door. Clerks were pushy and rude. Never got any cool "vibe" from it, it was just a massive store packed with records. Same for the Philadelphia store -- very little personality. In other words, I never felt like Tower Records was the twin in spirit to Apple Computer and that cult of coolness, like the movie is trying to paint. I just thought of Tower Records of being the K-mart records -- a huge, huge company that carried a lot of records.

When I came to the West Coast, the Sunset Blvd Tower Records was more laid back and a smaller in scale. Maybe there was a bit of vibe going on there, but it also seemed kind of puny compared to the other Tower Records I knew. I was actually disappointed to see what a small store it was.

I think currently Amoeba Records in LA is a much better record store than Tower Records ever was, in fact, probably the best record store I've been in -- just the right mix of a huge selection and "hip" atmosphere (and also the prerequisite record clerk snobbery sometimes). That store is a blast to visit. If the documentary wants us to believe a style of music shopping has "passed" ... they obviously are overlooking the even cooler vibe of Amoeba records. Tower Records may be dead, but hanging out with others and shopping a massive selection of vinyl is still very much alive and well in Los Angeles. I feel a much more pleasant vibe shopping at Amoeba than I ever did at a Tower Records.


I also used to hang out way too often in the Virgin Megastore shop on Sunset Blvd. -- now that was a beautiful store, spacious, clean and huge if a bit sterile. It was like the Macy's of record stores. And the women clerks were always cute as hell in their little "Virgin" t-shirts.

For small-store funk, I miss the Rhino Records store in Westwood. That was a fun place, with good prices, too! Cheap!

Hm, I did a quick search. If you want to relive the Tower Records days apparently you just have to go to Japan -- where there are 80 Tower Records stores. Do a google image search!

 

I worked at Tower in the seventies in San Francisco and loved it. There wasn't a day that I didn't look forward to going in to work. It was a magical time with a special crew.

 

http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/...wer-records-documentary-all-things-must-pass/

Trailer....

 

Hoping that pricing will be a part of the film's narrative,because that needs to set the record(sorry)straight. As a former retailer,including selling music during most of the '90s,pricing was something that had to be addressed. It's easy to buy for a dollar and sell for ninety cents,but that business model won't last long. Though our tiny place was over and hour away from the nearest Tower,they were competition. Customers told me that almost every day and when they said they thought our little place had what they wanted and bought,I took that as a compliment. Pre-internet days, the idea of obtaining a recording of an opera,early Johnny Cash,a top single,a 12" dance mix,a biography of Louis Armstrong,a movie...well,not too many place under one roof doing that. Tower did. Over 12 hours a day,every day. For that business model,the huge numbers of,say,a Springsteen album offset the stocking of that opera,and the couple of thousand operas in the building. Russ Solomon wanted both there,all the time. And,while nobody ever got rich,the people working there had to things like live in a place and eat,while knowing where the opera was and,sometimes,knowing which one to get. That Springsteen sale,well,that's easy. Just,as you've probably seen in vidoes,just make a stack of them and stand back("Pile'em high and watch them fly! Pile 'em low and they won't go." is the mantra for the mass retailers). But you can't give it away,all the time. Notice the deals that don't exist anymore for Amazon's deep inventory? And,as a Tower shopper, even while running my store,I never,not once,saw price gouging there. Full list price? Sure,but remember the operas and the Springsteen album,available under one roof with no idiots running the place and open over 12 hours a day. My hat was off to them from the moment I stepped foot in a Tower and I just shed a tear over those "Going Out of Businees" banners in the trailer. It still hurts. Not only can't I wait on a customer in my own place and find them the coolest piece of music in their life,there are few places to go to experience that on the other side of the counter. I'll be at one today,as I am most Saturdays nowadays,for an hour or two.

 

I will definitely seek this movie out. DAMN, I miss Tower Records with a vengeance. When they opened a store in my home town (Paramus, NJ, circa '89 or '90) it was like a gift from God.
I practically lived in that store. For a couple of years I worked in the K-Mart next door and I would spend every lunch hour browsing thru the CDs, then rent a video to watch in the evening on the way home. I probably should've just gotten a job there instead of K-Mart (but believe it or not, K-Mart paid better...haha).

 

The Tower Records in DC was my mecca in my teen years. I have nothing but happy memories of it - particularly buying import CDs you couldn't get anywhere else, and the domestic versions weren't yet available. I'm really looking forward to seeing this.

 

I too was able to view the film at L.A.'s Grammy Museum, with both Hanks & Solomon in attendance, who came out at the conclusion for a Q&A. The photos are stunning and the accounts & memories draw you in, but at the end of it all it should be a textbook example of what unchecked greed in one form or another ultimately does. I bet Amoeba's Marc Weinstein is one that will watch this film & say, "Yep.....I'll watch my step there, no doubt about that....".

 

Likely 1,000 visits to Tower in Frisco, Hollywood, Sacramento midtown and Watt, San Diego, Berkeley, Oakland ... .
Loved Tower. Picked up the vast majority of my vinyl there.

 

I miss Tower Records. D.C., Miami, Atlanta were all special but my favorite was the uptown and downtown stores in Manhatten, loved those stores! Especially the separate store for the vinyl in the village downtown! The stores, to me, reflected their neighborhoods. Hated the Long Island store. I'm looking forward to owning this movie!

 

Miami had a Tower Records?

 

Looks really good, I'll definitely check it out. I really miss the Tower in Atlanta....my favorite place to go late in the evening after dinner or before going out that night. I remember being really impressed with the Tower Records in Vancouver, B.C.....went there several times on vacations to Whistler/Blackcomb.

- Buck

 

Having lived and grown up in the Silicon Valley, where I was immersed in Apple technology and products and drove by Apple headquarters in Cupertino nearly every day, and was also within driving distance of several Tower locations, I have to say I got way more warm and fuzzies over the years from Tower than from Apple Computer.

I would say Tower lost some luster in its late years, worse staff that was less knowledgeable, and little apparent attempt to stay competitive price-wise.

But I never once had warm feelings or a sense of cool from Apple. Some good products. But even in its dying days a Tower store was warmer than, say, any Apple Store ever.

 

New York got Towers late in the game. San Francisco, Sunset LA and even where it started in Sacramento were very much indie and wonderful for at least their first 15 years.

 

Jesus, I thought Tower Sunset was great! You forget there was also Tower Video and Tower Classical across the street. That's a huge amount of space when you add it all up.

Never liked that store. They wanted $16+ for most the CDs, the selection was terrible, and it was all too spread out. Very chaotic. Don't miss 'em.

The Tower Records stores in downtown Sacto were pretty amazing: Tower Books, Tower Records, Tower Video, Tower Classical, plus there was an Art store and I think a cut-out/close-out division. Vast, like an entire city block. And that doesn't include the original Tower Drugs.

I agree to some extent with both. But I do think the Apple Stores are very cool. But the problem is, the stores aren't always very useful, nor can they provide the kind of help you can only get from user groups, consultants, or experience. If the only solution is 3rd party, Apple probably won't tell you/won't know about it.

 

I remember chatting with the buyer at DC's Tower about the CD version of the then-upcoming Dylan Biograph box. He agreed to special order it for me and, when it came in, I don't know who was more excited: him or me! It was a great place to find everything new, domestic or import. They got it all, and I miss it.
New York City's Towers, on the other hand....

 

The Miami Tower was a block away from South Beach.

 

The Tower I mostly shopped at was the store in Westwood Village (near UCLA). It was small, but had two floors -- the pop stuff on the ground floor and classical above. This was in the 70s/early 80s. Other music shops nearby in the Village were The Wherehouse, Disc-Connection (run by an old hippie who always had some incense burning), and Vogue Records. Great time.

 

Yeah. Above thoughts are my own experience as a shopper. Working there could have been quite different!

 

Well, you can't really compare a trip to a computer store with a trip to a record store. Apple Stores are like a blip on my mac radar, new kids in town. They're pretty boring. I was excited to visit my first one and I realized immediately it was about as exciting as a trip to Best Buy -- only expensive. Thanks for selling every phone case, mouse, and wire at full retail, Apple.

Thirty years later, I'm sure Tower Records memories are getting warm and fuzzy from nostalgia. I'm just saying Tower Records never felt like they were guided by some progressive ethos or promise to change things -- no matter how much the documentary wants to present them as some kind of hip visionaries. You know, Apple's "1984" commercial, compared to I don't know what... a flyer in the Sunday circular? They felt like they were out to sell product in cramped stores. What's next, Crazy Eddie as a guru / savior of the electronics world? It's getting to be sort of a documentary cliche. Look how hip Atari code writers really were! They smoked dope! Too bad they went out of business, but my thought is Russ Solomon got too greedy with expansion and I'm sure he ended up better off than the many local record stores he put out of business ala Walmart.

Anyway, it should be fun to watch. I don't know why I'm after Tower Records, probably because at one point I tallied up my cd collection and realized I blew about $12k at Tower Records and that thought was kind of depressing.

 

Well I'm not sure how "hip" we were but our goal was to carry every record that was in print at the time. That felt pretty progressive and visionary.

 

I really want to see this film, but I know in the end, it will just depress me, as I so miss the days of local mom and pop record stores, and when traveling walking into the greatness of TOWER (L.A., King Of Prussia, N.Y.), VIRGIN MEGASTORE (Columbus, L.A.) or SAM THE RECORD MAN or HMV (Toronto) or SAM'S (Sterling Heights, Michigan). For me, all that is basically left on that level is, AMOEBA in San Fran or L.A. and there were a few decent smaller locals in the Cincinnati area, the last time I was down there, which was about 5 years ago now. Near me now, it's pitiful at best and my wonderful days of spending quality time enjoying a record store nearby, are mostly over. As I come on this forum everyday and realize how each day another music fan embraces the (sickening to me personally) thought of downloading and streaming, I realize that I will sadly never win my want of the "record store", to ever make the same comeback that vinyl in general has and it hurts me deeply!