Video of Tower Records on Sunset, Los Angeles, in 1971

Well, we might have seen "Jesus Christ Superstar" somewhere in there. It's dark brown cover wouldn't be doing this film any favors though. What I think is "2 Years On" is that album with the white cover and square photo in the center stacked up to the left of "McCartney." I'm sure I'm seeing the red "Lonely Days" hype sticker on it too. I think I'm seeing a brown cover stacked higher though, is that "Horizontal?"

 

O.K., I do see it! Boy, that is a tricky one! You think that all you're seeing is the reflection of the shrink but then you see John Densmore and Robby Krieger's heads when your eyes focus intently. The album that you see below "McCartney" that is black and white with a image of Jesus in the center is Andwella "World's End" on Dunhill. (And I would only know this by discovering the album while searching for Monarch pressings of records on E-Bay). It's the one just right of Bread's "On The Waters." What is that Arlo Guthrie record that is pictured?! Is it a single or a poster? I can't believe I'm seeing a spot for Sir Lord Baltimore right above Badfinger and The Beach Boys! That would have been their first album "Kingdom Come" on Mercury and it went straight to the cut out bins. It's so good to see that it was right along side everyone else at one point. At the point of 2:46, you see Spooky Tooth's "The Last Puff" down on the right of the screen, along with The Stones' "12 x 5" right before you see "Between The Buttons." Joe Cocker's "Mad Dogs And Englishmen" goes by at 2:51. You also see "Fresh Cream" to the left at 0:40, right as the guy clears the stack of boxes.

 

It's weird to think that even by 1971, some records from the late '60s had changed from their original release or were no longer in print. If you bought "Led Zeppelin II" on the day of this film, well, you wouldn't have bought the Robert Ludwig hot mix. Neither would you have bought the original "Then Play On" from Fleetwood Mac that didn't contain "Oh Well."

 

Horizontal is behind the girl holding James Taylor in the bin.

 

OH THERE IT IS! Ha ha. I should have been looking to the left of the screen instead. So that's definitely "2 Years On" to the right in the stack. And beyond her up against the wall, I'm seeing The Rolling Stones' section with "Between The Buttons" and "12 x 5" again. By the way, I'm trying to see Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" where you said it appears, but I'm not seeing it. Is it on the right?

 

Got one more...."Emerson, Lake, and Palmer" at 2:50!

 

I wonder if the baby crawling on the counter at 4:45 is now a member of this forum.....

 

Yes, next to Cat Stevens; you can identify it by the two swords.

 

I have a few additions and corrections.

0:34 CALIFORNIA GIRLS/ALL SUMMER LONG (Double Pack) - The Beach Boys, THE EARLY BEATLES - The Beatles
0:36 (instead of 3:43) CLOSE TO YOU - Carpenters
0:38 S/T - Crosby, Stills & Nash
0:41 (instead of 0:45) GRAND FUNK - Grand Funk Railroad
0:45 WONDERWALL MUSIC - George Harrison, ELECTRIC LADYLAND - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
1:24 (instead of 7:02) AIR FORCE 2 - Ginger baker's Air Force

 

wasn't tumbleweed connection, or his band and the street choir albums 1971?....

 

Nope. They were both Fall '70 releases. "His Band And The Street Choir" came out in November. And "Tumbleweed Connection" was in October I think.

 

At 0:35 left of screen, I'm sure that is Black Sabbath's first album right above the Blood, Sweat, and Tears self titled record. And at 6:41, that is the cover of Brinsley Schwarz first album that came out on Capitol in '70. There were so many records that started out with a hopeful long life span at the point of their release, only to see confinement to the $0.99 cut out bin soon afterward.

 

Right near the beginning is a Korla Pandit LP. At 2:53, we have Procol Harum's "Home" and at 4:10 (I think) is Laura Nyro's "Christmas & the Beads of Sweat".

 

I'm wondering how we can't see Grand Funk Railroad's "Closer To Home" anywhere! That was a huge album in 1970. At least we can see "Grand Funk' and "Live Album" (oh what I wouldn't do to get my hands on those fresh, sealed copies). Some of the records we KNOW for a FACT that we're seeing, but others might be our imaginations or we're reading into what we think we're seeing too hard. At one point I thought I saw Jackie Lomax's "Is This What You Want?" But on second glance (and third and fourth) I don't think that's what I'm seeing.

 

You know, they should have made a Part II to this film. They could have filmed it exactly one year later (Feb. 1972?) and we could watch them stack endless copies of "The Concert For Bangla Desh!" Ha ha ha.

 

The humanity of it all. The sense of community, minus all the stupid technology and distractions. Back when things were for real and tangible.

 

There was an equivalent to Tower chain of stores in France, fnac, and of course over the years, they abandoned vinyl and had CDs everywhere...

That is, until a couple of months ago, when suddenly, they did an about turn. CDs are now in a section akin to the tape section in the old 70's Tower.

And they reinstated the vinyl racks everywhere. Look, first time I went back and found out, I felt like stepping in a time capsule back to the 70's when I originaly started to buy vinyls there. You've got John Carpenter right next to Big Black. They even have a disco section. This is just one rack. Tower could have made it if they held up like fnac.

This one is in Paris Les Halles. We're back baby! BACK!

 

Beautiful video a different time not saying it was better. Stacks and stacks of gorgeous vinyl. ATMP Georgies epic lp stacked up I just wanted to grab all of them.
Downloading convenience is great but it will never match the physical human need the whole vinyl package gives. Just cleaned some lps thoroughly last night believe me it takes a labor of love to care for records like I do, I'm sure that some if not most on this forum feel the same way about their prized lps.
Thanks for sharing that video, a couple of dudes I know are getting the new Pure McCartney box through legal download. They giggled when they learned I was getting the 4 cd box set and gasped when I implied I might be getting the vinyl version to.

Guess technology changes for good or worse. To each their own.

I hope the vinyl resurgence never dies and cds last forever.

About 3 months ago I picked up a vinyl 45 copy of Afternoon Delight-- Starland Vocal Band, (stupid song big time) the reason for getting it, Mint condition and great price, but I will tell you after a thorough cleaning process that 45 sounded mind boggling, jaw dropping on a pair of 15 inch woofers not even turned up loud.

It was as close to the master tape as one can possibly own. A sound you will never get from any flac or mp3 download.
Awesome groovy video everyone please enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend...

 

Dammit , we need time machines & we need em NOW.

 

That is a great document from that period of time. I am surprised that I didn't see myself in the video. I use to go there all the time around that era as well as The Wherehouse on La Cienega not far from Tower/Sunset. Tower had the best selection of 8 track tape of anyone and I am glad that they showed that section in the video. There was always a lot of UCLA students shopping there.

Based on the footage of George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, I would say that had to be late 1970 or possible very early 1971. Tower would stack large quantities of the hot newest records up front towards the registers on the release dates. I remember once they had a spot reserved for "Who's Next" where on top of a stack of empty cardboard boxes they had one copy of a record jacket so you could at least look at it. I once saw Elton John shopping in Tower Sunset. He had stacks of records that he was buying. I bet they were happy when they saw him walk through those doors.

 

Dude Hearing ya....VINYL heaven BIG 1971..

 

It's definitely Winter of 1971, possibly February, because you see a few albums that were released in Jan. of 1971 such as "Pearl," "Chicago III," and "Emerson, Lake, and Palmer." Forum member mBen989 also claims he saw "Paranoid" (which also came out Jan. 1971) though I'm having a hard time seeing it. The stacks of "All Things Must Pass" are probably a post-Christmas restock. If this was February, then a couple of noteworthy things happened that month for Los Angeles. First off, the San Fernando earthquake on Feb. 9th (could this film have been before or after?). And in the music world, Fleetwood Mac was in L.A. and about to loose guitarist Jeremy Spencer to the Children of God! They might have just lost him when this was filmed.

 

Yes! I did notice some of those as well. It made me wonder if this film could have been shot over a couple of different sessions. What was the source of this film? Was it a UCLA film school project? It certainly didn't appear to be an advertisement for the store. That was definitely a wild period of time for me personally. Vinyl junkies are drooling over that footage I'm sure. I use to buy new single vinyl records for as low as $2.44 for the more popular records around that time. That would translate to about $14.41 in today's money.

 

Yeah when I see those low, low prices in this film I gotta stop and remember that people were making a different amount of money back then! I'm sure if you walked up to the counter with 8 records back then, you'd probably get some stares like "What kind of money do YOU make?" Ha ha. Everyone in the film is only buying one to two records (and someone at the counter had enough money to buy an "All Things Must Pass" plus an extra record....not to mention the browsing lady with the three records in her hand while eyeing a fourth). Yes drool indeed! I've had literal DREAMS similar to this very film, being in a record store all by myself with all the classic rock records I could want! When I first saw this, my arms were tingling I kid you not. It very well might have been a UCLA film project. What other source could it have been? Doesn't seem like it was meant for any documentary of any sort, nor a news broadcast. Yeah, curious!