Groovy old 1970 pic of Tower Records, San Francisco, CSN&Y "Déjà Vu "just released, only $2.88!

No one is overweight in the photo.

 

Ha!

 

Thanks to both you and Cheepnik.

 

A few months ago at Record Surplus I opened a sealed Dean Martin LP that I had every intention to purchase. I just wanted to spin it on the turntable to be sure it was not waqrped or off-center. One of their employees came over to me like a Gestapo and started berating me for opening a sealed LP. I told him I intended to purchase it but was checking for warpage but he told me that opening a sealed LP was not permitted in that store!

 

Oh yeah? Try Amoeba Hollywood on weekends!!!!

 

Having been on the other side, I can tell you that there are a lot of people who, if permitted, would open half the albums in the store just to listen to them to see if they like the music.

The value of each of those collectible albums drops a lot when you open them.

They are not returnable to the distributor, unlike, say, when Tower opened records for someone looking for a good copy.

Even though you intended to buy the album, I can understand their POV.

 

I would have dated her!

 

At last - a sane man!

 

what year did the pressings get bad,I know in the 80's they were pretty crappy(CBS was the worst)

 

I was born in 1970, but I remember the Tower Records in Greenwich Village stacking CDs in longboxes in the late '80s the way those records are stacked.

 

Sorry - I would have whaled on you, too. I worked music retail for many years, and someone opening a sealed record, at least without checking with staff first, is waay uncool.

 

They got really bad during the oil shortage in the early '70s, when the amount of regrind went way up. But some labels and pressings were always better than others, anyway.

 

I would have killed for a Tower Records in the 70s in Connecticut. My record buying experience was riding my bike 10 miles to buy LPs at Caldor ot Two Guys. When I got to be a senior in HS (1975), I started taking the hour-long bus ride into Hartford to shop for jazz records. I knew nothing about jazz, so bought based on the album cover. I remember getting some Howard Roberts, Lennie Tristano, and a two-record set of Freddie Hubbard that had a track with some cat reciting a poem about the Vietnam War.

 

How I wish that I'd taken more pictures back in the 70's and 80's, heck, even the 90's of cool record stores among other things. Who knew that someday they would be mostly gone and things would be so different <and not in a good way, imho>?
Unfortunately, it's slim pickings looking on the internet as well, so I guess I'm not the only one who missed the boat.

 

I guess anything is possible, but that is about the time that Norelco advertised their first cassette deck in the Allied catalogue. It has a warning that they were not suitable for music, only dictation and other non musical recordings.

The first cassette deck I bought was an Advent, believe it or not, and it also had a matching Dolby C unit which I got with it. That unit could be used with other recorders but was sold with the Advent cassette deck. That must have been around 1973 at the earliest and IMO still did not sound all that great. I did use the Dolby unit with my reel to reel recorders on occasion.

As for the prerecorded cassettes I can't say for sure when they started, but they were surely not popular in 1970. At that time 8 track was still king for prerecorded tapes, with 4 tracks pretty much out of the picture. I can't even say if there were any car cassette decks that early. My guess is not, but once again it's just a guess. I was surely in the loop back in those days and have no recollection of them.

 

As far as I know Tower was the only chain which was virtually full catalogue. I worked at other great stores and visited many but only Tower carried everything. Amoeba is the closest place I know of now.

 

Like Comic Book Guys, there is a Mr Stripey Shirt at every record show. Even if it's 100% punk or rap oriented, he will be there.

 

Discount Records aimed to carry a pretty full catalog, as well, at least during the CBS ownership days (1968-1976).

 

I've got Live Peace in Toronto on cassette. They came in little carboard slip cases (like a cassingle), only with a plastic tray. The next oldest tape I have is Benefit, but it's an import. It's got the standard cassette jewel case, but uses a generic pink island cover instead of artwork.

 

I used to live in SF and I miss that Tower. Open 9 to midnight every day of the year. I spent a lot of time and money in that place. They had a great guy in the country/folk department and the mini-reviews he posted got me to explore lots of music that I wouldn't have ever heard otherwise. I miss record stores where the people working there know and love the music.

 

Sorry to quote myself, but it looks like the Advent 201/201 was released in 1970, and I also found a link saying there were prerecorded cassettes from 1965. Not sure if I believe it, but I surely saw it.

 

Reading through this thread makes me realize how much the slow death of the brick and mortar really hurts me inside and how much I dislike digital downloads now. I grew up in records stores. I worked in record stores. I used to own a record store.

 

One of the first things I thought when I looked at that picture is "she must be close to 60 years old now... I wonder where she is?"

 

"Open every night of the year 'til midnight. Go get 'em!"