I Will Definitely Pick This Up Come September!

[MylesBAstor]

So many great memories of Tower Records. So many friends made there! I shed a tear everytime I pass where the original New York store resided in the Village.

http://www.analogplanet.com/content/all-things-must-pass-tower-records-story-coming-dvd-september-13#wdetw7OWxz4rdUA2.97

[Rob]

huge Tower fan here, the vast majority of my early music purchases were from Tower. Then they added the book store, newsstand and listening kiosks - there was no reason to leave! in my 20's, if I had two hours to kill you could find me at a Tower store. many fond memories I think part of me died when they went belly up.

[MylesBAstor]

I remember when the NY store opened in 1980 or so, literally buying shopping carts full of records. Seems they shipped records that didn't sell at other stores to New York. They had some collectible and rare records at Tower New York in the first year or so. For instance, they had all of the Film Music series except for The Ghost and Mrs. Muir there. And many others.

And where I first met Sid Marks. He was looking through records and I was looking through records and I remarked to him, "Guess not going to find any Casino Royales here." We had a laugh and started chatting and have now been friends for over 40 years. Some of the other people I met at Tower. Wes Phillips who was working there and at Stereo Exchange and later wrote for me and then later had a long run Stereophile sadly ended by health issues. Among many things, Wes was a great music writer. George Stanwyck who also worked at both stores and later was the US vDH distributor for many years. Dave King who worked at both stores too and went on to manage the Cello store in New York. And others too many to remember!

[JCOConnell]

In the comments section of the article, several people claim its been out since Jan. on BD and DVD. No need to wait til sept.

[tom_hankins]

It's been playing a while on Showtime, on TV. It's very good.

[Johnny Vinyl]

There was a Tower Records in downtown Toronto that opened in the mid-nineties and closed 6 years later. They never really impacted the Canadian market as A&A Records, Sam The Record Man and Music World were too well entrenched.

[Bill Hart]

The one in lower Manhattan was great for a while. When in LA, I would occasionally go to the one on Sunset. There came a point, though, where it was obvious that they weren't stocking back catalog- just newest releases. This became apparent when the Angry Samoan's section would remain empty. But man, what a scene on weekends. It was a mosh pit. Occasionally, I'd get the bug for something and try to do a fast "in and out." I'd take my selections to the classical check out counter- it was quiet there, and the clerks didn't seem to mind ringing up stuff like Bad Brains records. It was sort of the era, right? I mean, could you imagine walking into a store in London back in the late '60s and early '70s and all those choice records were brand-spanking gnu?

[Rob]

Those were the days, check out the vid

http://www.waxpoetics.com/music/videos/video-tower-records-sunset-los-angeles-1971/

[Bill Hart]

Those were the days, check out the vid

http://www.waxpoetics.com/music/vide...-angeles-1971/

Very cool footage. Brought a lot back:

we were fashion victims then too;

those US pressings of All Things Must Pass always sounded thin and kind of awful; it wasn't 'til I got an early UK copy that it sounded decent;

at first, I thought the cashier had a pen in mouth, but no, it was a cigarette! Notice the ashtrays at the counters. In LA no less?

records were commodities, pressed by the hundreds of thousands. Granted, this was one store, possibly one of the biggest in the States then, but multiply that by how many other stores in other cities run by other chains, let alone independents, department stores (yes, dear, they had record sections then), head shops and the like. We treasure some of these old copies now, but they were manhandled as a never-ending flow of "stock" then;

going to the record store as a social activity; I certainly did a little of that as a kid, but when I got older it was really more of a "mission"- get in there, find the stuff, and get out.

I had forgotten about the under-rack extra storage- if it wasn't in the front facing racks, you'd always hunt through the extra stock below.

You can't go back in time. Not that I'd want to. Thanks for that Rob.

[MylesBAstor]

The one in lower Manhattan was great for a while. When in LA, I would occasionally go to the one on Sunset. There came a point, though, where it was obvious that they weren't stocking back catalog- just newest releases. This became apparent when the Angry Samoan's section would remain empty. But man, what a scene on weekends. It was a mosh pit. Occasionally, I'd get the bug for something and try to do a fast "in and out." I'd take my selections to the classical check out counter- it was quiet there, and the clerks didn't seem to mind ringing up stuff like Bad Brains records. It was sort of the era, right? I mean, could you imagine walking into a store in London back in the late '60s and early '70s and all those choice records were brand-spanking gnu?

I hit a few Tower Stores in the day including the Sunset Store. Nothing flashy there, just the aura.

Also the SF, Boston, both West Side and Village NY stores and a few others in the US during my travels. Also the Tower at Picadilly Circus that I loved for its U.K. pressings and just simply different music. At that time the UK was into that drums and bass music; not my thing but was popular.

[Rob]

I hit a few Tower Stores in the day including the Sunset Store. Nothing flashy there, just the aura.

Also the SF, Boston, both West Side and Village NY stores and a few others in the US during my travels. Also the Tower at Picadilly Circus that I loved for its U.K. pressings and just simply different music. At that time the UK was into that drums and bass music; not my thing but was popular.

As soon as I could drive Id come up from San Diego on weekends and hit the Sunset store. you'd always bump into famous people, the Whiskey and Troubadour were just down the street. Many a struggling rock star lived in the bungalows over looking Tower and the strip. The place was electric during the 80s (my days).

The Tower store in San Diego was a cookie cutter replica. We'd convene at Tower before and after every concert (the Sports Area was across the street) We'd buy tickets from scalpers outside Towers entrance, by the time the warm-up act was playing they sold for next to nothing. those were the days!

[MylesBAstor]

As soon as I could drive Id come up from San Diego on weekends and hit the Sunset store. you'd always bump into famous people, the Whiskey and Troubadour were just down the street. Many a struggling rock star lived in the bungalows over looking Tower and the strip. The place was electric during the 80s (my days).

The Tower store in San Diego was a cookie cutter replica. We'd convene at Tower before and after every concert (the Sports Area was across the street) We'd buy tickets from scalpers outside the entrance to the store, by the time the warm-up act was playing they sold for next to nothing. those were the days!

Didn't they also have concerts at the Sunset store?

[Johnny Vinyl]

I went to the Toronto grand opening and they had Amanda Marshall playing and promoting her debut album. Bought the CD as there was no vinyl release. I'd love it on vinyl, but that ain't ever gonna happen.

[Rob]

Didn't they also have concerts at the Sunset store?

yes! and the record signings/band promotions. I went to one and only one it was the proverbial zoo

[dcc]

Tower Records is still going strong in Japan. I was recently in Tokyo. There is a 7 story store in Shibuya. Mainly CD's and DVD's, barely no Vinyls. I could not believe their inventory in classical music. I saw some recordings from Arthur Grumiaux which cannot be found in his home country...

[allenh]

The one in lower Manhattan was great for a while. When in LA, I would occasionally go to the one on Sunset. There came a point, though, where it was obvious that they weren't stocking back catalog- just newest releases. This became apparent when the Angry Samoan's section would remain empty. But man, what a scene on weekends. It was a mosh pit. Occasionally, I'd get the bug for something and try to do a fast "in and out." I'd take my selections to the classical check out counter- it was quiet there, and the clerks didn't seem to mind ringing up stuff like Bad Brains records. It was sort of the era, right? I mean, could you imagine walking into a store in London back in the late '60s and early '70s and all those choice records were brand-spanking gnu?

Lower Manhattan: you mean the one in the Village around West 4th St or so? Used to go there almost every weekend.

[Bill Hart]

Yep, i liked that store better than the one on the Upper West Side. It's funny, but in the trailer they said nothing was down there on lower Broadway at the time. That's not true- it was a scene, but it was a grungy scene. And an early version of the Stereo Exchange was there, tiny, packed with used high end gear. David had a Goldmund Reference in the back room. There were some decent restaurants, Soho was just south, and you could get to Little Italy for a pastry, or Chinatown for a meal (Phoenix Garden, long gone was incredible Cantonese food). But, they were right that once Tower went in, the neighborhood 'got better', ie. rents increased, the stores got fancier, it became more Noho. New York in those days was more dangerous, dirty, but it was also more lively and to me, more interesting. I rarely go into the city any more.

[astrotoy]

I started buying from Tower in the late '70's when they opened one then two stores (one devoted to classical!) in Berkeley and then one in Concord, CA. They were the first store that imported classical records from Europe that were otherwise not available in original pressings in the US and I bought my first EMI records then. I think their goal was to have every available record for sale.

When I started travelling to Sacramento regularly in the mid-'80's I would stop at the Tower records across from the original location of the drug store where Russ Solomon started. The old Tower Theatre, where Tower Drugs and later Tower Records got its name was still there. I haven't been down in many years, so I don't know whether the theatre is still there. I visited the old Watt avenue store a couple of times, which I think was the first Tower Records.

My understanding that Tower failed mostly because they got too big too fast. They seemed to make the transition to CD from vinyl pretty well, and I think their collapse was before the internet age. The San Francisco store on Bay Street near Ghiradelli Square was my favorite, with a huge collection of classical vinyl, although it was often a bear to park there.

I remember going to the NYC Annex which was full of cutouts, at bargain prices.

Fond memories.

Larry

[Bill Hart]

I scored big at the Annex- I had a friend who worked there who was an audiophile - bought more there after vinyl-died-than I probably did in the main store when it was still selling records. I liked the video store too- used to buy Laserdiscs there.