Tower Records -- the continuing collapse

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Well, Amazon and other online retailers will still be selling cds for awhile. But I guess some folks will never have the experience of being in a large bricks and mortar establishment with all kinds of diverse cds to flip through (yea some mom and pop operations are holding on). Borders Books and Barnes and Nobles prices for cds aren't much better than Tower. I wonder how their music-selling practices will change in the immediate future. I do not see Best Buy and Circuit City and Target and Walmart deciding to expand the range of their cd offerings.

Hip hop is practically a wasteland now. Everything else varies by store, but at 60% MOST of the good and non-expensive stuff is gone (some very interesting imports remain, but Tower's insane import prices will keep 'em around for a while.)

Comps:
Before There was Crunk (Splack Pack, Clay D)
Dirty South - Tha Beginning (Three 6, Trick Daddy, Magic Mike)
Spread Yo' Hustle (Mac Dre, RBL Posse)

for $18

"Notes to the Luniz's debut CD posit the duo as crown-princes of the 'crazy, comical, wild-side of gangsta hip-hop,' but it's fair to say they're not loony in the Bugs Bunny sense of the word. The group's logo is a scowling cartoon figure draped in a used condom and wielding a handgun."

Latin music - 70% off

Voltio: s/t - $3.90
Larry Harlow: Hommy - $4.20*
Azuquita: Pura Salsa - $4.50*
Xiomara: s/t - $5.70
Enrique Chia: La Musica de Ernesto Lecuona - $7.80 (2 CD)

*Both of which I had the bad luck to buy a few years before these new reissues.

Also, I like the two Bossacucanova albums, which, along with the rest of the Six Degrees catalog, should be priced down to a buck as well.

Incidentally, it certainly looks like some new stock is still being put out, in Philadelphia anyway.

i know they might get seriously desperate and it could wind up being $10 or something, but i don't have the guts to play that kind of chicken, you know?

http://jj.am/gallery/d/10543-1/Eagle911.gif

Also got a Krautrock DVD (w/AD II, Guru Guru, Jane, and more, but it's some kind of re-union thing - they look decidedly middle-aged in the pics on the back. AD II do Archangels Thunderbird, All the Years 'Round, Kanaan, a 3 others, so I've gotta see it. And a litle more jazz collection filling out, came to $70.

And hip-hop in Pasadena is now $1.50 each, but that may be temporary.

Miri Ben-Ari: The Hip-Hop Violinist
Goldie Lookin' Chain: S/T and Straight Outta Newport
Wiley : Treddin' On Thin Ice
V/A: Run The Road
Mindy Smith: Long Island Shores
Mutual Admiration Society: S/T
Terror Squad: True Story
Mike Marshall & Chris Thiele: Live
The Duhks: Your Daughters & Your Sons
Dengue Fever: Escape from Dragon House
Slum Village: Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 1
K-Os: Joyful Rebelion
Field Mob: Light Pole sand Pine Trees
Bossacucanova & Roberto Menescal: Brasilidade
The Coup: Pick a Bigger Weapon
Guru: Jazzmatazz: Streetsoul
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth: Best of
Soul Position: Everything Is Better with RJ and AL

I'm honestly not all that interested in all the grime and backpacker hip hop I got, but I am interested in it enough to listen to it once, then sell to finance all the other stuff I bought.

All the Sugar Hill titles were two bucks or less, so I was able to load up on stuff like The Duhks and all the Nickel Creek side projects on the cheap. If you want to see what other labels Bayside distributed and might have titles available for ridiculously low prices, you can check here.

Who is this person (and what sex is it)? First saw that name on Don Omar credits.

They keep playing the worst music in Tower, not that that's exctly a change, but last night they played the same CD over, some depressing rock shit. I think it might have been something famous, actually, some roots of punk or roots of indie type album. Are the employees trying to make the customers suffer for their bargains? Or maybe the management is only letting them have that one CD?

If they don't budge for you and I can't find one myself, expect an e-mail! And a PayPal payment. ;-)

Hey Alex, so I picked up this Mad Professor Method to the Madness comp that looked good.

can i just say that if you see a copy of that dj spooky trojan mix set for under, like, seven dollars you should get it? it's nothing you haven't heard before but he actually does a very good job of putting a set together.

Yes, I saw one last night. Hmm maybe I should go back and grab it. I couldn't remember how much I got mine for but I guess $40 is a pretty damn good price come to think of it.

BTW, this is the Woodland Hills location Chaki mentioned upthread.