Tower Records -- the continuing collapse

My guess is we're reaching collective tipping point on a lot of this -- elsewhere donut in Seattle suggested that everything will be hoovered up by people looking for Amazon resales more than anything else. Kinda doubt it will be all that complete but we'll see.

soul jazz "new york noise 2"
isolee - "western store"
losoul - "getting even"
dj food - "refried food" 2cd
booka shade - "memento"
greg wilson - "credit to the edit"
v/a - "soma compilation, vol 3"

a little less cost-effective, this altogether cost me around $40.

at this point nothing left in my local store except soul jazz comps and uber-ridiculously priced imports (single disc comps for $36) which aren't really cost-effective at 60% off. there are signs everywhere which say "10 days left" which makes me think i'll drop back in around the 18th and see what's left.

lemme know if it hits $1 or $2 status for dance or reggae ...

I would love to get this. IF THE PRICE WASN'T SO STUPIDLY HIGH STILL.

haha, yeah I picked up a pile of those fall cds but ended up putting them all back. The double CDs seem like a good value on the surface but it seems like the 2nd disc is never essential.

Is the Lizzie Borden movie Born In Flames any good?

I got

This Heat box (the store has a second one!)
Les Savy Fav 3/5 (long gone in Portland)
Judee Sill Heart Food (ditto)
Jesu s/t (ditto)
Arthur Russell Another Thought
The Incredible String Band The Chelsea Sessions
Matt Bianco Whose Side Are You On? (I don't think I've seen a copy of this since the eighties)

From this, I deduce that South San Jose is nowhere near as infested with hipsters as Portland, and also that Tower Records centralized ordering process may have contributed somewhat to its downfall.

josh wink profound sounds vol 3 $2
kelley polar love songs of the hanging gardens $2
hardleaders suspect package $5

i am tutoring down off silver creek valley road tomorrow ... maybe i will swing by the blossom hill store and check it out - do they have a good dance section?

still can't believe The Shortwave Set has survived...get with it, folks!

i was there over the weekend and there was still quite a bit of stock on the shelves but most of the good stuff had already been snapped up.

I hear you. (I've already made a pretty good catch on those myself.)

I sit here debating whether or not I want to drive 10 minutes to check it out each day.

Curious (George) - isn't there some amazing market in Memphis as well? If pickins are slim at Tower, there's always mojo criollo, ginger beer, etc.

I must be getting too picky. I did not see alot of good stuff left there on Sunday.

Oh, but fuck Knocturnal...i want my dollar back.

Most of those terrible West Coast rap CDs that you'll find in abundance at the liquidation sales were distributed by Tower-owned Bayside, who made a lot of poor decisions when it came to urban music. Most of this stuff had been collecting dust in the warehouse and probably would have forever (or at least until it got dumpstered).

Regardless, if Bayside bought/distributed it, it more than likely made it into Tower stores. Since both those entities will cease to exist soon, you probably won't find artists like this with widespread mainstream availability anymore.

To be fair, Tower was pretty decent about getting Southern stuff (certainly better than most chainstores.) They had a lot of pre-Major Without A Major Deal Swishahouse stuff and various other Screwed Up Click stuff at the SF ones.