Tower Records -- the continuing collapse

Will all Pitchfork employees work for free?

-- cornyrocker

I worry about it all the time, believe me.

I went back today and picked up:

Nao Wave (which I had forgotten to look for previously, and was very surprised to find)
Legendary Sound, Vol. 1 (which Alex in SF recommends, I thought on this thread, not that I expect much overlap in our taste but I hardly have any drum & bass and was just thinking I might want to pick up a little tiny bit more)

Dubstep Allstars Vol 2 (3 or 4 copies left, none of Vol 3)
Get Physical comps 1 & 2 (or Anniversary 2 & 4, I can't quite figure it out.) (one copy of each left)
Optimo Presents Psyche Out (nearly 10 copies of this, I suppose I could wait for it to get cheaper, but $5 seems fair enough.)
Science Faction: Grime (last copy)
Dabrye Two/Three (last copy)

I found a second copy of the Yester/Henske album. Let me know if you still need it. The email address is good.

Which reminds me a bit -- you free Friday/Saturday? FAP plans are imminent.

Judy Henske & Jerry Yester Farewell Aldebaran
V/A Fast Product: Rigour Discipline and Disgust (score! I've been looking for this for years.)
Chris Knox Yes!!
The Methadones 21st Century Power Pop Riot
The Minus 5 The Trials Postumous of...
The Duke Spirit Cuts Across the Land
The Dambuilders Geek Lust
Chris Cutler & Fred Frith Live in Moscow, Prague & Washington
Godandtexas Criminal Element
fluf the classic years
Alan Vega New Raceion
Batman: OST
The Knife Silent Shout
Arthur Russell The World of...
Pretty Girls Make Graves The New Romance
These Arms Are Snakes This Is Meant to Hurt You
V/A Wake Up and Listen! A Brand New Generation of Hits (britpop 1995: shitloads of hits)
Young Fresh Fellows Low Beat Time
The Kelly Deal 6000 Go to the Sugar Altar
The Coachwhips Double Death
The Coachwhips Peanut Butter and Jelly: Live at the Ginger Winge
The Coachwhips Bangers vs Fuckers
The Coachwhips Put Yer Body Next to Mine
Trapdoor Fucking Exit Crooked Life/Straight World
The Zodiac Killers Have a Blast
Portastatic Who Loves the Sun
Radio 4 Enemies Like These
Ecstacy Passion & Pain s/t
V/A Optimo Present Psyche Out
Slowdive Souvlaki
The Modern Machines "Take It, Somebody!"
Alternative TV Apollo
Edgar Broughton Band LIVE Hits Harder!
Ditch Croaker Chimpfactor
The Futureheads News and Tributes
Sweep the Leg Johnny Going Down Swingin'
Rahbras Whohm

Total: $60.90

I might have time on Friday

Rock. Will call M. White tomorrow night to plot a bit, I think.

Mr. Crump mentioned it was down to 50 cents a disc towards the end when he hit the Memphis one. Yesterday was 80% plus 'buy four get one for a buck' and by the time I get there I suspect it'll be 90% plus that. I'm honestly not expecting much but there'll be some dusty remnants still! (And there were still a huge amount of copies of the new Dengue Fever album, which is quite good, so I'll get some as gifts.)

That, and I really have heard good things about them.

thanks!

Hmm, no, twernt me.

Hey PFS,

Ha! I had that copy of the Alan Vega album in my basket on two seperate trips but put it back both times. Glad to see you got it...

Are there any other copies left of the stuff you bought (not that it won't be gone by 6 which is the earliest I can get there...)

I wonder if they have restocked because there are multiple things on your list that I would have taken note of (or purchased) if I had seen.

(1) They were indeed restocking. I actually saw them do it (and snagged my copies of Silent Shout and Batman from the restock pile). There were

(2) I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to copies remaining (it wasn't like I'd have any chance to go back later), but I'm fairly certain I saw copies of the Rahbras, Fast Product, Minus 5, Radio 4, Trapdoor Fucking Exit, the Coachwhips (ahem), and maybe a couple others.

but

(3) I heard them say last week that they were planning on closing early today. Call before you go.

FESS UP

Swung by mine an hour back and it had already closed, full stop. I took it as an omen, got some tea and a muffin and caught the next bus home a few minutes later. It was a good run, though -- thank you, Costa Mesa, for having thoroughly terrible taste in music for the most part.

and RIP tower cherry hill, NJ forever. you won't be missed much except the past couple of months of spectacular bargains. and amusing stashes of black metal CDs in the hip-hop and dance sections.

The coldness. I adore it.

FESS UP

-- vahid (vfoz...), December 20th, 2006. (vahid)

why did you ?uestion buying it in the first place? u got snaked fair and square!!!11

Okay, here is the full accounting (aside from a slew of gift discs I picked up which I obviously would rather not list here!) of everything I got over the past few weeks, sorted by markdown. (I really don't want to total the full price, though I'm still kinda amazed that through writing pay and regular salary, plus a healthy sell back of stuff to Amoeba that I wasn't listening to any more, that I much covered most of this pretty readily -- and whatever I ended up charging will be covered soon enough thanks to Xmas.)

40/50%:

Prodigy, Experience: Expanded
Go-Betweens, Spring Hill Fair, Liberty Belle, Send Me a Lullaby, Before Hollywood (double disc versions)
Idol Tryouts Two (Ghostly double-disc comp from this year)
SIANspheric, RGB (CD/DVD overview), The Sound of the Colour of the Sun
Love and Rockets, Sorted! DVD comp
We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen DVD
Mixed With Love: The Walter Gibbons Salsoul Anthology
Vic Godard and Subway Sect, Singles Anthology
Gwen McRae, The Best Of
Bill Withers, Live at Carnegie Hall -- had been meaning to get this for a long while and I ended up getting it for $5!
Cee-Lo Green, ...Is the Soul Machine
Ghostface, Fishscale
The Nomi Song DVD
Neurosis, A Sun That Never Sets DVD
Caribou, Start Breaking My Heart (some two disc early stuff comp for hypercheap, so why not?)
Sonic Youth, the 2006 reissue of the first EP with bonus hoohah
Sweet, Sweet Fanny Adams -- reissue from two years back
June Carter Cash, Keep On the Sunny Side (two disc career spanner; looks like a good sampler all around)
Devotchka, Curse Your Little Heart (interesting looking EP -- has a cover of Siouxsie's "Last Beat of My Heart" on it, which is what sold me)
Mahler's 6th, the Bernstein/NY Philharmonic Columbia recording from the late sixties
Ornette Coleman, At the Golden Circle, Volume 2 -- got volume 1 a couple of years back so this was nice.
The Wild Swans, Incandescent -- two CD comp of all their early eighties stuff
Eluvium, Talk Amongst the Trees
Felt, Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty, The Splendour of Fear, Let the Snakes Crinkle Their Heads to Death
Explosions in the Sky, s/t debut reissue
Jesu, s/t
The Gathering, Accessories
Ethiopiques: 1-3, 5-7, 9-11

Beethoven symphonies:
3rd -- Giulini/LA Philharmonic from 1979 on Deutsche Grammaphon
4th/6th -- Masur/Gewandhausorchester Leipzig on Universal (budget rerelease but hey, it was cheap and there)
9th -- Furtwangler/Bayreuther Festspiele (Schwarzkopf on soprano) from 1951 on EMI

Mahler symphonies:
2nd -- Rattle/Birmingham Orchestra from 1987 on EMI
4th/Das Lied von Der Erde -- Kletzki/Philharmonia Orchestra from 1959 on EMI
5th -- Barbirolli/New Philharmonia Orchestra from 1970 on EMI
7th -- Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin from 2005 on Warner
8th -- Kubelik/Symphone-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks from 1970 on Audite
9th -- Walter/Wiener Philharmoniker from 1938 on EMI
10th -- Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra from 1965 on Sony

John Coltrane on Impulse!:
Crescent
Impressions
Meditations
Sun Ship
Interstellar Space

Also on Impulse!:
Alice Coltrane, Journey in Satchidananda
Freddie Hubbard, The Body and the Soul
Pharoah Sanders, Karma
Charles Mingus, Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus
Sun Ra, Space is the Place
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers

On Blue Note (Rudy Van Gelder remasters):
John Coltrane, Blue Train
Cannonball Adderley, Somethin' Else
Dexter Gordon, Go!
Wayne Shorter, Adam's Apple, Speak No Evil
Jimmy Smith, House Party, The Sermon
Don Cherry, Symphony for Improvisers
Art Blakey, A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1, At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Moanin'
Bud Powell, The Amazing Bud Powell, Volume One
Eric Dolphy, Out to Lunch

Django Reinhardt, Memorial (1947 era recordings, double disc)
Jimmy Smith, Root Down
Dennis Brown, Money in My Pocket
Hawkwind, Doremi Fasol Latido
The Chambers Brothers, The Time Has Come
Prince, 3121
Journey Into Paradise...The Larry Levan Story
Yello, the remasters of Solid Pleasure and Claro Que Si
Aretha Franklin, Lady Soul
Jessica Bailiff, Feels Like Home
The Very Best of Brand Nubian
Super Furry Animals, Love Kraft
Negative Trend, Negative Trend EP
The Jesus and Mary Chain, Psychocandy reissue
Converge, Caring and Killing
Low, Transmission EP (that took me long enough)
Dollar, The Platinum Collection (just for the Trevor Horn productions)
Arthur Russell, World of Echo reissue
The Slits, Cut
Kirsty MacColl, From Croydon to Cuba (I can't believe they had this!)
The Perrey and Kingsley box set

On EMI Classics:
Holst, The Planets and Elgar's Enigma Variations both conducted by Boult with the London Philharmonic
Mozart -- Symphony No. 40, Gran Partita, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Piano Concerto No. 20, all conducted by Furtwangler with the Vienna Philharmonic.
Dvorak, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra Op. 53 and Romance in F Minor Op. 11/Bartok, Rhapsodies for violin and orchestra nos. 1 and 2 -- featured violinist Kyung-Wha Chung with the Philadelphia Orchestra (Dvorak) and the City of Birmingham Symphony conducted by Rattle (Bartok)
Rachmaninov, Symphony No. 2, Previn/London Philharmonic
Ravel, Daphnis et Chloe/Debussy, Jeux - Poeme Danse, Cluytens
Windy and Carl, The Dream House/Dedications to Flea
Emperor, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
Darkthrone, Transilvanian Hunger, Plaguewielder, Ravishing Grimness
Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno
Cult of Luna, Somewhere Along the Highway
The Gun Club, Death Party
Nine Horses (aka David Sylvian and friends), Snow Borne Sorrow
Pet Shop Boys, Fundamental (two disc version with the remixes)
Six Organs of Admittance, The Sun Awakens
Matmos, The Civil War
Triad (Red Sparowes, Made Out of Babies, Battle of Mice)
Electro Sessions (handy two disc comp -- some fairly random choices but hey, Eric B and Rakim, Lovebug Starski, Def Jef, Just Ice, The 45 King...)
Schubert, Musik zum Schauspiel "Rosamunde," Ouverture "Die Zauberharfe", Standchen (Zogernd Leise), Lehmann/Berlin Philharmonic
Orff, Carmina Burana, Mehta/London Philharmonic
Nardwaur's DVD Doot Doola Doot Doo...Doot Doo!

60%:

Ethiopiques 14
Zanzibara 2
Acid Mothers Temple -- Starless and Bible Black Sabbath
The Trip -- curated by Jarvis Cocker/Steve Mackay
Melvins -- King Buzzo
Denim -- Back in Denim
The Walker Brothers -- If You Could Hear Me Now (recent CD covering the three reunion albums, thankfully including all the Scott tracks from Nite Flights, which was nice as I'd only had mp3s -- scarily this only cost $4, and was an *import*)
The Chris Connelly 'box set,' which is this slightly odd but welcome packaging of a slew of his late nineties/early this decade efforts that I'd been slack on getting around to, plus a couple of discs of rarities and outtakes back to the Fini Tribe days. $14 for seven CDs.
Celtic Frost, Monotheist
Ivor Cutler, An Elpee and Two Epees (his earliest stuff from 1959-61)
Delta 5, Singles and Sessions
5ive (not the boy band), Versus (some inexplicable thing with Justin Broadrick remixes)
P J Harvey, B Sides (just an EP for Uh Huh Her stuff)
Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places (score!)
Mission of Burma, The Obliterati
Gruff Rhys, Yr Atal Genhedlaeth
Sparks, "Perfume" CD single (for an alternate track plus a Clor remix)
The Flaming Stars, London After Midnight -- two discs of singles, Peel Sessions, etc.
Terry Edwards, Terry Edwards Presents...Birth of the Scapegoats -- one disc of singles, Peel Sessions, etc.
Kate Bush, Hounds of Love -- which might not sound too remarkable in and of itself except 1) it was the import remaster with bonus tracks and 2) the original list price was only $14.99. Even the cashier was jealous.
The Gathering, Mandylion & Bonus
Mad Professor, Method to the Madness
Stina Nordenstam, The World Is Saved
Scott Walker's Climate of Hunter at long last, happily being the reissue/remaster from this year at that. Only $5!
Mogwai, Mr. Beast (the bonus DVD edition -- ooh, fancy package)
Roland Kirk, Kirk in Copenhagen
That Suburban Base comp Base For Your Face
Tweaker, The Attraction to All Things Uncertain -- I had no idea what this was aside from the fact it was one of the Six Degrees overstocks but turns out it's Chris Vrenna, Trent Reznor's former (?) main collaborator, and that David Sylvian, King Buzzo and Craig Wedren were all on it, which was all I needed to know
Brahms, Piano Concerto No. 1/Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel (Gelber on piano with the Munich Philharmonic)
John Fahey, The Yellow Princess (reissue with rare bonus cuts etc.)
Amorphis, Eclipse
Lalezar -- Music of the Sultans, Sufis and Seraglio Volume 2 (as you might guess, traditional Turkish music -- there were at least two hundred copies of this thing there and they had it marked down to $1.50 so I thought 'what the hell')
The double disc Sister Sledge comp in that Definitive Groove Series that Rhino put out.

70%, plus clearance knockdowns in some cases:
The Nightingales, Pigs on Purpose (remaster with bonus tracks etc. -- only really discovered these guys recently and I think they're wonderful, v. underrated)
Arthur Russell, First Thought, Best Thought
Produced by Trevor Horn -- great double disc set of some of his finest moments, from the Buggles to Tatu
Scenic/Lanterna -- split live disc from their 1996 tour
Dream Babes Vol. 3 -- Backcomb'n'Beat (Bob Stanley-curated series, sixties UK female singers -- pure Moz bait, essentially)
The Delays, Faded Seaside Glamour ($4 or something, why not?)
Alter Ego, Rocker EP (50 cents! Eight mixes, etc. etc.)
Smoosh, Free to Stay
Six by Seven, 04
Vitalic, OK Cowboy

Three Six Degrees discs at $2 each:
Zuco 103, Whaa!
Cibelle, The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves
Genghis Blues soundtrack

And the one book I got: Comrade Rockstar, a biography of Dean Reed, who really should be more famous (new documentary film soon!)

75% (50 bucks for all this):

From the EMI Classical vaults:

Beethoven, Missa Solemnis, conducted by Otto Klemperer
Britten, Sinfonia da Requiem and Shostakovich, Symphony No. 10, conducted by Simon Rattle
Handel, Piano Suites 9-16 and Beethoven, Piano Sonata Op. 31 No. 2, played by Andrei Gavrilov and Sviatoslav Richter
Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by von Karajan with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf singing
Satie, a variety of piano pieces, including Trois Gymnopedies, played by Aldo Ciccolini

From the Six Degrees clearout:

Bebel Gilberto, s/t
Zuco 103, Tales of High Fever

The Go-Betweens, 16 Lovers Lane double-disc reissue
The Goslings, Spaceheater/Perfect Interior
Lakeside, Ultimate Collection -- recent comp, a number of the tracks are the single edits but I'd yet to have anything by 'em so I'll take this!
Matmos, The Rose Has Teeth...
Satyricon, The Shadowthrone
Africa Vision, Volume 1: 1975-2005 : Le cinéma africain francophone

80%:

Coachwhips, Double Death
Christian Kiefer/Sharron Kraus, The Black Dove
Bunny Brains, Sin Gulls (Goring St. Eddy)
The Tears, Here Come the Tears
Isolee, Wearemonster
Lucid, Idylls and the Secret Remain
Mouthus, The Long Salt
Double Exposure, My Love is Free -- The Best of
Crib, Remnant
Liaisons Dangereuses, Liaisons Dangereuses
Acid Casuals, Omni
The Icarus Line, Mono
Loleatta Holloway, The Anthology (double disc Salsoul)
Bobak, Jons, Malone, Motherlight
Get Physical 2nd Anniversary Label Compilation
Get Physical 4th Anniversary Label Compilation

And a Kranky trifecta:
Bird Show, Lightning Ghost
Chihei Hatakeyama, Minima Moralia
Christmas Decorations, Model 91

Plus cheap copies of the Ohm CD/DVD box and The World of Arthur Russell via donut.

And approaching 90% for the last batch ($85 spent, $700 saved):

v/a, Well-Suited for General-purpose Audio Work (Schematic comp)
Converge, Unloved and Weeded Out
Space Needle, Recordings 1994-1997
John Frusciante, Shadows Collide With People
Al Green, The Belle Album
Nils Petter Molvaer, An American Compilation
Sonic Youth, SYR 5
Blank and Jones, The Singles
Black Dice, Smiling Off EP
50 Foot Wave, Golden Ocean and the Free Music EP
v/a, Legendary Sound Vol. 1
Clogs, Stick Music, Thom's Night Out and Lantern
The Knife, Silent Shout
Free Design, Sing For Very Important People, Kites Are Fun and There Is a Song
v/a, Wattstax: Highlights From the Soundtrack
Ladytron, Extended Play
Puccini, Messa di Gloria/Preludio Sinfonico/Crisantemi (Antonio Pappano w/London Symphony)
The Whispers, Greatest Hits (specifically the Solar late seventies/early eighties era)
Steve Kilbey, Remindlessness remaster
v/a, The DFA Remixes, Volume One
Vas, In The Garden of Souls
Lift to Experience, The Texas/Jerusalem Crossroads
Tigran Mansurian, Ars Poetica
Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5 (Chicago Symphony conducted by Abbado)
Zuco 103, Outro Lado
Midnight Star, No Parking on the Dance Floor
v/a, Body Language Vol. 1
Nathan Fake, Drowning In a Sea of Love
Khanate, Capture and Release
Gregg Kowalsky, Through the Cordial Window
Lee Morgan, The Sidewinder (RVG remaster)
Electrelane, Axes
The Mars Volta, Amputechture
Super Furry Animals, Phantom Phorce (odd but potentially interesting remix collection with an extra EP to boot; it's designed to turn into a stand alone mock up hand-held video game, early eighties style)
v/a, The Rough Guide to Fado (Portuguese folk music style, been wanting to give this an ear for a while)
v/a, Techno Classics Volume 2 (Rising High comp from '92)
Boris, Pink
Clifford Brown, Memorial Album (RVG remaster)
v/a, Check the Water (Leaf label two disc 10th anniversary comp)
Evie Sands, Any Way That You Want Me
Vidna Obmana, Memories Compiled

plus on DVD:

The Best of the Beta Band -- Film (didn't even know this existed!)
Gallon Drunk, One for the Ladies (which I got more for the bonus 'Dora Suarez' film but hey)
Boudu Saved From Drowning (Jean Renoir's early sound classic, on Criterion)

Well. Now to listen to it all. And watch it in some cases.

holy shit ned