the rockville md location is totally picked over. rap and reggae sections were filled w/ mass quantities of dreck and the classical section is non-existent. dance section had a lot of names i recognized from the “minimal” threads but i know jackshit about that stuff and it was all still “import-priced.” i almost walked out empty-handed but then i found
brightblack morning light “s/t”
burmese “men”
gate “the dew line”
excepter “sunbomber”
rephlex records “grime” comp. (lol)
jesu “silver” ($5!)
the only soul jazz comp left was arthur russell so i picked one up, no idea what it’s like. score of the night: black devil “disco club” for 74 cents!!
and i overheard a cashier telling a customer that they were closing for good probably this friday.
weirdly they had like 20 copies of that jesu at my tower.
black devil “disco club” for 74 cents!!
YAAARGH! is it the cd-single on rephlex or a full reissue?
cd-single
well, a little less of a yaaargh then.
the burmese has already made it to my to-sell pile. recorded and produced by weasel walter = not heavy and just plain shitty sounding
glendale ca tower records:
booka shade—‘movements’ and ‘memento’
the knife—‘silent shout’
tim hecker—‘mirage’
saint etienne—‘songs for mario’s cafe’
fiery furnaces—‘bitter tea’
wayne shorter—‘speak no evil’
andrew hill—‘pax’
nina nastasia—‘the blackened air’
burial—s/t
uusitalo—‘tulenkantaja’
colder—‘heat’
the dresden dolls—‘yes, virginia’
the handsome family—‘milk and scissors’
plus a dvd of the awesome japanese horror film ‘the booth.
$96 bucks!
Purchase reviews (“reviews”):
The Beatles—The Capitol Albums Vol.2
The longbox packaging is even worse than I’d been lead to believe. I bought this mostly for Rubber Soul, but I don’t think I’m ever going to feel it again the way I once did.
Pete Rodriguez—I Like It Like That
Good, solid boogaloo.
Willie Colon/Hector Lavoe—El Juicio
Larry Harlow: Hommy
Azuquita: Pura Salsa
Replacements for the previous CD reissues I owned. Sound better all around. I don’t love Hommy as much as some people though.
Hector “El Bambino” & Naldo Presentan: Sangre Nueva
Good reggaeton collection, though the best tracks are mostly on the first disc. Anyway, worth it to me.
LunyTunes—Reggaeton Hits
Not worth what I paid for it, and this was never on even my most expansive list of things to buy eventually.
Adassa—Kamasutra
Iffy, but I really do like a couple tracks on here (“De Tra” especially) and I think I would have been tempted to buy it eventually. Also, I think she’s going to be doing better things down the road, so I like having this, for some reason.
Hector Bambino “El Father”: Los Rompe Discotekas
Not very good, as expected, but cheap.
Voltio: s/t
Really not too good, though I haven’t quite made my way through the whole thing. Aside from a couple tracks I like a lot, there’s a lot of mediocrity here.
Xiomara: s/t
Very good romantic dinner music.
Enrique Chia: La Musica de Ernesto Lecuona
Unlistenable because too rooted in the romantic era of classical music for my taste. Lush violins. Yuk.
Not really a triumphant set of purchases. (Then again, when I buy things at full price I often end up with similar results.)
forgot to mention: lol @ at the tower having 50 unsold copies of every coachwhips cd
My haul from Tower on Clark in Chicago on Saturday:
Boris—Pink
Clinic—4 EPs
Futureheads—News And Tributes
Ghostface—The Pretty Toney Album
Knife—Silent Shout
Seke Molenga & Kalo Kawongolo—Lee Perry Presents...African Roots (there’s about a half dozen of these left)
Montrose
Slowdive—Souvlaki
Suburbs—In Combo
I saw some other goodies, like Associates reissues, so it’s worth skimming through.
what is with the coachwhips and tower? there are stacks of these at the emeryville one also
haha
My favourite things I found on my $170 spending spree at Tower:
The Longcut—“A Call & Response” (Anthony H. Wilson likes them, new Manchester band, mentioned on Factory mailing list, yowza, better than Marion, that’s for sure—I love it)
Negativland—Escape From Noise (I’m going to come out of the closet and admit I never actually owned this one, though why is anyone’s guess. That was the first time I ever knew Negativland existed was when this was played on college radio in my town over and over—Time Zones and the little girl singing about the over the rainbow thing, and also Christianity Is Stupid.)
I also got a live video of Chic that has Nile Rodgers (obviously no one can bring Bernard Edwards or Tony the drummer out of their graves) and a couple of really good looking black women are in that. Still I wish it were Sister Sledge, though.
I also bought a DVD of Nik Kershaw videos. I don’t know why. I guess I got carried away. It was somewhat interesting, I guess. But man, what was I thinking?
Very little left at the DC Tower. Plenty of Coachwhips and Boris-Pink still there.
Picked up Chelonius Jones, the iLIKETRAINS EP, the second Ivories CDS, the Arthur Russell Soul Jazz comp (I’d listened to it before, but I’m liking it a whole lot more now for some reason—maybe/hopefully this is indicative of me finally getting past thinking of Arthur as a disco guy before anything else), and The Repulsion Box by Sons & Daughters at the one on Sunset. I may go out to the Glendale one tomorrow or Tuesday—I recently woke the fuck up to Drum’s Not Dead in a big way and it’d be nice to get it 4 cheap.
Also, if anyone on earth wants a copy of the Towers of London’s album, Tower on Sunset is yr hookup. I mean good GOD.
Hahahah! TOO many copies of that. And Coachwhips and etc.
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.
Also, experimenting with the Six Degrees stuff at this point is kinda fun.
went back for a 2nd go around ... this time i picked up
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 ...
isolee—“western store”
I would love to get this. IF THE PRICE WASN’T SO STUPIDLY HIGH STILL.
i’m glad someone else noticed coachwhips! seriously there were about 50 cds of theirs in the c section and another 50 scattered throughout the rack near the checkout. lots of morrissey’s “ringleader of the tormenters” as well.
dude, ned, it’s only $6 after the discount, you cheapskate!!!
Actually no — at my store it’s still at $11.
Philadelphia Tower still status quo. Rock/pop and some other sections still 60% off.
Yeah, same with my local one. I’m guessing it might well stay open at least through Xmas at this rate, which I’m fine with.
Went to the Woodland Hills Tower today. there were still quite a few good cds left over. Surprisingly they had a buttload of Fall albums...picked up Slates and In A Hole. I was hoping that the Peel Session box set was there, but no luck.
Made a couple of passes at the Gleandale, CA Tower inbetween catching football at Clancy’s Crab Shack, spent about 80 bucks each time and picked up 40 or so cds, most to be Xmas gifts. There were a shitload of Mott the Hooples Wildlike for a dollar.
Surprisingly they had a buttload of Fall albums...
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.
So my store closes next Tuesday, and it seems like most of the other ones I know about are going to close up by then as well. Commence waiting on prices for all Six Degrees stuff to drop to a buck.
My store had a “9 days left” sign up today, but it’s really picked over now. I was hoping to pick up a DVD of Baby Doll (Karl Malden and Carroll Baker as you’ve never seen them before!) on the next bump but all three copies were gone today.
Is the Lizzie Borden movie Born In Flames any good?
If anyone is in the San Jose area, the Blossom Hill Road still has a pretty good stock. CDs are still at 60% off, but they’re nowhere near as picked over as the Portland store.
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.
fuuuuck ... this is addictive ... dropped by san mateo tower records
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?
Cambridge is REALLY picked over at this point...talk about dregs (dixie and otherwise)...almost all of the compilations are radio station promo things...the discount is now 70%, and that seems to be the magic number...lots of things I had been earmarking (the Boo Radleys comp, Reynolds’ Rip It Up CD, the Rough Trade Singer-Songwriter collection) have finally left the building...I did nab one of those Sampled comps, which may be my last ever Tower purchase...(qualified sob)...
still can’t believe The Shortwave Set has survived...get with it, folks!
There were still a couple of dance comps hidden away that I had my eye on last Friday. I guess I’ll go again later today to see what the new damage is.
yesterday at 4th and broadway i got the ed askew cd and some pegboy, bailter space (!) and the speaking canaries vinyl for $25.
If anyone sees the rock go down to 70%, make sure you post about it.
I just called the Memphis store — their last day is tomorrow. Do I drive 2.5 hrs. each way on a chance there might be something worth buying?
I wouldn’t at this point. All three Towers in SF are completely barren.
Everything is 70% off at the DC Tower. Still plenty of good stuff there.
I’m gonna try to get into the 4th and Broadway store on the 18th or 19th, and pillage whatever’s left of the jazz section. Mostly I just wanna load up on RVG Blue Note titles and FMP stuff.
jazz was looking pretty sad last night.
the 4th and Broadway store
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.
Mostly I just wanna load up on RVG Blue Note titles
I hear you. (I’ve already made a pretty good catch on those myself.)
2.5 hours each way? You guys are fucking crazy.
I sit here debating whether or not I want to drive 10 minutes to check it out each day.
We are thinking about hitting the Henderson and Las Vegas stores this weekend, though I hauled an awful lot back from Tustin and Mr. Jaq has had too much fun at the lower QA store in Seattle.
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.
my gf and i went to the tower in venice/mdl last night. for whatever reason—i can only assume apathy—the clerk charged her only 99 cents for spiritualized’s ‘complete works: vol 1’. she also got the import 2-disc of saint etienne’s ‘tales from turnpike house’ for uber-cheap as well. 6 cds for 15 bucks or something like that.
Everything is 70% off at the DC Tower. Still plenty of good stuff there.
— ng-unit (kurious_orang...), December 13th, 2006.
I must be getting too picky. I did not see alot of good stuff left there on Sunday.
Yeah, I could make it an all-purpose grocery/xmas shopping trip with possible Tower lagniappe.
i bought like 40 shitty rap CDs at tower. i figure if there’s 1–2 songs worth hearing on each I can get my money’s worth.
Oh, but fuck Knocturnal...i want my dollar back.
You should burn a comp — Cream of the Tower Crap
haha i’ve been thinking about it.
I can’t understand how so much (often mediocre) Cali rap gets such long reach as far as distribution; southern rap CDs are hard to come by if it isn’t on a major but if you want 600 copies of 2004 Celly Cel records where he’s looking like a pro wrestler on the cover, they’ve got that shit.
I mean its cool too because I got the bay bridges comp and some sick wid it comps and the first c-bo album and suga free’s ‘features 2’ for a buck fifty per, but i had to sort through 100 ‘comeback’ cds from washed up Cali G’s.
Well, consider Tower was based out in Sacramento and I think you see the logic there w/r/t what gets distributed and what doesn’t.
Picked up Superlongevity 4, Cristina’s Doll In A Box and Rita Lee’s mysterious 2nd album at lunch for $20 (7/7/5).
I can’t understand how so much (often mediocre) Cali rap gets such long reach as far as distribution
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.
“southern rap CDs are hard to come by if it isn’t on a major”
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.
but if you want 600 copies of 2004 Celly Cel records where he’s looking like a pro wrestler on the cover, they’ve got that shit
hahaha true therefore funny
lol Celly Cel. also see: Mac Mall
Went to Memphis — last day, 90% off, they were hauling empty shelving out around the few customers. Some old dude in ragged clothing was buying a shopping cart full. Most of the best remaining stuff was in books, not music. Anyway, I got three big bags full of junk and near-junk for $33.
Hit 70% at my local store tonight. Among other things I found this...
Is that good? I saw Volume 1 and 2 at 60% off, but I passed cuz I hadn’t heard anything about it.
I figure it can’t suck, let’s put it that way! At 4 bucks or whatever I’ll give it a shot.
angeleans, the pasadena tower is at 70% and still has a fair amount of decent stuff. the glendale one might as well be done, stick a fork in it. nothing left.
Is the Seattle store still open?
I’m going to do a dead-check on Philly’s Tower after work.
u-district seattle store has like 1 or 2 days left. lqa seattle store has like 6.
last night:
isolee—‘western store’ and ‘wearemonster’
luciano—‘sci fi hi fi’
erase errata—‘night life’
meat purveyors—‘someday soon things will be much worse!’
a pair of studio one comps
a certain ratio—‘i’d like to see you again’
wolf parade—‘apologies to the queen mary’
they’re all supposed to close by next Friday, right? anyone know when the D.C. and/or Rockville stores are closing? I might try to make a field trip down there sometime next week after work.
The Philly Tower location at Broad & Chestnut has apparently been leased by FYE.
The Portland store is apparently closing on Tuesday, Dec 19. It’s at 70% now.
NYC is dead, dead. the cut outs of the cutting outest bin of all time.
So wait ramon, does that mean Tower at Broad & Chestnut is closed and the sale is over? Did I miss my chance for a few cheap Six Degrees CDs I wanted?
holy shit gear
plus one other one i forget at the moment. total was $65!
$3 each:
Zuco 103: Whaa!
Zuco 103: Tales of High Fever
Suba [various artist]: Tributo
That’s it for me.
Rock/pop now 70%. There is still stuff someone would want.
I was waiting for Glendale to hit 70% and apparently they recently replenished. I got all these for $51.96
Having the bag in the photo is a nice touch.
Rock/pop was at 70% off Wednesday night at the Alexandria, VA Tower. They had about 7 copies left of that Jess Harvell teen-punk fave Be Your Own Pet. I grabbed one of ’em. They also had a bunch of copies of Public Image Limited Greatest Hits So Far (it’s not the best collection but it has some stuff I like, and I just have PIL on vinyl). They also had 4 copies left of Extra Golden-OK-Oyot System on Thrilljockey. That’s a one-off group with a couple of DC Dischord rock guys who went to Kenya and recorded with Kenyan musicians. The rap section consists of nothing but unknown to me efforts for the most part. Other odds and ends—I found a Best of
Barbara Carr soul comp on Ecko, that Cardinal indie-pop re-release with extra tracks and Superpitcher-Today on Kompakt (I know very lttle about minimalist techno stuff but I figured it was worth a chance). The Latin section was pretty empty except for Mexican ranchera cds. At the DC store a week ago I bought a cd by Latin American Gustavo Cerati. I think Matt Haikunym loves him and he’s won lots of acclaim elsewhere as well.
Al, I don’t know when the DC store is gonna close. It used to have 2 levels and only one is open now. Oh yeah, I bought that Dengue Fever Cambodian garage pop cd that’s in that picture, at the Alexandria store awhile back for 50% off, and last week I saw about 30 copies of it on sale in the DC store for $1.50 each. Rap is down to 75 cents each in DC I think.
DC store is closing on either 12/19 or 12/20. Rap is 50 cents.
tthe last day for seattle’s u-district store is actually sunday. everything is at 70%, except rap, which is $1 per.
The Philly Tower location at Broad & Chestnut has apparently been leased by FYE.
Yeah, a depressing number of the leases were purchased by FYE and fucking Walgreen’s of all places. At least a few of the California stores’ leases were picked up by Rasputin, which is definitely an upgrade.
Passing by the original locations and seeing them turned into video-focused FYE stores is going to be hard to stomach.
Boston/Cambridge is closing on Monday, so says the sign.
Bay Tower (this’ll be my last trip there).
Michael Mayer Touch
Lukie D Deliver Me
Various World is Gone
Saian Supa Crew Hold-Up
And Ciara’s “Oh” single and Brook Valentine’s “Girlfight” single cuz they were both 50 cents and there is a Kardinal remix on the former and I don’t really want Brook’s album but that track is aces.
$22 total.
I dropped $260 (and my housemate dropped $600) at the San Francisco Tower tonight. It was very picked, but I’m happy with my finds. 70% is too hard to resist.
$600! Did he buy shelving?
Nope, just CDs. Most of it was pretty good stuff, too.
i just bought a good handful of stuff, probably the last time i’ll go. the receipt happily informs me i “saved $191.64 today!”
i will miss you, tower cherry hill.
absolutely NOTHING at emeryville; I got the new magnetophone and a copy of the Field Music cd, and those were the only things I can imagine anyone buying...oh, there was an isolee cd. and of course about 30 Coachwhips cds.
at least a few of the California stores’ leases were picked up by Rasputin, which is definitely an upgrade
— Baron Von Jigglesworth (...), December 16th, 2006
woah ... when i was at the palo alto location the other day the manager was talking a lot of shit about the owner of rasputin, i guess he had dropped by. that conversation makes more sense now! i hope we get a rasputin in palo alto ...
dance got cut to $1 at some point a few days ago and BAM, everything *gone*.
i picked up
black devil disco club—$1
black dice “smiling off”—$1
miss kittin bugged out mix—$3
studio one lovers—$7
norman jay presents philadelphia—$7
sounds of monsterism island—$9
i guess that’s it for that ... pretty much NOTHING left at this point that i don’t already own a copy of.
also dropped by the blossom hill tower, sure enough, pretty fucking depressing. grabbed annie’s dj kicks for $3 and broadcast’s “tender buttons” for $3. might drop by on sunday and see if i can get big youth’s “screaming target” for $1. they had a copy of this too ... is it worth it for $15???
Yes it is.
it totally is and it’ll be gone when you get back.
I hope FYE goes out of business. I want to get my hands on all the salsa they carry. FYE in the Gallery’s salsa section is so much better than any I’ve seen in a chain store it’s not funny. I know people hate them, but maybe they are working a different niche (than you are expecting or looking for)? Their prices are too high though, pretty much comparable to Tower’s old prices.
i dunno man, when i was in tower the other day it was like 30 obese dudes browsing pr0n dvds (one 300 lb dude was wearing a shirt that said WHOS YOUR BIG DADDY??) and cut-rate reggaeton. and some slack-jawed yokels looking through the posters. unless some random ILX lurker jacks it ...
Went back for:
Suba: Sao Paulo Confessions
Cibelle: s/t
Cibelle: Shine of the Dried Electric Leaves
(Shit I’m checking samples of something I was thinking of buying and it was definitely worth the $2.70, to the point where I’m tempted to go buy right now and get it. It’s almost a miracle that it’s left, but it’s somewhat obscure. Philly Tower closing FAP in 20 minutes anyone? No, that’s okay.)
(Tower closing sale addiction.)
I didn’t think to look for pr0n videos. :(
Hello hello. Will check out U District Tower today for laffs.
managed to find at the costa mesa location (surprised ned hadn’t gotten there first, but he probably owns them all anyway):
larry levan — journey into paradise
chelonis r. jones — dislocated genius
planningtorock— have it all
optimo — how to kill the dj pt. II
talk talk — natural history
a bit over $20.
Got it:
Los Nemus del Pacifico: Montuneando con Los Nemus
(And someone was asking me about an album that was left that I own.)
I need to take a week off from work to listen to all the music I’ve purchased within the last week (and I’ve got a 4-CD set on the way too).
surprised ned hadn’t gotten there first, but he probably owns them all anyway
In order: got it earlier, don’t know much about, dang I should have scored that!, hmm I missed out, got other greatest hits comp with better mastering/B-sides.
Montuniando not Montuneando (not that anyone is keeping track).
Picked up:
London Is The Place For Me 3
Sean Paul Stage One
Henske & Yester Farewell Aldebaran
Kray Twins “What We Do” single w/ Low Deep’s “Straight Flush (Remix)” as the B-side.
Dance is still pretty strong at the Market store actually. There are a zillion copies of this which really depresses me actually.