Russ Solomon : Tower Records founder.. left the building

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I went to the Tower Records in London and was amazed at the range of music they had. Now in the UK we're left with a few independents and HMV.
 
Tower came to Chicago in the early 90's. I got to know many of their folks.

I got some great posters and could exchange anything in print for full credit. I remember getting a 16 CD Coltrane Prestige Box for $18 with all the stuff I returned. Great box!

There were many promo's, some were Tower only. Last week, we listened to a Tower Promo, Motown 40 Celebration Rare Gems from the Motown Vault.

Many of my SACD's & DVD-A's came from there.

There are many people, stores and restaurants I once inhabited that I greatly miss. The records places I miss most are Korvettes and Tower. Tower stores were the best ever. 4th & Broadway in Manhattan, Clark St. & Wabash Ave in Chicago were my favorites. A visit could last hours and a couple hundred $$.

RIP Russ!
 
He did it his way...props to him...he lived a long life and enjoyed himself right to the end...I hope Quad Linda posts on here and shares some of her insight on Tower...I love her stories:)

Yup.. same here.. love Mamita Linda's stories.. she IS an institution!!!
(EDIT.. DOH!! wasn't fast enough!!!0

when I worked at Tower Boston, there were a bunch of cassettes and CDs (you had to be REALLY fast to get those!) that were promos...I still have a lot of those!!! One of them was Cheap Trick's "Lap of luxury" on cassette...
I used to get a lot of pre recorded chrome promo cassettes from fairly obscure artists and record over them!
 
Spent many, many Saturday afternoons lurking, looking & buying music in Tower Records.
Another thing from my yoot gone poof!!

It seems like more and more casual communal activities are dying.
 
I visited and hung out at a few Tower Locations in my lifetime.

Seattle WA (2 Locations), Bellevue WA, Hollywood CA, Chicago IL

Hey, Milt?!

Do you remember Everybody’s Records?

Also, there used to be a used record shop (one located in Seattle and the other in Bellevue) owned by a husband and wife team that eventually ended up dealing with CD’s too. Then, they ended up closing the Seattle location and hung in Bellevue for quite a while. But I forgot the name of that store.

There was Silver Platters too. Not sure if they’re still around.
 
I visited and hung out at a few Tower Locations in my lifetime.

Seattle WA (2 Locations), Bellevue WA, Hollywood CA, Chicago IL

There was Silver Platters too. Not sure if they’re still around.

Did not know there were two in Seattle. For me it was 2.5 hr drive to get to the Seattle one(near space needle) and I loved making weekend trips to check out the cd's I could not get in Canada and prices were pretty good. Also liked picking up the magazine(Pulse) to check out what records/cd's they would talk about.

On holiday trip to La and Hawaii on 2 different occasions also checked out Tower in each of those places.

I stopped at Silver Platters a couple of times but wasn't as impressed as compared to what Tower was doing.

The only place that topped Tower for me was our treasure in BC(A & B Sound) they were pretty special, had fantastic prices and almost matched Tower in some ways as to fantastic place to hang out and talk music with the workers, many of whom were musicians in different bands around town.
Remember one of them talking about this upcoming young singer Sarah Mclachan that person played bass for her early on and just many other fun talks about all things music.
 
Met some great people in Tower. Judy Collins and Tracey Thorn/Ben Watt from Everything but the Girl immediately come to mind.

I was in the Tower on the Upper West Side in Manhattan (later location) and the damn fire alarm went off. I think my ears are still ringing. I had a similar experience in the Herald Square Borders.

The Tower/Good Guys stores were very cool. When in Vegas, I would visit there and not bother with the new or old UNLV store.
 
Did not know there were two in Seattle. For me it was 2.5 hr drive to get to the Seattle one(near space needle) and I loved making weekend trips to check out the cd's I could not get in Canada and prices were pretty good. Also liked picking up the magazine(Pulse) to check out what records/cd's they would talk about.

It was practically below the Space Needle.

The second Tower location was located a few short minutes North of downtown Seattle in Northgate. Come to think of it, I remember there being one close to the University Of Washington too that was in two different locations. :)
 
RIP Russ Solomon and thanks.

I spent countless hours at the Tower on Sunset (a flagship store) on my Fridays off while I lived in L.A. Where else would you find that hard to find import or indie release...the store had everything and that was it's appeal and from what I read that was what Russ Solomon wanted among other things..something for everyone.

..and being L.A. , I ran into Elton John (an avid music collector) , Nicolas Cage, Whoopi Goldberg while shopping there.way cool.. and the place always had a buzz it seems, from the local artists' cool LP drawings outside, the tourists mingling with the Angelenos, to the long haired tattooed Axl Rose lookalikes who worked there, to the people who were setting up for a special event ..Autograph signing events or a concert etc..

If you wanted to get away from it all you could go across the street to Tower Classical or Tower Video, both outstanding stores.

To me it was both an awe inspiring fun and many a times an unforgettable experience.
 
Don’t remember a Tower near Northgate in Seattle.
The one on Mercer Street (near the space needle, became a Silver Platters when Tower folded) was really good, as was the Bellevue location. The U District store was never as good IMHO.
Think I might have been in a Tower in Honolulu in the late 80’s too.

Silver Platters was great for the longest time and though I welcome the fact they still exist (3 stores which I visit at least twice a year) they’re a shadow of their former selves.

And anytime someone mentions A&B Sound I feel like crying, I miss them so much.

Edit: the Tower Records documentary is required viewing by any record fan IMHO
 
To me it was both an awe inspiring fun and many a times an unforgettable experience.

Yes it was. One that I miss so very much. :(

Now, all I do is sit behind my iPad on Forums and order my music online. :mad:@:

Tower Records still has a Website and the Pulse! magazine appearantly hit 222 issues in its run.
 
Don’t remember a Tower near Northgate in Seattle.
The one on Mercer Street (near the space needle, became a Silver Platters when Tower folded) was really good, as was the Bellevue location. The U District store was never as good IMHO.
Think I might have been in a Tower in Honolulu in the late 80’s too.

Silver Platters was great for the longest time and though I welcome the fact they still exist (3 stores which I visit at least twice a year) they’re a shadow of their former selves.

And anytime someone mentions A&B Sound I feel like crying, I miss them so much.

Edit: the Tower Records documentary is required viewing by any record fan IMHO

I may be mixing up both Tower Records and Silver Platters locations but there definitely used to be a Tower Records in the University District in two different locations.

The Bellevue Tower Records was in two different locations too in downtown. First it was on Eighth St. Then, on 104th St.
 
Tower came to Chicago in the early 90's. I got to know many of their folks.

I got some great posters and could exchange anything in print for full credit. I remember getting a 16 CD Coltrane Prestige Box for $18 with all the stuff I returned. Great box!

There were many promo's, some were Tower only. Last week, we listened to a Tower Promo, Motown 40 Celebration Rare Gems from the Motown Vault.

Many of my SACD's & DVD-A's came from there.

There are many people, stores and restaurants I once inhabited that I greatly miss. The records places I miss most are Korvettes and Tower. Tower stores were the best ever. 4th & Broadway in Manhattan, Clark St. & Wabash Ave in Chicago were my favorites. A visit could last hours and a couple hundred $$.

RIP Russ!
Have spent many hours at the 4th and Broadway store in NYC. One of the only stores that would let me handle 45rpm records. Most places had them behind the counter. I was always looking for unreleased b sides which made it necessary to read the label. Probably purchased thousands there.
 
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