We had one about five miles away from the house--my dad would get his 35mm photo and 8mm movie film developed there, and I remember they also had an audio room. I always hopped into the car anytime we'd head over there. 😁
The GREATEST HITS, and record stores
- Thread starter rockdoctor
- Start date
The Korvette's that we had was in Hampton. I had never heard of it before the summer of 1976. The local tunnel system had tolls and being a broke student, I did not go over that way. The tolls came off in 1976 and late that summer, I saw an ad for Korvette's in the southside newspapers and there was a huge sale on albums so a friend and I drove over there and I was amazed at the selection. I started hitting that store every few months until it closed.
None of the dedicated record stores I went to in the 70s (Crane's, a small L.A. chain, The Wherehouse, Tower Records) had cutouts. I found the CTi LPs I mentioned at White Front, a west coast discount department store chain that sold everything including appliances. Picture a "Big Box" store with a product mix of Target and Best Buy (for the time---1959 to mid-70s) and that's White Front.
I didn't go in often because there really wasn't a convenient one when I was a teen, but Kmart had cutouts, too. And, when I was back east visiting family in the summer of 1970, we went to Korvette's (which really confused me until I saw the sign with a "K"---I was expecting cars) and they had them, too.
Actually, Harry, I think Jerry was totally on board with GREATEST HITS.
It's been a few years, but somewhere on this forum, I posted a link to a piece from Billboard about Jerry making the decision to get A&M involved in cutouts for the first time. I think it was 1969, which was a really rough year for the label. Up until that point, returns from retailers had simply been destroyed (and I'm sure there was a solid accounting reason for that).
But in '69, Jerry saw an upside to taking pennies on the dollar from rack jobbers to buy from A&M what didn't sell at retail. I think this is about the time he started dealing with Pickwick, too.
Even before this, Jerry was extremely aggressive about taking albums that weren't selling out of print and destroying the metal masters (the tapes survived). My thought is that Jerry's vision for the future of A&M was rock-oriented and that the "heritage" acts would have the one or two best-selling albums that still moved at retail (if that act had any) in print along with GREATEST HITS and that was it (and that's pretty much what happened).
Herb went beyond that with SOLID BRASS because his name was on the door, and I have no explanation for the FOURSIDER series.
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Thanks for this, Harry!
I never bought any of the GREATEST HITS albums. I knew these were Unipaks but didn't know they had liner notes inside.
Also interesting that they broke format in terms of liner note placement for the Sergio LP, I guess to include a headshot of Sergio in addition to the group photo.
These turned out to be a bit of a scanning nightmare due to the design elements. All those straight line colored bars framing photos and track listings were difficult to match up. I usually scan the top part of the album first - the whole 12" width fits. Then a bottom scan and the attempt to join the two which requires some color matching - and lining up the color bar elements. Even the black & white page had to match up with whatever greyscale was present in the two scans.
Ringwear on a couple of my covers was another source of aggravation. I'm sure I missed a few spots, but for now, these will do. The Baja album in my collection is a promo copy with a couple of stickers on the back.
A curiosity that I have in the Alpert GH album is one with no gatefold - and still with the old catalog number on the front - with a silver & tan label on the record with that old catalog number. I can't find one like it on Discogs.
Well, now that I know how much work went into it, I'm really happy that you took the time!
The first time I saw cut-out bins was in the bigger downtown Philly record stores like Sam Goody and the like, and these stores also were the first I saw carrying import records.
Our family often shopped at Sears, so I was familiar with their record department, and there were similar departments in Gimbels and Strawbridges, and J.C.Penney. We also had Korvettes farther out in the suburbs along with an S.Klein On The Square. My sister had gotten a job at Klein and I got her to use her employee discount to pick up the TJB VOLUME 2 album, the last one I needed to finish the collection at that point. She did get it for me, but it was a mono copy. Still, I got to sample that album long before I picked up a stereo copy years later.
Our family often shopped at Sears, so I was familiar with their record department, and there were similar departments in Gimbels and Strawbridges, and J.C.Penney. We also had Korvettes farther out in the suburbs along with an S.Klein On The Square. My sister had gotten a job at Klein and I got her to use her employee discount to pick up the TJB VOLUME 2 album, the last one I needed to finish the collection at that point. She did get it for me, but it was a mono copy. Still, I got to sample that album long before I picked up a stereo copy years later.
Of course I would make a beeline for any record store or "department" I could find, but my most-visited favorites back in the day were:
- Musicland, in Rimrock Mall at Billings Montana (The space is now a clothing store)
- Budget Tapes and Records, in a strip mall at Billings (now a "smoking supplies" store, last I looked)
- The record department at the Woolworth's in Sheridan, Wyoming (the closest town to my family's summer vacation spot) -- I bought Primal Roots on 8-track there.
- The record department at the V-Store Trading Post, in my hometown. I bought most of my records there until we opened our own store in the late '60s. The space is now part of an Asian restaurant.
- Virgin Music, which was located in the area now knowns as DIsney Springs, in Walt Disney World. It was a required stop everytime we went to Disney. I bought my CD copy of the TJB Greatest Hits there. That space is now a bowling/restaurant complex called Splitsville.
- And of course my own store, which was called Valley Music. It was started by my dad and his partner in their auto parts store in the late '60s, in the era when 8-tracks were becoming the rage. When I got into high school I started managing it and we ran it as part of the store until 2013.
Bobberman
Well-Known Member
My Favorite Record stores were plentiful in Southern Idaho we had the record departments of Kmart Payless drug stores and even a tiny drug store called Sav Mor and a music store that sold instruments and records called The Music Center We also Had Budget tapes and Records and Musicland this was all in Twin Falls Which is still the big town in south central Idaho as I lived in other towns in Lewiston idaho they had Budget tapes and records which later closed and the former employees revived the store space with Pepperland records along with Payless drugs and their record department and from 1984 to 86 a small mom and pop collectors shop called Roadrunner Records and the unique thing is I got to know the owners and they had tons of A&M lps and I managed to get most of the Herb Alpert TJB. BMB and many others as well as rare non A&M stuff and they had so much of everything they gave me Huge discounts on a lot of stuff I was one Happy spoiled 17 to 19 year old sadly they closed for good in 86 but every store I've hung out in is still Fondly Remembered
Tower, in its advertising in the 70s, called itself “The largest record store in the known world.”
Not bad for what Russ Solomon started as a teenager with a counter in his dad’s Sacramento drug store. It’s been a restaurant for 25 years, but the original sign has never come down:
The first time I entered a Tower Records was one up in the northeast section of Philly. It was far enough away that it was a rare trip to that part of town, and in the 90s, it was a destination in and of itself. The first thing you noticed was that the entrance presented you with multiple destinations. An escalator straight ahead took you down to the smaller section-rooms like classical, jazz, soundtracks, etc. The upstairs, to the left, was the main floor with all of the CDs and LaserDiscs. They had an incredible selection of LaserDiscs, and any CD you'd ever want. By this time, in the early to mid-90s, I was full into LaserDiscs for movies, and CDs were a bit of an afterthought, as I'd found most of what I'd wanted on the format by then. But I always managed to check for an interesting title that I didn't have or know about. Always checked the Easy Listening section for things like Carpenters, Herb Alpert, Sergio Mendes, etc.
I could count on that store to have whatever I was looking for. And added good-luck brought us another Tower Records up in the King Of Prussia suburb. No more trips to the northeast part of the city! This store had just about everything that the northeast store did, but it was all on one floor, separated into a few rooms. I recall finding a number of Sergio Mendes imports there. I even discovered that someone else had heard of Rupert Holmes and stocked some CDs of his!
The other big, big store that I got to buy stuff in once in awhile was mentioned by Mike - the Virgin store in Disney's shopping area. Another multi-story store with escalators in the middle - these went up to other rooms that were mostly books and DVDs. The downstairs had its main floor with a few sub-rooms in the back. I recall finding some great Brazilian stuff in that store - stuff I never saw anywhere else. It was great for imports. And as Mike has mentioned, it's now a fancy Disneyfied bowling alley specializing in family bowling and dining.
Since moving to Florida, I can hardly say I've ever entered a record store down here. There was one in a local mall not too far away, but they've closed. I know there are a few record stores in downtown Orlando, and there's a couple in the Lakeland area. Most of my shopping is online now.
I could count on that store to have whatever I was looking for. And added good-luck brought us another Tower Records up in the King Of Prussia suburb. No more trips to the northeast part of the city! This store had just about everything that the northeast store did, but it was all on one floor, separated into a few rooms. I recall finding a number of Sergio Mendes imports there. I even discovered that someone else had heard of Rupert Holmes and stocked some CDs of his!
The other big, big store that I got to buy stuff in once in awhile was mentioned by Mike - the Virgin store in Disney's shopping area. Another multi-story store with escalators in the middle - these went up to other rooms that were mostly books and DVDs. The downstairs had its main floor with a few sub-rooms in the back. I recall finding some great Brazilian stuff in that store - stuff I never saw anywhere else. It was great for imports. And as Mike has mentioned, it's now a fancy Disneyfied bowling alley specializing in family bowling and dining.
Since moving to Florida, I can hardly say I've ever entered a record store down here. There was one in a local mall not too far away, but they've closed. I know there are a few record stores in downtown Orlando, and there's a couple in the Lakeland area. Most of my shopping is online now.
The only Tower we had in our area that I can remember (at least when I lived on the other side of town) didn't last but several years. They were known for deep catalog. They also had a Laserdisc section and had some great sales on those during the holidays. It was also the place I saw vinyl versions of then-new alternative rock releases that I now wish I had purchased. The only one I ever bought was Live's Throwing Copper, and am kicking myself to this day for passing up the first Garbage album on Almo Sounds, which is now worth into the three figures for a clean copy.
Hopefully we never find out. If we did, it would probably be because the Tower Theater, which anchors the building that houses the Tower Cafe' (formerly Tower Drugs) and I think three smaller storefronts, was going to be replaced.
It's a gem---built in 1938. The theater is a well-regarded art house with three screens that appears to have survived the pandemic thus far. Here's a better shot of the sign in relation to the rest of the building:
By the way, the neon still works, and is lit each evening:
Here's the shot from the theater side:
And the courtyard, where you can wait for a movie or for seating at the Tower Cafe' (there's usually a wait):
A core principle of Tower---and one that led to its success---was Russ Solomon's decision to have at least one copy of anything in print. He never wanted to turn someone away or ask them to have to make a special order.
When Russ opened his first stand-alone Tower outside his dad's drugstore in 1968, it was a suburban location across the street from a shopping mall. A year or so later, he opened a store across the street from his dad's store, which has since been demolished. His third location was in downtown Sacramento on K Street. By the time I saw it, 1976, it was no longer Tower, but an independent record store, selling new and used records and tapes. A great store. By the time I moved to Sacramento in 2013, it had been vacant for years (K Street has been going through a decades-long rough patch).
Anyway, here's Russ, about five years ago, in front of that building. The artwork dates back to when he opened it as Tower.
That space has been cleaned up, the mural restored and reopened as Solomon's Deli. Russ had no ownership interest in it, but it's music-themed, with old Tower memorabilia and an upstairs live music performance space:
Solomon's | No Bagels, No Life
Sandwiches with soul, Solomon's is a community gathering place celebrating culture, cocktails and music!
www.solomons.co
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The biggest problem with large stores was, you never knew where to find some of the A&M stalwarts, especially Sergio Mendes, who was all over the musical map. He could show up in pop, rock, Latin, "World," easy listening, jazz.... you just never knew. Herb Alpert could be found in jazz, easy listening, instrumentals, or sometimes in "the T's" (for Tijuana Brass) in addition to the "A's." The one place you could pretty much count on NOT finding A&M product was the country section, although they did dip their toe in that just a bit too.
Mark-T
Well-Known Member
I think my wife was relieved when Tower Records closed. I went at least once a week for a lengthy visit. Thumbed through the bins finding my treasures. El Toro California location was about five blocks away. It was heaven. Such great memories!
I was thrilled when Tower finally came to Denver in the early 90s. We’d been here since 1989, and it was mostly a music desert.
Fullerton California still has their Tower neon up although the chain has disappeared. I saw it driving by a couple of years ago. I had quite the response seeing it.
I was thrilled when Tower finally came to Denver in the early 90s. We’d been here since 1989, and it was mostly a music desert.
Fullerton California still has their Tower neon up although the chain has disappeared. I saw it driving by a couple of years ago. I had quite the response seeing it.
It got worse as time went on and the people stocking the stores honestly did not know the artists. That’s when oddball stuff like the TJB being filed in “Spanish Language” or Carpenters suddenly moving from “Pop” to “Easy Listening” alongside Ray Conniff started to happen…early 90s.
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One record store I was at had told us a story about a collector who was shopping for a few records, and said collector was fussy about how his collection was arranged by the artist's last name. Yet when he asked the store's employee why they had no Van Morrison records, the employee noted that the collector had been looking through the "V" bin...
"And why the hell isn't Van Halen under H?"
GDBY2LV
Well-Known Member
Working in a retail music for 30 years, we got lots of strange customers, and strange requests. People always mispronounced artists, or song titles. One frantic mom came in to get the UFO “”Oranges In The Night” cassette for her daughter’s Christmas present. We all started laughing after I handed it to her, and she realized it was “”Strangers In The Night”. Made our day. Her’s too!
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