All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records (2015)
April 18, 2016 8:53 AM - Subscribe
'All Things Must Pass' is a documentary that explores the rise and fall of Tower Records, and its legacy forged by its rebellious founder, Russ Solomon.
NYT: "Everybody in a record store is a little bit your friend for 20 minutes or so,” says Bruce Springsteen in Colin Hanks’s breezy documentary “All Things Must Pass,” an examination of the ill-fated trajectory of the Tower Records empire. To anyone who has ever savored a chat with a record store clerk about nuggets in a pop artist’s catalog, the sentiment is familiar. This movie makes you appreciate anew the one-on-one social dimension lost in the music industry’s headlong switch to digital downloads.
AV Club: Everyone on screen waxes poetic about the unique culture fostered by the music store, from the freewheeling employee expectations to the freedom granted each individual store to develop its own personality. (The word “family” is thrown about so often, you’d be forgiven for thinking Dominic Toretto’s gang ran Tower Records.) Given all this affection, some attention to the employees who spent the better part of their professional lives at one of these vaunted locations would’ve added some breadth to the narrative. And there are fascinating elements to the story that are passed over quickly. The company had its own advertising wing, which had free reign to invent and market any way they chose, but barely a frame of the movie is devoted to these people whose praises are continually sung.
NYT: "Everybody in a record store is a little bit your friend for 20 minutes or so,” says Bruce Springsteen in Colin Hanks’s breezy documentary “All Things Must Pass,” an examination of the ill-fated trajectory of the Tower Records empire. To anyone who has ever savored a chat with a record store clerk about nuggets in a pop artist’s catalog, the sentiment is familiar. This movie makes you appreciate anew the one-on-one social dimension lost in the music industry’s headlong switch to digital downloads.
AV Club: Everyone on screen waxes poetic about the unique culture fostered by the music store, from the freewheeling employee expectations to the freedom granted each individual store to develop its own personality. (The word “family” is thrown about so often, you’d be forgiven for thinking Dominic Toretto’s gang ran Tower Records.) Given all this affection, some attention to the employees who spent the better part of their professional lives at one of these vaunted locations would’ve added some breadth to the narrative. And there are fascinating elements to the story that are passed over quickly. The company had its own advertising wing, which had free reign to invent and market any way they chose, but barely a frame of the movie is devoted to these people whose praises are continually sung.
I spent so much money at Tower Records in the 80s and 90s.
It's a shame that they weren't more on the ball with online retail. When I got my first Mac and dial-up internet 20 years ago, the first place I looked for music was Tower. Sadly, their online offerings couldn't compare to sites like CDNow and CDUniverse.
posted by porn in the woods at 9:32 AM on April 19, 2016
It's a shame that they weren't more on the ball with online retail. When I got my first Mac and dial-up internet 20 years ago, the first place I looked for music was Tower. Sadly, their online offerings couldn't compare to sites like CDNow and CDUniverse.
posted by porn in the woods at 9:32 AM on April 19, 2016
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posted by Mezentian at 4:25 AM on April 19, 2016