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Yesterday, Chicagoist took a trip over to the Tower Records downtown, where it’s all over but the shoutin’.
If you wanted to own the complete Tony Orlando and Dawn series on 3 DVDs for less than twenty bucks, you were in luck. Other than that, finding recognizable artists in the dregs was a challenge (we managed to pick up recent releases from Cougars and Damone but nothing else held any appeal).
It was pretty obvious that the employees were trying to make the best of the situation. At one point, we overheard an employee identify himself over the phone as “Black Sabbath.” Then later, we heard this over the store’s public address system:
“All rap and hip-hop CDs are a dollar. All that’s left is a bunch of West Coast cats so if you’re here visiting from the Bay Area or Compton…you all good.”
Though we’re avowed techies, we’re still in love with holding a CD or record album in our hands, checking out the album art and finding out who played the theremin on track 5. With the closing of Tower and Hi-Fi Records, there are fewer independent record stores to shop in Chicago for those who share our fetish.
Some of our favorites (found in The Chicagoist Guide to Chicago) are still around, including Laurie’s Planet of Sound, Reckless Records and Dr. Wax. We’ve written before about Dusty Groove America and scored good finds at Evil Clown Records, Jazz Record Mart, Deadwax Records and Rock Records, which seemed to be on the verge of closing earlier this year. NewCity recently published a list of great indie record stores, so it’s obvious that one can still find plenty of places that treat music as a treasure and not a “loss leader.”
What’s your favorite place to buy music?
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I'm sad to see Tower go, but they're not really an "independent record store" as you described them. They're a retail chain and a large corporation. Or at least they were.
South Western Ave, two of the best record shops for R&B in the city live here, Beverly Records and Mr. Peabody Records.
With Tower and Hifi gone, the only reason left to visit Lincoln Park is Pasta Bowl.
My fav's:
Dr. Wax-Berwyn Red-Line Stop. Having a record store in an el stop is wicked cool.
Groovin High, Inc.- Belmont stop.I used to live near there and the owner/operator is a really nice guy.
Favorite place to buy music? iTunes.
Good point, Andy. What I meant was that Tower was a place dedicated to selling music, as opposed to using it to get people in the store to buy a fridge. But having said that, I didn't buy much music there as they were so expensive. When they cut prices to 40 percent off (before the 80 percent cut recently), they were only as reasonably priced as the average store.
It's all in the timing, Scott. I was there on Saturday and managed to find Mercury Rev, Hard-Fi, Boy Kill Boy, Fountains of Wayne, The Wood Brothers, a pretty killer import comp, and, um, Whitesnake and Def Leppard, among others. Only a couple of potential duds (Butch Walker, for one) and one indulgence of my inner prog geek (John Wetton & Geoff Downes, with a new version of Asia's "Heat of the Moment"!).
ROLLING STONES.
Period.
val's halla
it is in oak park but that is almost chicago
Too bad Rolling Stones is made up of best-sellers. It's awfully hard to find any type of independent artists there. The prices are right for their mainstream stuff, many at around 10 bucks.
Tower was a family-owned chain. And as a loyal customer, I can tell you I found their prices to be much better than most of the independents. New stuff was always on sale--first day release at crazy prices and after that often $9.99 - $13.99 for at least a week, sometimes months. Huge selection, so you could generally find a wide range of stuff in one place.
The indie places are cool but have shallow stock. Buying used sucks (way to NOT support the artist, for one thing) unless it's all you can afford. And buying from iTunes (which I do, as well) gives you inferior audio quality. I know, I know, people say they can't tell the difference. Well, all you have to do is listen. It's really dramatic, at least sometimes. Try CD and mp3 side by side.
Of course, if you're 'sharing' it online, you probably consider it a bargain. And after you've given Apple all your money (now THAT'S a corporation), you've got none left over for the artists.
And what's up with Dr. Wax closing on Berwyn.
At least we have Virgin for the time being. Come on, people. Pony up and support whatever store you prefer--don't let the album die out as an art form.
Dr. Wax didn't close, they moved next store to a shop in the El station. At least it was still open last week when I was there. They shrunk down there stock big-time though. Mostly indie type stuff.