User Reviews

I love documentaries that provide a historical retrospective of an evolution of an industry and "All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records" provides us with a pretty good outline on the rise of Tower Records with owner Russ Solomon at the helm. There is a sufficient amount of nostalgia for us baby boomers to once again reminisce about the good old days of the LP, colorful and some shocking LP covers, record store promotions, upcoming concerts and the bands promotions such as in Tower Record stores. All good nostalgia of a success story for the first 45 minutes or so which certainly shows owner Russ Solomon's willingness to allow his independent stores to seek their own creativity.

What I found this documentary did a miserable job in demonstrating is the balance between the 30 year rise of Tower Records and the gradual decline of Tower Records for what is described as two main reasons, the greed of Tower Records trying to control the price point of the LP and subsequent CD, then not realizing soon enough the evolution of technology such as the compact disc (CD), the imminent threat of the world wide web (WWW.) internet and a company called Napster that literally ended up starving the greedy record stores right out of business.

I liked the story line of the first half of this documentary which provides the great success story of Russ Solomon, which included a lot of humorous nostalgia commemorating all the good times of the record store industry which even extended to the far east Japanese market. Having said that, I must say that I was disproportionately appalled that the fall of Tower Records overshadowed the greed of Russ Solomon's will to continually expand and just expect his financiers (Banks and investment firms) to trust what worked for the better part of 30 years would continue to work if those mean old banks would just continue to bankroll a dying industry that was inadequately inept at adapting to the evolution of technology and instead believed they could continue milking common music lovers across North America with higher and fixed prices.

I would have rated "All Things Must Pass" higher than a 7 out of 10 rating but the balance of power shifted after the first 45 minutes of this documentary into a pity party for poor Russ Solomon and Tower Records who left quite a few of his suppliers, financiers and every day buyers left holding the bag. Tsk tsk to the producers and director for not fairly representing the good, the bad and the ugly of the rise "and the fall" of Tower Records.

Liberation. That is what music is all about. Always has been, always will be. It brings people together, it creates a community, a family. It changes, it evolves, and never dies. This is the central message, the heart, of Colin Hank's tremendous documentary, "All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records." Founded in 1960 by Russ Solomon, Tower Records grew to become one of the most monumental record franchises in the history of the industry. From its very humble beginnings, as an extension of Solomon's father's drugstore, to its international expansion, Tower Records was a cornerstone of the musical world for half a century.

Load video Hank's explored the history of Tower Records through interviews with those in Soloman's inner circle's of 30 plus years, some from the inception to accounts from music industry giants such as, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, and Dave Grohl. The store's lax attitude and nonchalant way of business proved pivotal to its success, a business strategy that would sink any business today. Elton John recounts Tower Records being his primary record provider, while Grohl worked at a Tower Records in Washington D.C. before his music career took off and recognized its significance in his musical journey. One particular anecdote that highlighted Tower Record's influence was that when it opened in a particularly desolate neighborhood in Manhattan, the streets flourished and became revitalized in the years following its opening. It is hard to imagine any store, particularly any record store having that power today.

The demise of Tower Records also speaks volumes about the last decade of decline in the music industry. Though Napster and the rise of pirating music is notorious for the music industries steady decline, truly the rise in record prices was the downfall of record stores in general, as is touched on in the film. Though not entirely the reason for Tower Records ultimate demise, it was a crucial shift in business. The slow death of the industry staple was an emotional climax of the film, as it truly captured the importance of Tower Records to many individuals who invested their life to be apart of this journey, and family.

No music, no life.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Tower Records was the one stop megastore to hit for the latest LP's, imports, posters etc. It definitely has its place in the lexicon of California culture, and the Sunset Boulevard store had a nice selection of indie punk rock 45s during the late 70s where you could stop in after a show at the Whisky a-go-go and find the latest vinyl.

I don't know how much truth there truly is in the story offered here, although the cover notes state that it was not the internet that brought about this company's demise. Sorry, I find that very hard to believe.

While other reviewers have noted greed and price fixing was responsible, ultimately it was the internet, and digital technology and the obsoleting of the cassette and, in one word, progress. The founder Mr. Solomon remained mistakenly sold on the fact the buyers would always want to have a library collection of music in their homes in the form of vinyl LP's boxed sets, CDs and the like, but this would not apply to later generation of buyers with their new gadgets i.e. iphones, ipads, e-pods, a-frames, tampads, etc etc ad nauseum.

And then add Napster, Kazaa and all the other "wares" to the mix, the writing was on the wall. They were nice store personnel and more often knew their stuff, styles, genres, and history, but it just couldn't last without a product to sell. Much in the same way that X-rated theaters went the way of all flesh with the boom of the videocassette and the DVD, technology eventually trumped it all.

Nevertheless, they remain a wonderful memory in the annuls of history and made a difference in the lives of so many music fans during the earlier days of rock and roll and they should be proud.

All Things Must Pass, no not the utterly fantastic George Harrison landmark triple LP, the story of Tower Records. In the title there's a melancholy sadness since we know it alludes to the passing of the LP, then the decline of all other physical music media. It's only fitting a documentary of an amazing music related business is entitled after an equally amazing actual album, one that broke new ground being an over-the-top triple-LP set by a Beatle.

Tom Hank's son Colin is behind this lovingly put together visual journey of the Tower Record story. If ever a there was an untapped gargantuan market at a particular time in history that was expertly tapped it has to be the record business as defined by Tower Records. What a ride it was. Probably the most loosely structured billion-dollar business empire ever created that wasn't based on criminal intent. Quite the opposite, it was based on the joy of music and how it enhanced life.

Watching the documentary you get the feeling it wasn't entirely the loose management, the sometimes ill-advised entry to strange foreign markets, or even musical tastes of the times that killed Tower Records. It was the changing technology as we now see taken even further with on line streaming. Could the company have survived, like Japan, and flourished even as the physical media sales sagged? That's the huge question. Things started to break, perhaps, before the exit of founder;s Russ Soloman's right hand accountant having to exit due to health. His exit, however, started a new chapter where the banks took over. Everything the bank dictated broke a little more of the foundation that built the company while never, actually, fixing anything.

As I sit and write this I read LP sales are growing once more. Jack White has actually built a new record pressing plant in Detroit. Granted, it's just a small thing, but it's a sign. The real sign will be when once more there's just a single Tower Records store somewhere in the United States. Music is such a powerful medium I wouldn't bet against it. If you have a love of music and have good memories of spending time in any record store you simply must watch this. A great American success story that runs against most everything they teach in business school.

Growing up in the sixties and seventies for me, as with most young people then, records were a part of our daily life. Possibly more so than ever before music shaped us and molded us. It was a part of our daily lives as transistor radios made it easy for us to have access to music. That paved the path for us to seek out the music we loved and in so doing directed us to the record store, that glorious haven of vinyl that drained us of money earned mowing lawns.

While record stores were mostly mom and pop joints at the same time chains began to pop up. Locally there was Karma Records and Peaches. But perhaps the most famous well known record store was Tower Records. Tower Records was the store in LA that was featured in numerous movies I saw in the 70s. The building with the huge replicas of album covers posted on the outside of the building, where rock stars showed for release parties and where they could also be found picking up the latest hits was well known no matter where you lived.

When I saw this documentary was coming out I was excited to hear about their story. Vinyl had disappeared from the music scene by compact discs but that didn't destroy the music store business. Then along came digital downloads. No longer did you have to go to the store to purchase your music. You could just get online and there it was. That brought about, to me at least, the end of the music store business. But watching this documentary I learned that wasn't exactly the case with Tower Records.

The movie starts at the beginning of the business, how it was small like all businesses are and then grew over time. It shows the gradual progression of the small business into the conglomerate that it was, an influence in the world of music it was so big. There was a time when Tower Records boasted that it made $1 billion dollars in a single year. But then things begin to change and the fortunes once thought to be never ending slowly changed.

This movie is incredibly well made. Some documentaries have that boring tone to them, a slow meandering pace that makes you anxious for it to get to the point. This film draws you in from the start with smooth storytelling and great visuals that take you back to the time when record stores ruled the world of music.

While watching the movie I found myself recalling all those hours spent in record stores looking at album art, many of those albums which I have retained for that very reason. I thought of looking at the new releases up front and the cut out albums I could purchase for less if funds were tight. I realized how many songs bring back certain memories to this day. I can't hear "Band on the Run" without thinking back to walking in a parking lot as I left a free outdoor concert and it blared from the sound system between acts. All of these thing tie in to visits to the record store.

And this movie brought back memories of that desire to see the mecca of all record stores, Tower Records. It was there in Rolling Stone magazine. It was featured in movies like FM. It was always there and now like many things from the past it is gone. Talk to young people today and they have no idea what Tower Records was and less about what a record store is.

The movie is well crafted and holds your interest from start to final credits. It includes some memorable music as well as commentary from various music royalty. It tells the story not only of the store but the history of records and the music business as well. Best of all it never gets boring. So watch this with someone young so they can see what it was all about. Show them what going to the record store was like. And relive some of those great memories you still have. Dream of what it would have been like to visit that best of all record stores, Tower Records while watching.

Here's an essentially fraudulent history of Tower Records, one of the most successful music businesses in history — until it wasn't. We get the usual endless interviews with employees, plus a few now-doddering celebrities babbling on about the wonderful times they all had. The employees from management on down were apparently loaded on booze and who knows what else day in and day out. What a party they all had! (Somehow, this doesn't jibe with my own recollections of Tower, where sullen clerks with nails pounded into their faces couldn't find their own behinds with both hands, but maybe that's just grumpy old me.) Anyway, the fascinating (not) interviews about the glory days take up most of this pseudo-documentary. Then comes the big reveal. What killed Tower's business was — wait for it — digitized music and its subsequent piracy. Gosh, I never would have guessed. And when you stop to think about it for a minute, there's a big lie at the heart of this revelation. What killed Tower Records and the CD business in general was their own greed. To get the one decent song you wanted, you had to shell out 20 smackers for a CD filled with more bloat tracks than Samsung packs crappy apps into their phones. It was a colossal rip-off. So when Steve Jobs came along with iTunes and let you go back to the grand old days of the 45 rpm single, and you could buy the one track you wanted for 99¢, it was time for all the record store pirates to say goodnight. In any case, I fell asleep four times trying to watch this train wreck to the end, so for its narcotizing properties, I am awarding this turkey two stars instead of one star.

This a feature documentary film taking a good glimpse at the rise and fall of a legacy. Tower Records dominated the retail music market for decades coming to rise in 1960. The birth child of the flamboyant and rebellious founder Russ Solomon. Humble beginnings becoming a powerhouse in the industry. By 2000, Tower records was worth $1 billion and six years later fell victim to the Internet and free streaming music sites, proving a major lesson of objectivity to how business is at the fate of realities in the ever changing marketplace. In 2006, as Tower Records faded in the sunset of bankruptcy, two hundred stores in thirty countries, the heart and soul of the music world stopped beating. But the legacy remains.

Some of the music featured: Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys, Perry Como, The Rooftop Singers, the Beach Boys, T. Rex, Steve Miller Band, Rolling Stones and George Harrison.

Sharing commentary are: David Geffen, Steve Knopper, David Grohl, Chris Cornell, Elton John, Chuck D., Bruce Springteen, Heidi Cotler, Steve Nikkel, Mike Ferrace and Russ Solomon.