All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records (2015) Reviews

• More than a history of Tower Records but a history of the last 50 to 60 years of music.

  subxerogravity2015-10-20

  It's a great documentary, especially for those of us who remember a time before iTunes, when you had to go to a store to buy new music. It's very meaningful even for those like me who Tower Records was not the friendly neighborhood "supermarket" of music. I remember the Tower Records that was very close to me, but I went to another store, a store which probably had the same story (or at least the same ending to their story). Actor, Collin Hanks directs this documentary of the rise and fall of an important landmark in music history, from behind the scenes (as we all are most likely familiar with the surface of the story (especially it's end). The interviews and narrative take me back to the days when you could not download a single, and had to go into a store to buy an album. Watching footage of rows and rows of albums and CDs fills me with the memories. And the documentary truly points out what an interesting place Tower Records was and how interesting the people who worked there are, as they talk to people who were either there from the beginning or started out as a stock clerk at the original store and worked their way up to VP of something. It felt like the cool place you wish you had a job at. Especially if Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl was a fellow Stock Clerk. He and Bruce Springstein and Sir Elton John told about their personal experiences at the store and showed their love for it. It seems so recent, but Tower Records is now just a part of music history. This doc did a good job of showing that history from beginning to end.

• First Half, Interesting. Second Half, Infuriating

  berkrecout2016-04-17

  The "Rise" portion was nostalgic and interesting. The second half was a load of self-serving baloney: Russ Solomon admitting he made a few mistakes but, if the banks had only continued lending him money without telling him what to do, all would have been well. A bunch of longtime employees kvetching about losing their jobs, but not ONE SINGLE WORD about all the labels and distributors who got royally screwed and are still trying to cope with their losses to this day. I started out as a specialty music retailer in 1974 and, thankfully, am still going strong. I well remember Tower's predatory greediness, demanding ridiculous terms from labels and distributors: six months dating, 100% return privileges. Finally, the labels and distributors had to say 'no' to getting in any deeper. The fact that this painful fact wasn't even mentioned, reminds me of the 'ServPro' motto, "Like it Never Even Happened".

• Entrepreneurial Vision

  clarkj-565-1613362015-12-06

  They call it luck, but it takes a particular type of wisdom to be at the right place at the right time. Russ Solomon had this in spades, when he branched out from his entrepreneurial father to expand into records. This movie is a blueprint of how to start a great business. First of all, have the vision. Secondly, get great people, give them freedom and back them up. Sounds simple, but very few businesses actually do this. In the movie, various key employees are interviewed and they all basically tell the same story. That is that they were given a chance to prove themselves and they rose to the challenge. Russ also realized that he could tap into the collective wisdom of all his employees and this he also did, especially with advertising and the Tower Records publication Pulse! It is refreshing to see the 60s again, the hope and the freedom. Russ also realized that he was not a financial type, so he hired an excellent money manager in Bud Martin. The demise of tower records was quite sad, but technology replaces one thing with another, so it was a tremendous ride.

• No Music No Life

  ferguson-62015-11-05

  Greetings again from the darkness. I do not envy those experiencing their childhood in this modern era. Sure, they have far superior electronics and hundreds more TV channels, but they also have very little independence (most can't even walk alone to a friend's house or a park) and they likely will never experience the pure joy of perusing the stacks at Tower Records (or any other record store) for hours … experiencing the thrill of discovering a new artist or style of music that rips into their soul. OK, I admittedly suffer from a touch of "old man" syndrome, but filmmaker Colin Hanks (yes, the actor and son of Tom) has delivered both a cozy trip down memory lane and a stark accounting of good times and bad at Tower Records. With humble beginnings as little more than a lark, Tower Records began when Russ Solomon's dad decided to sell used 45 rpm singles in his cramped Sacramento drug store. He bought the singles for 3 cents and sold them for 10 cents. Within a few years, Russ purchased the record business from his dad, and proceeded to run it as only a rebellious kid from the 1960's could. From 1960 through 2000, the business grew each year. It expanded the number of stores (peaking at 192 worldwide) and constantly adjusted to the musical tastes and the delivery method – 45's, LP's, cassettes, CD's, etc. Using some terrific photographs and video clips, accompanied by spot on music selections, director Hanks brilliantly and generously allows the actual players to tell the story. The expected celebrity drops are present, and even the words of David Geffen, Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen and Sir Elton John carry emotion. However, far and away the most impact comes from extended interviews with the unconventional and charismatic Tower Records founder Russ Solomon and his devoted and forthright employee team. Their sincere recollections provide the roadmap through the phenomenal growth, as well as the devastating end in 2006. We understand how these stores became so much more than retail outlets … they were cultural hotspots for at least two generations. We also learn some things we probably shouldn't … like the definition of "hand truck fuel", and the reason Russ installed hot lighting in the listening booths. Mr. Hanks surprises with his ability to balance nostalgia and the harsh realities of the downfall of an iconic cultural business. The film captures the key role Tower Records, while also pointing out that the crash was due to more than just Napster and digital music delivery. An interesting case study for business majors highlights the importance of vision vs debt. For more insight from Colin Hanks, check out the interview from film critic Chase Whale: http://www.hammertonail.com/ "No Music. No Life". The motto of Tower Records was somehow inspirational, and fit perfectly for stores that featured mammoth album artwork on their store fronts, their own "Pulse" magazine, and staff that couldn't fathom life without music … much less wearing a suit and tie to work. This was truly "a chain of independent stores", and trust me when I tell you that hanging out at Tower Records was more fun than having hundreds of cable channels.

• A sleeper — literally

  jake_fantom2016-04-14

  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.