Mitch Friedfeld <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>I'm sure this is old news for most of you, but according to the latest
>BBC Music Magazine, Tower has closed all its locations in the UK except
>for the ones in Kensington and the flagship store at 1 Piccadilly Circus.
Has this announcement been preceded by a general shrinking of their
classical inventory in the last two years? There's no Tower here in
Houston, Texas, but in the last decade I've made several trips to the
country of Taiwan, and the highlight of each visit used to be visiting
the various CD shops, including two Tower Records in Taipei. Along with
the usual large selection of DDD recorded works, they also had a large
booth dedicated to historical recordings, which for me to see was like
a kid being let loose in a candystore. It was wonderful.... Anyway, I
just visited Taipei in August, only to find that most of what I used to
look forward to has disappeared. At one Tower Records less floorspace
has been devoted to CM, so that it now shares the floor with Jazz or
easy listening. At the other Tower Records the floorspace has been
retained, but the selection simply isn't there. The booth I used to
pore through has been replaced by a listening stand, and the few remaining
CDs have been relegated to a side shelf. I picked up a couple of TAH
CDs, such as one on Mengelberg which included his discography, but
otherwise I don't remember seeing much there that I couldn't find here
in the States. The experience was dispiriting, but it wasn't just Tower
Records-- two other local stores that used to devote an entire floor to
CM had also now partitioned their respective rooms into CM and local
light music. In general, it seems that the global market for CM has
collapsed a bit, if only temporarily (hopefully).
>Maybe if Tower would reduce the price of a CD in the UK, ....
Well, it seems that the two Tower Records in Taipei have reasons to stay
open, which are, if not for the CM, then for the Asian pop music which
is still very popular.....;-)
hector aguilar
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