Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection

I know that this is supposed to be a great and highly-regarded recording, but all I could hear was a dry old man's voice and a boring British accent. I felt like I was listening to a textbook, and was better off reading the text.

this is a really wonderful collection of readings from e. a. poe's oeuvre. all of them are clear and clean recordings, and the articulation in the readers' voices is superb -- it makes me wish i could have experienced radio plays as a child (unfortunately i had to make do with atari and nintendo). oh well. NOTE: this is a very generous package as well. i thought i was going to get one cd for [$]: i got FIVE. there are HOURS of readings on these discs, and everything i've heard is wonderful. i recently used this collection for a show i produced for my students: if you are a sound engineer it will be very easy for you to sample these recordings, because there aren't any soundeffects or music in the background (which i prefer, because then the acting really shines through -- there's no production getting in the way of what you hear). i ripped "the mask of the red death" for a dance concert, applied different filters to the portions of the track i needed, added my own effects and music, and presto i have exactly what i need: a soundscore based entirely on the spoken word (but you'd never know it to hear it!). highly recommended

The reviewers for this audio box set of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous works of fiction are absolutely right. There is perfection in this product. The talented Vincent Price and Basil Rathborne lend their voices to the narration of the classic tales of horror and suspense. This is an antique. It is valuable and very reminiscent of the old World War II days of radio-plays sponsored by soap companies. This same style was responsible for the popularity of H.G. Well's "War of the Worlds". When Orson Welles narrated the story, his voice and the drama of the radio was so convincing, people actually believed flying saucers were invading American cities. The power of radio was very strong in the time before television media. At any rate, my point is that this same magnetism is felt in the drama that Vincent Price and Basil Rathborne provide to the original master of horror pre-Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe.

Poe was responsible for creating the detective story, some would say the short story, American Gothic, macabre tales that gripped readers with haunting melancholia, dread and superstition. It was as if he took drugs and hallucinated and wrote down what he saw. Among his most famous tales, of which Vincent Price and Basil Rathborne perfectly read with powerful narration are "The Cask Of Amontillado", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Mask Of The Red Death," "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Tell-Tale Heart" and the "Black Cat". It is unfortunate that they did'nt include selections from "Tales From The Rue Morgue". Among the poems that are read and made Poe quite a literati are "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee".

With all the well-constructed suspense and literary Gothic, poetic romanticism, the tales of Edgar Allan Poe are suddenly alive and fresh in the old radio style. This is truly a great gift for fans of Gothic storytelling, and most specifically, for fans of Edgar Allan Poe. Not only is a great gift, a great audio treasure, but a perfect compliment to homework. Your high-school age son or daughter will benefit immensely from hearing these classic short stories, narrated dramatically by these old "mystery" movie actors from the 50's, a more pleasurable, but nonetheless educational experience.

This 5 disk collection of Edgar Allen Poe's works is one of the best audio collections I have ever heard. Generally, I am a fan of the "radio play" style of spoken audio, with a full cast and appropriate sound effects. Yet, Poe's work (especially on the represented stories) tends to be from a single point of view, and largely take place in the mind of the main character. This first person style lends itself well to a single narrator. I could not imagine two better chosen narrators.

The heritage of radio shines in there performances. These are two actors who cut their teeth in radio, in shows such as "Suspence," "Inner Sanctum" and "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." Voice acting is almost a lost art. It is amazing, the sheer richness that comes from hearing Poe's words manipulated by such talented voices.

Vincent Price, famous for his sinister voice, is a natural for Poe. He does fewer pieces, voicing "Ligeia," "The Imp of the Perverse," "Morella," "Berenice" and "The Gold Bug." All of them are well done, with "Ligeia" being a stand out.

Basil Rathbone does the lion's share of the CD set. As I was not as familiar with him, I was a little disappointed about this. Then I heard him speak. Wow. His voice is superb, and obviously highly-trained. I prefer him to Price on the recordings, and I am thankful that he voices my favorite pieces. He slips easily between prose and poetry, and has a voice full of both emotion and cold regard. Rathbone lends his tenor to "The Tell-Tale Heart," The Fall of the House of Usher," The Black Cat," "The Cask of Amontillado," The Masque of the Red Death," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Haunted Palace," "The Bells," "The Facts of the Case of M. Valdemar," "The Raven," "Annabel Lee," "Eldorado," "To--," "Alone" and "The City in the Sea."

Are there flaws to the set? Sure. The long tracks mean you have to listen to each story in one go. There are some abridgments, if you follow along with the books. However, the talent of the narrators combined with the respect for the words being spoken outweigh any flaws. This is a truly exceptional collection.

I bought this 5-CD collection of Poe readings by Basil Rathbone and Vincent Price about two months ago. They are excellent readers..although they don't bring enough life into the stories. I have heard better, but still, Basil Rathbone is to Poe what John Gielgud is to Shakespeare. My CD player can only hold 5 CDs at a time, so when I bought it, I was thinking "oh boy, now my CD player is crammed wall-to-wall with the works of the Master!" I still have that feeling, but I have some complaints.

First, the box clearly says "UNABRIDGED". This is false advertising. They rather pointlessly edited several passages from several stories. I was shocked, being a "purist". When I buy a 5-CD set of possibly the greatest writer in the past 200 years, by golly, I want it to be unabridged, just like it says on the box! If you are as deep a "believer in" Poe as I am, these omissions would be considered blasphemy!

Second, no music or sound effects. I find that background music and sound effects help liven up audio-books so that you aren't just listening to a voice reading words in an empty, echoing studio hall.

Nontheless, this is just about the best offering of Poe out there, and maybe I'm making it sound worse than it is, but I think it was 90% worth buying.