Record label Caedmon Audio specialized in spoken-word recordings, pairing great literary works with great actors. They got James Mason to read the poetry of Robert Browning, multi-Oscar winner Walter Brennan to read the works of Mark Twain and Sir Laurence Olivier to read Winston Churchill.
But there were a couple releases, later compiled into one glorious CD set, that is so head-slappingly perfect that it requires special attention: Basil Rathbone and Vincent Price read the works of Edgar Allan Poe over the course of 5 hours. Rathbone was, of course, a South African-born Shakespearean actor who is most famous for playing Sherlock Holmes in a string of films (watch one here) and radio plays, though he was also a veteran star of low-budget horror films like The Black Sheep and Tales of Terror. Vincent Price was, well, Vincent Price – the iconic cackling villain in dozens of horror flicks including Roger Corman’s campy cinematic adaptations of Poe – The House of Usher, The Raven and The Masque of the Red Death.
The Caedmon recordings, which are now available on Spotify (download the software here) and can be heard below, are pretty much Poe’s greatest hits – from “The Tell-Tale Heart” to “The Pit and Pendulum.” Poe’s gothic gloominess pairs brilliantly with Rathbone and Price’s sinister baritone.
So get into your favorite smoking jacket, get a fire started, pour yourself a stiff glass of absinthe, set aside a good block of time, and have a listen.
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Related Content:
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” Read by Christopher Walken, Vincent Price, and Christopher Lee
Watch the 1953 Animation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Narrated by James Mason
Edgar Allan Poe Animated: Watch Four Animations of Classic Poe Stories
Download The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe on His Birthday
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Jonathan Crow is a Los Angeles-based writer and filmmaker whose work has appeared in Yahoo!, The Hollywood Reporter, and other publications. You can follow him at @jonccrow. And check out his blog Veeptopus, featuring lots of pictures of vice presidents with octopuses on their heads. The Veeptopus store is here.
Agreed– certain of them are head-slappingly perfect that they require special attention…and these pertain to Basil Rathbone, and in case of interest, please check this out: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BasilRathboneSociety/
Basil Rathbone reading “The Pit and the Pendulum” is great.
“and can be heard above”
Where?
You can also purchase the collection on Amazon. If you have a Prime membership, the shipping is free.
http://www.amazon.com/Edgar-Allan-Audio-Collection-Price/dp/0062188496/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1439410428&sr=8-2&keywords=%22Edgar+Allan+Poe+Audio+Collection%22
You need to have Spotify to hear them. There’s a link to the software above, as well as to the recordings.
I’m listening to them now :)
Somehow, Spotify being promoted by a site calling itself “Open Culture” feels dirty.
Oh, Basil Rathbone is sublime reading the Telltale Heart.
An absolute master of inflection enunciation pronunciation timbre tone projection–sheer eloquence.
I cannot recommend this enough!
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I wish they used some audio compression and decent mastering. Feeble audio quality ruins the otherwise great narration.
Amazing span of categories I have never seen such an expansive offerings I look forward to explore ing some of them
During my year in 4th grade our teacher was fired. When her replacement was hired he must have thought we were unruly 4th graders? The first day he was our teacher he walked around the classroom telling us the story of The Tell Tale Heart! He was really a fabulous story teller! From that point on he had us in the palm of his hand! We then had him for 5th & 6th grade. It was a sad day when we had to go to junior high. He will always be my favorite teacher! Mr Brown♥️
Slight correction, Basil Rathbone starred in film called The Black Sleep, not The Black Sheep.
Love, love, love audibles…thrillers especially
Why can’t I find this on Audible?
I love to hear them reading Edger allen Poe.