Comments on: Caedmon

By: 16 33 45 78

16 33 45 78 — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:56:50 +0000

[...] Caedmon’s Ernest Hemingway Reading LP sounds an awful lot like Colonel Walter E. Kurtz’ recordings in Apocalypse Now. The gatefold sleeve contains extensive notes on the recordings, written by Mary Hemingway and Hemingway’s biographer A.E. Hotchner (subject of the film King Of The Hill). Unlike almost all Caedmon records which are of superb sound quality, this LP contains home recordings. A.E. Hotchner writes: One of Ernest Hemingway’s deadliest enemies was The Microphone. The Camera ran it a close second, but The Microphone was the blackest villain that stalked his life, and despite the persistent blandishments of radio stations, television producers and record companies, he successfully fended off all efforts to put him in the grips of The Demon Mike. But Over the years, under special circumstances, Ernest did record a few things for me on an old Webster wire recorder the he kept in his finca in Cuba, and on a transistorized pocket recorder called a Midgetape which we took on our travels. These wires and tapes, imperfect though they are, are virtually the only record we have of his voice. (The one exception is his acceptance of the Nobel Prize which was recorded by a Havana radio station.) This album contains, in addition to the Nobel acceptance, five recordings made during 1948-1961, which was the span of time I knew him. [...]

By: Beezer B

Beezer B — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:15:44 +0000

I am disgusted. Have I been transferred into a parallel universe where Willie Rushden ISN’T the voice of Asterix?????

Nutjobs the lot of you.

By: Nathaniel

Nathaniel — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 20:32:42 +0000

…and then later Bill Oddie was replaced with Craig Charles. Good point.

By: Willshyne

Willshyne — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:23:57 +0000

On the internal voice versus spoken word, I’d chip in with “I didn’t know what Asterix sounded like until Bill Oddie did it”.
I would chip that in but I really believe I haven’t reread an Asterix book since I heard him do it.
Of the above I’d quite fancy hearing Catch 22. My internal voiuce just isn’t up to it. And what a cover!

By: Beezer B

Beezer B — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:23:01 +0000

I should have sorted my email now Matt. Gat is linked under music but it only shows 5 links at any one time in each category. Reload and you’ll see it.

By: mattmatical

mattmatical — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:25:46 +0000

bse, clean out your mailbox, mails keep bouncing like Midnight Marauders. And how come there’s no link to the Gat in this forsaken place? Sheesh.

By: David N

David N — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:27:16 +0000

I just think that when you read a book (a work of fiction, anyway) that so much of the book exists in the space between you and the book, and an audiobook robs you of some of that. The character’s voices, how they sound – your imagination fills that in. Even the rhythm of the prose is governed to a great extent by how quick a natural reader you are. But with an audiobook you have an actor or whoever and you get his interpretations of how characters should sound, which may be great, but, for me, can’t be as great. You go at his or her pace, you get his stresses of words, his pauses.
Which I suppose is a good argument for authors reading their own work, and I’m back right where I started…

By: Beezer B

Beezer B — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:11:11 +0000

“I would probably just prefer to listen to an audio book than actually read it”

V funny. Spoken like a true actor-in-a-radioplay.

I’m going for a middle ground between the two of you. Since that middle ground is rather large I don’t see me missing it.

By: Nathaniel

Nathaniel — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 13:22:09 +0000

No I am sighted. My comment was a flip one and not meant to be taken altogether seriously. I could have put one of them smily faces there but you don’t see those in a lot of books. Hence the power of the spoken word.

I think if it came down to it I would probably just prefer to listen to an audio book than than actually read it especially if it was spoken by the author, but I’d settle for the fruity voiced tones of an actor or “actor” I liked. Just my personal opinion. I’m sure the world at large would disagree.

By: David N

David N — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:47:43 +0000

Depends on the film, innit?

“Better than regular books”? If you aren’t blind – and I’m assuming you read this thread, rather than having it read to you, but correct me after this comment is read to you if I’m wrong – care to expand on that? Any particular reason why they’re better?