The Complete Lord of the Rings Trilogy & The Hobbit Set by J.R.R. Tolkien (2012-11-20)
Category: Books
The Complete Lord of the Rings Trilogy & The Hobbit Set by J.R.R. Tolkien (2012-11-20) Details
Reviews
The CD set pictured is the NPR / Mind's Eye 1979 American audio dramatization -- I grew up listening to it on car trips, and even after (many) viewings of the recent films, to me, the 1979 recording is the classic version. My older son is now falling in love with it as well. For those not familiar, this recording is abridged, but includes the scenes with Tom Bombadil and Old Man Willow and the barrows (left out of other versions), and alternates between narration and dramatization by actors.I haven't listened to the cassettes in a long time, so I can't speak to the sound quality on those, but I have no complaints about the sound on the CDs. They are just fine in our car. We enjoy the sound effects and music (short segments of some beautiful classical pieces that I'll always associate with LOTR), but the acting is what brought me back to the recording. Gandalf, Aragorn, and Gollum are particularly strong performances, and really the entire cast does an excellent job of pulling listeners into the story (even now, and especially impressive today, I think). We even tried to research the actors to find out about their other work/recordings (found very little info, someone should update wikipedia & other listings for the recording!). We haven't tried to get this recording in digital form, but that will be next. We had the old wooden box cassette set growing up, and I was excited to find the new CD release. I hope it continues to be available for future generations.