Nicol Williamson's Hobbit

[davem]

On Nicol's official site is his reading of The Hobbit. http://www.nicolwilliamson.com/?p=125

In the early 1970’s, Nicol was approached by Demi Demetriou and asked if he would undertake a recording of the Hobbit for Decca records. Nicol has a true love for the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and was excited to work on such a challenging solo project.
A lot of people have expressed an interest in both a re-release and in an unabridged version, but so far there is no movement in either direction. Nicol actually is strongly opposed to an unabridged version, in fact he re-edited the original script, removing many ‘he said, she said, said so and so’ etc, relying on his vocal character performances to convey who was saying what to whom. He really prefers that to an over-reliance on descriptive narrative, and feels it keeps you more in the story.
We were talking recently about his doing the same thing with Lord of the Rings, I think he would enjoy recording it immensely.

This is an abridged reading, but quite lovely. Give it a go.

[mark12_30]

I wanted to get to the torrent files, but the controls are blank. Any suggestions?

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by davem

This is an abridged reading, but quite lovely.

Good one Davem!

Listened to it up until the Trolls are turned into stone last night and it was great (with the possible exception of the reading of the songs). The text being abridged only adds to the experience imo. The way it follows the story-line without interruptions gives you the impression that Nicol is telling you a story and it brings events to life more than a straight reading of the book.

[garm]

Originally Posted by mark12_30

I wanted to get to the torrent files, but the controls are blank. Any suggestions?

Yes. Buy a copy of the 4-LP set, like the rest of us had to do, back in the 70s.



(the link doesn't work for me, either). My commiserations. As devem says, it's a wonderful reading.

[davem]

Originally Posted by garm

Yes. Buy a copy of the 4-LP set, like the rest of us had to do, back in the 70s.



(the link doesn't work for me, either). My commiserations. As davem says, it's a wonderful reading.

I suspect there may be some restrictions on it for copyright reasons - & one should be very careful of infringing copyright:

'Come not between the copyright holder and his products! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye." http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...-cory-doctorow

[Morthoron]

Brilliant, davem! Nicol Williamson has been a favorite actor of mine since I first saw him as Merlin in John Boorman's Excalibur in the early 80's. His inflection and ability to juggle dialects is delightful.

[Joneswilliamsc]

There are lot of audio books of Hobbit. I am just improving my English by hearing audio-books.I have heard “the lord of the rings”. The another thing is that hobbit is just what I was looking for.