[(Dylan Thomas : The Caedmon Collection)] [By (author) Dylan Thomas] published on (November, 2004) Hardcover

These eleven Dylan Thomas recordings were produced mostly in the late 1940s-1950s by the groundbreaking label Caedmon Records. In fact, Caedmon's first of a hundred or more historically-important vinyl recordings (mostly made by living writers) was by Thomas himself, whose continued, gobbled-up releases not only insured Caedmon's success, but the success of other literary-recording labels as well. The present set was re-recorded superbly onto eleven CDs. To this day, no poet out-reads as powerfully and beautifully as Thomas.

What a blessing to get this! The BBC archive collection is the only one larger. I trained myself for public performance using a couple of old Caedmon vinyls. It is extremely rare to have a poet of his stature who can present his work so well. If you are a trained singer, you might recognize that he is actually singing and with phenomenal technical skill.Anyway, this collection is great.

Dylan Thomas was a little pudgy man who had the most amazing voice and reading abilities of recorded history. The two ladies from Caedmon recorded his reading and saved it for us. A lot of his training and abilities were derived from his work as announcer on BBC third programme. In his writing the obscure imagery reminds us that he is sort of a Welsh James Joyce. These recordings are of mixed quality. My player gives a sharpness to the high frequencies that makes me turn the treble down.I don't think these were remastered and they were probably made with small tape recorder. Still worth listening to and owning.

If you enjoy Dylan Thomas then this the set for you . I enjoyed it and when in the mood i can listen to having it on tape

Dylan Thomas's readings of his own work is as much a part of his legacy as the words themselves. Many years ago I bought the complete Caedmon recorded poetry on two cassettes. Now there is this complete collection of *everything* Thomas recorded for Caedmon, not just his own work but works by other poets and authors. Most important of all is the only informal recording of Thomas and others performing 'Under Milk Wood'. A planned studio recording did not take place because of Thomas's death. God Bless whoever set that microphone on the stage of the Poetry Center!Thomas's insights into Life and Nature are timeless, and so are these recordings. No Thomas fan can be without this collection which is beautifully presented, the CD cases reproducing the album covers for the original releases (including my old cassettes!).

How absolutely WONDERFUL to hear Dylan Thomas reading his own work. He has a beautiful voice and that lovely accent. Thank goodness for modern technology! (Alas, he is no longer with us, but how marvelous that he left us such treasure!)

What a great treasure! Here you have Dylan Thomas and that incomparable voice of his all together in one spectacularly priced collection.Never have I heard anyone able to express emotion and feeling with their voice like Dylan Thomas does. The only one who comes close is Richard Burton.Buy it. Sit back. Relax and be carried away by the sheer beauty and power of one man's words and voice.

The reviewer who called this a bad value is completely wrong. This set includes the COMPLETE Caedmon recordings of Thomas' incredible voice. Though a few of these original LP's were fairly common (Child's Christmas in Wales), many of the LPs were rare. People were bidding $50-$100 and up for some of these single LPs only recently. Here you have MANY CDs for the price of one! It would be nice to have an extensive book with this set, but you can always buy Dylan's books seperately. The set includes mini-LP cover sleeves for all of Thomas' original LP covers (though thin paper sleeves), another nice touch. Don't let this one get away. When it is out-of-print, it will probably go for $200-$300 and up!

I'm an avid Dylan Thomas fan, and this collection is a gold mine. Over 11 discs, it features all of the material Dylan recorded for Caedman records. It was worth the price just to hear the great man's voice. Utterly brilliant stuff.

The 11-CD set deserves a five star. It is a unique collection through which a true lover of good poetry can reach a great reciter of poems. Dylan Thomas brings out the essence of poetry (not only of his own, but other poems of other authors as well) with his rich, incantatory, sombre voice. The staccato, the stresses (Dylan's recitation almost always moves in a spondaic motion), the rolling tongue all add to the beauty of poetry.

Not everything here is of the first quality, and the sound is a bit rough on some of the CDs, but how can you give less than 5 stars when you get 11 discs for this price, all of them featuring the inimitable voice of a great performer reading his own works, taking the English language on a truly wild ride. This is not only a marvellous historical document, the beginning of the "talking book" industry, but most of it (there's over 12 hours here) is a treat to listen to. I bought it mainly to have a recording of Thomas performing in "Under Milk Wood" so i should report on that -- it's a single-microphone recording of a live performance in New York by Thomas and about 4 other actors; the audience response (mostly laughter) is a bit obtrusive, but the actors knew enough not to let it drown out the lines, for the most part. Soundwise and even performance-wise, the classic BBC radio recording featuring Richard Burton -- which is NOT included in this set -- is much better; but it's good to hear Thomas's own rendition as well. Anyway this set includes most of Thomas's famous works and is well worth the price even without the recording of Under Milk Wood.

こんなに沢山のＣＤが、入っているとは、思わなかった。一日中、トマスの聲を流している。自分のリズムを体内に持ったトマスの聲！

This collection is beautiful. Before you even play the cds you are enchanted by the quality of the production of this set and its attractiveness. It is super value particularly for fans of the spoken word. and Dylan Thomas is spectacular in his delivery of both his own poetry and the works of other esteemed writers.Would love to have some of the original recordings done by Caedmon but as these are scarce and prohibitive with regard to cost I am delighted to have come across this wonderful collection.