Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe

Amazon.com
One of the true marks of a horror artist is to create something that is at once completely terrifying and utterly fascinating. It's not about blood, guts, and gore, as anyone who's ever seen Psycho could tell you, but about suspense, story, and the characters themselves. Edgar Allan Poe's stories rank as some of the greatest horror ever written--and that's before the likes of Iggy Pop, Diamanda Galás, Abel Ferrara, and Christopher Walken (chilling, as he reads from "The Raven") got their hands--er, voices--on Poe's words. This two-disc compilation is a success if only for treating Poe's texts in the right manner, with subtle backing music and sounds and restrained, ominous performances from the readers (other fine readings come from Ken Nordine, Dr. John, and Jeff Buckley). One reason for the album's quality may be producer Hal Willner; if you enjoy this, you might also want to check out his work on Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus, The Carl Stalling Project, Vol. 1, and Spare Ass Annie. --Randy Silver

Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe,Various Artists,Mercury / Universal,Alternative Pop/Rock,Avant-Garde,Avant-Garde Jazz,Club/Dance,Contemporary Jazz,Dance-Pop,Experimental,Experimental Ambient,Modern Creative,Pop,Pop/Rock,Post-Bop,Rock,Rock & Roll,Rock/Pop Collections,Spoken / Comedy / Radio Shows,Spoken Word

---

Average customer rating: A masterful interpretation What a spectacular period seven assembly this could be!! Rythm, mesmerizing Reinvigorating a tormented soul An Amazing Tribute to Poe

Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe Various Artists Manufacturer: Island / Mercury ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Spoken Word | Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Experimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Compilations | Rock | Styles | Music Similar Items: Weird Nightmare - Meditations on Mingus Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection Kerouac: Kicks Joy Darkness Dead City Radio Biography - Edgar Allan Poe: The Mystery of Edgar Allen Poe (A&E DVD Archives) ASIN: B000003ZVR Release Date: 1997-12-09

Tracks:

1. Alone - Marianne Faithfull
2. The Raven - Christopher Walken
3. The Tell-Tale Heart - Iggy Pop
4. The Conqueror Worm - Ken Nordine
5. The Black Cat - Diamanda Galas
6. For Annie - Gavin Friday
7. To Helen - Ed Sanders

Tracks:

1. The Haunted Palace - Ed Sanders
2. Ulalume - Jeff Buckley
3. Berenice - Dr. John
4. The City And The Sea - Deborah Harry and the Jazz Passengers
5. Annabel Lee - Marianne Faithfull
6. The Masque Of The Red Death - Gabriel Byrne
7. The Raven (excerpt) - Abel Ferrara

Amazon.com

One of the true marks of a horror artist is to create something that is at once completely terrifying and utterly fascinating. It's not about blood, guts, and gore, as anyone who's ever seen Psycho could tell you, but about suspense, story, and the characters themselves. Edgar Allan Poe's stories rank as some of the greatest horror ever written--and that's before the likes of Iggy Pop, Diamanda Galás, Abel Ferrara, and Christopher Walken (chilling, as he reads from "The Raven") got their hands--er, voices--on Poe's words. This two-disc compilation is a success if only for treating Poe's texts in the right manner, with subtle backing music and sounds and restrained, ominous performances from the readers (other fine readings come from Ken Nordine, Dr. John, and Jeff Buckley). One reason for the album's quality may be producer Hal Willner; if you enjoy this, you might also want to check out his work on Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus, The Carl Stalling Project, Vol. 1, and Spare Ass Annie. --Randy Silver

Customer Reviews:

A masterful interpretation.......2005-06-27

There isn't a child who grew up in this country who hasn't been influenced, in one way or another, by the poems and short stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Or writer or producer or musician, for that matter, it seems. If we have one thing in common, one little shared bit of ourselves, it may be a love (or at least respect) of Poe - his irony, his forboding sense of things not really the way they seem, his ability to look not only into the eyes of us all, but into our dreams, our nightmares, our inner, hidden secrets. That was his talent.

Musical producer Hal Willner knows it. The beat poet Allen Ginsberg once told him in passing, "Everything leads to Poe." And seeming to follow that lead, Willner ushers everyone and everything he can think of into his project - "Closed On Acount Of Rabies" (the title is based on a new theory that Poe may actually have died of rabies instead of the alcoholic debauchery that is a major part of the Poe legend) features the talents of varied performers such as Marianne Faithfull, Christopher Walken, Diamanda Galas, Iggy Pop, Ken Nordine, Jeff Buckley, Dr. John, Deborah Harry, Gabriel Byrne... Ginsberg was right.

The disc is beautifully produced. From Marianne Faithfull's opening reading of "Alone," a moving, mood-setting short poem that sets the stage and establishes the late poet's sense of isolation (she returns later to read the famous "Annabel Lee"), the listener knows a special treat is in store. Careful, subtle sound effects and musical accompaniment accent the performances with added drama. Actor Christopher Walken's reading of "The Raven" is right in synch with the quirky characters he's known for portraying in film, and Iggy Pop delivers "The Tell-tale Heart" with just the necessary overly-controlled restraint the story demands.

Other highlights of the two disc set include Ken Nordine performing the poem "The Conqueror Worm" and full-length renditions of the Poe classics "The Black Cat," read by Diamanda Galas, a particularly hypnotic "Berenice" read by Dr. John and "The Masque of the Red Death" read by Gabriel Bryne.

Oddly, the discs' weaker moments come from musical interpretations of "To Helen" and "The Haunted Palace," sung by Ed Sanders, and a strangely uninspired "The City and the Sea," sung by Deborah Harry and the Jazz Passengers.

One of the most entrancing performances comes from Jeff Buckley as he reads "Ulalume." When he reads "...I replied, 'This is nothing but dreaming, let us on by this tremulous light - let us bathe by this crystalline light... Then my heart it grew ashen and sober, as the leaves that were crisp'd and sear, as the leaves that were whithering and sear; and I cried "It was surely October on this very night of last year that i journeyed, I journeyed down here, that I brought a dread burden down here, on this night of all nights of the year ; oh what demon has tempted me here?..." it's clear that Edgar Allan Poe's influence remains stong, true and unabated to generation after generation of creative talents.

What a spectacular period seven assembly this could be!!.......2002-02-27

These kinds of tribute albums are always tricky, even when they are just dealing with a musician's body of work. What Hal Willner has done on this two-CD set is amazing, though. To try to collect the pieces from Edgar Allan Poe's eclectic catalog of stories and poetry, find the write artists to read, sing, and/or interpret those works, and then to package it all appropriately was a major feat. Every track is not a five-star work, but the collection earns the five stars for sheer effort and uniqueness. From the cover art by Ralph Steadman, appropriately weird and spooky-looking, to the fabulous liner notes by Charles Baudelaire and Willner, himself, this CD set has been an indispensable part of my Grade 11 English (American Literature) curriculum since its release.

Everyone is going to have his or her favorite tracks/stories/poems, but here are mine:
1. Gabriel Byrne reading "The Masque of the Red Death" -- great accent, cool music and background noises; nicely understated, Byrne lets the story tell itself.
2. Diamanda Galas reading "The Black Cat" -- smoking five packs a day does pay off for some people. . . . I almost wet my pants when I first heard her read the opening line of the story.
3. Dr. John reading "Berenice" -- not the typical Poe selection, very cool New Orleans accent and grovely voice.
4. Iggy Pop reading "The Tell-Tale Heart" -- classic story, great voice and interpretation.
5. Marianne Faithfull reading "Alone" -- again, great voice and creepy effects.

I'm leaving out Ken Nordine, Jeff Buckley, and Christopher Walken, all of whom turn in outstanding performances.

Weak points aside, this CD earns five stars for the total package. The cover art is very cool, the liner notes are very interesting and informative, the sound production is superb, and a vast majority of the renditions maximize Poe's eccentricities and creepy weirdness. The musical artists and actors put themselves somewhat at risk with these alternative performances, and their risks pay off big time! If you are a fan of Poe, this is a must-have CD set. If you are a fan of any of the performers, you likely won't be disappointed either. If you are just a fan of creative and alternative works, this is well worth a try. Everybody wins!

Rythm, mesmerizing.......2002-02-11

What makes Poe's poetry so gripping? It is not the words themselves, but rather the rythm and beat they create. His poems are just begging to be read and these cd's do just that. A great piece of work.

Reinvigorating a tormented soul.......2002-02-08

This is a mixed bag all right, the most egregious negatives being perpetual freak-fringe figure Ed Sanders' ostenisble "songs", and Abel Ferrara's too-jokey "Raven". But -oh- Dr. John's reading of "Berenice" is sheer magic. This underrated tale in the Poe canon, of incestuous necrophile dental obsession is totally buoyed by the swampy southern stylings of music and voice. It's perhaps the best recording of a Poe story ever, and I'm a huge fan of the Vincent Price/Basil Rathbone recordings of the 1960s. Ken Nordine could read a cereal box and make it sound good; I wish he had a longer selection on this CD-set. Marrianne Faithfull croaks out "Alone" with that special vocal quality that only years of smoke, whiskey and drug abuse can engender. It's all peaks and valleys - but what peaks!

An Amazing Tribute to Poe.......2001-08-09

If you are a Poe fan, this is a must for your collection. The title, taken from a recent theory that Poe died of rabies contracted after a dog bite, is just the beginning of the creativity behind these CDs. Christopher Walken's reading of "The Raven" is second only to Vincent Price. Iggy Pop's rendition of "A Tell-Tale Heart" is chilling, to say the least, and is definitely worth getting the CDs for. I love listening to the stories and poems on a regular basis, and have a great time setting up the fog machine and blasting these CDs from my stereo on Halloween.

I also use this in my classroom every year. Poe, in general, is great for helping resistant students discover a love of literature and this CD is specifically responsible for creating readers out of some of my most unwilling students. While I am not too fond of the musical tracks on these CDs, my students enjoy them very much and they have inspired some of them to set Poe's work to their own music. All in all, I truly feel as if I've gotten my money's worth from these CD's and find them to be both enjoyable and useful.

Mexican Music:

1. Coleccion del Recuerdo, Vol. 10: Anoranzas
2. Coleccion del Recuerdo, Vol. 9: Poesia
3. Delta Sleep System
4. Discotecazos Tropicales, Vol. 2
5. Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection: The Greatest Novelty Records Of All Time
6. Dr. Demento 30th Anniversary Collection: Dementia 2000
7. Dr. Demento Presents: Greatest Christmas Novelty CD
8. Ecos de Mexico, Vol. 1
9. El Salsero del Pueblo
10. Estampas, Vol. 2

Mexican Music

mexican music

Mexican Music

Emerson Lake & Powell [Import] [Limited Edition]

Mozart: String Quartets 20 and 21

Hard Workin' Woman

Music CD: Dixieland Greatest Hits

Neurotica

Merengueros Hasta La Tambora

electronicspartner.com Music: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best Of Raffi [Import]

Mozart: The Wind Quartets

My Maria/Calabasas [Import]

Midnight Blue [Import] [Original recording remastered]

Letzte Tage-Letzte Nachte

Primes

Kickin' Hard, Vol. 2 [Import]

All Blues

Repeater + 3 Songs