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

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 9, 1997)
• Original Release Date: December 9, 1997
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B000003ZVR
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,211 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Alone

2. The Raven

3. The Tell-Tale Heart

4. The Conqueror Worm

5. The Black Cat

6. For Annie

7. To Helen

Disc: 2

1. The Haunted Palace

2. Ulalume

3. Berenice

4. The City and the Sea

5. Annabel Lee

6. The Masque of the Red Death

7. Raven [Live Excerpt]

Editorial Reviews

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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a spectacular period seven assembly this could be!!, February 26, 2002

By 

ROGER L. FOREMAN (Bath, Maine) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe (Audio CD)

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!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Tribute to Poe, August 8, 2001

By 

Diana-lynn Roston (Los angeles,CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe (Audio CD)

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.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reinvigorating a tormented soul, February 7, 2002

By 

repelli "repelli" (Virginia, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe (Audio CD)

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!