The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

By: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Narrated by: Richard Burton

Length: 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Richard Burton and Ralph Richardson join together in this unqiue musical production of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". The superb delivery of both these actors is augmented by an original soundtrack composed by David Moore.

©2011 Saland Publishing (P)2011 Saland Publishing

poor sound quality

It's just so sad but the background sound effects overpower the voices. Seagulls and ocean waves are nice but I really wanted to hear Richard Burton, ya know?

Can not hear over music!

This is the second time that the words have been drowned out by sound effects and music. If you want to add music and effects do so at half the volume of the narrator. I wasted my time and money since I obviously wanted to hear the words in an "audio book" NOTE: "BOOK" IS THE OPERATIVE WORD!

Horrible Music And Absurd Special Effects

What disappointed you about The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?

Aweful! The music drowns out the narrator (who is actually good) and the special effects are so bad that the listener is too distracted and annoyed to follow the poem. And, the narrator is speaking in old English but the music is New Age with drums, piano, etc. At times the sound is upbeat when the story is telling about death! What?! Absolute disrespect for the poem; the producer and sound mixer were not considerate of the poem. Plus, it has too many breaks, long stretches of music without any narration, weird dramatic echoes of repeated phrases, and terrible selections of music. This company doesn't deserve my money, because in my opinion they ruin a great piece of poetry.

What did you like best about this story?

The narrator and the poem are good.

What didn’t you like about Richard Burton’s performance?

Nothing. He did a good job. It was the production that was bad, with the music and special effects.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?

Cut out the music, special effects, and long breaks! Then I would buy this book again.

Any additional comments?

Please produce this poem differently.

Horrific acoustics

This is w/out question the poorest possible recording ever made. I concur 110% w/the other reviewers. The words are completely undecipherable because of the sound effects. Mr. Burton's voice and accent add charm but it sounds like it was made inside a Cambell soup can. There is no amount of treble/bass adjustment you can possible make to negate this production. By all means, save your money, look elsewhere, perhaps in the public domain. I personally think Audible.com should remove this item. It is worthless and not in keeping with their standards. If it was possible to give it a negative number, I would.

Utterly ruined by idiotic music

What would have made The Rime of the Ancient Mariner better?

Why on earth this narration has been vandalized by overlaying it with electronic Muzak is a great mystery, but it is clear that it has been senselessly ruined.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?

The whole poem is memorable.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Richard Burton?

No narrator could overcome the terrible production

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?

Of course not a word.

Any additional comments?

What a shame.

Should have believed other reviewers!

When I was in high school, my English teacher played us a record of Richard Burton reading the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. After over 40 years, I still remember it as one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard and was overjoyed to find this. I thought "What could a little music hurt?" I found out.
First of all, Richard Burton reading poetry is ALREADY pure music. Anything else is superfluous. Poetry also already has an inherent rhythm and the uncoordinated beating of drums in the background does not fit. They have also added long, boring passages of music interspersed with Burton saying "I shot the albatross."
The power of this poem is the vision of a man tormented by remorse, loneliness, silence and despair. The addition of fast-paced, loud music completely destroys this mood which had been beautifully interpreted by Burton.
I don't know what poetry hater had the bright idea of "improving" this masterpiece, but I sincerely beg Audible to re-issue it without the music!

Disappointing

The majesty of Burton's voice and acting is drowned out by a strange selection of "music."

Do not buy. Worst production ever!

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

This poem is haunting and beautiful, but you cannot enjoy it here. Terrible music drowns out the narrator. The narrator's voice has so much echo you can't hear him. Simply awful.

why is there techno music in this??

Any additional comments?

this is one of my favorite stories and the narrator was good but why was there music in it? It seriously ruined it for me

awful sound effects

The audio is nearly in audible because of excessive and highly inappropriate sound effects that mask the naration by Richatd Burton. I am very disappointed not to have been able to hear the naration by this acclaimed orator.