TALES OF TERROR - Nelson Olmsted

YEAR: 1956

LABEL: Vanguard

TRACK LISTING: The Pit and the Pendulum, A Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart, Masque of the Red Death, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Strange Case of M. Valdemar, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, The Signal Man, What Was It?, The Mummy's Foot, Markheim, The Body Snatcher

IMPRESSIONS: Whereas this 2 record set was made up of two Nelson Olmsted albums released in 1956, I bought the 1970's vinyl reissue sometime around the late 70s. This too I bought at the Wee Three Records in the Moorestown Mall. Nelson Olmsted's voice is perfect for storytelling (hence his being in such great demand as an old-time radio actor) and his voice perfectly brings to life these stories. The tales are actually very efficiently condensed into tracks which last around 8-9 minutes a piece without losing any of the major story points. Probably my favourite piece on the album is "WHAT WAS IT?": the story of a strange invisible creature captured by the narrator. Of course, there's also THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER which is another favourite.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: The Pit and the Pendulum, A Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart, Masque of the Red Death, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Strange Case of M. Valdemar, What Was It?, The Mummy's Foot, The Body Snatcher

FACT SHEET: TALES OF TERROR is a two-record set which was actually culled from two separate 1956 LPs by Nelson Olmsted: SLEEP NO MORE and TALES OF TERROR. Nelson Olmsted was a very busy radio actor as well as a character actor in films; his radio show (also entitled "Sleep No More") is the basis of these recordings. The first record of the set features all Edgar Allan Poe tales except for Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". The second record features Charles Dickens' "The Signal Man" and "Markheim" as well as Fitz-James O'Brien's "What Was It?" and Theophile Gautier's "The Mummy's Foot".