Comments on: Complete set of Harry Potter audiobooks at Amazon.com

By: Alderete

Alderete — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:32:56 +0000

@Taz: There are minor wording differences, but the overall story is obviously the same. Things like “chips” instead of “fries”, “biscuits” instead of “cookies.” Little things, but it does add up, and I would say that the Fry version is more distinctly British (which is a good thing). But Jim Dale’s range of voices is far more dramatic than Fry’s. In this area, it may come down to whether you prefer an understated or a dramatic performance. Both are terrific, you can’t go wrong with either.

By: Taz

Taz — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:57:55 +0000

Hi can I just say that Jim Dale is English!! I only recently (today) found out that there even was another version of the audiobook as I have only ever listened to Stephen Fry. I got the first Harry Potter on tape years ago when i was a little kid (im 17 now).
I expected Jim Dale to be American as I can totally understand an American audience wanting a person with an American accent to read. But seeing as he’s English I dont understand why there are two people. I have noticed the US and the UK front covers are different, does anyone know if the words themselves are different, if only just?
Stephen Fry is absolutely incredible. You might prefer Dale if thats what you’re used to but Fry has an extremely distinctive clear voice and does the characters’ voices extremely well.
As far as credit and awards go because it appears Americans only are aware of the Jim Dale version and considering the enormity of America it makes perfect sense for Dale to be voted higher where sheer numbers are concerned.
Honestly i absolutely love Stephen Fry’s version, he has the talent and understands the wit exeedingly well. I havent listened to Dale enough but enough to know he is extremely talented also.
I think it comes down to what you are used to. There is not a ‘better’ voice, its really who you enjoy better.
Having started to listen to the tapes when i was about 7, it would be deeply hard to imagine any other person read to me at night (I dont mean that in the creepy way it appears!!). Stephen Fry in many ways is the voice of my childhood! I remember laying in bed when i must have been 8 to the second book with the flying car. That awe that i felt… lets be honest it came from JK Rowling.. Dale or Fry. who gives a flying toss eh

By: Alderete

Alderete — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 03:49:15 +0000

@Theo: Thanks for the great insight into the accents! As an American, I would have to say that I don’t notice any inconsistencies with Dale’s accents, and indeed, the subtleties of Fry’s accents are such that I don’t actually notice them. To my ears, many of the characters sound virtually the same. LauraHolt wrote above that preference is more about country pride, but I would guess it’s more about having the ear training of growing up surrounded by British accents, or not. Dale’s accents are more broad, more exaggerated, so that they will be identifiable to a non-English ear. Fry has the benefit of a more constrained, better ear-trained audience, and is able to give a more serious performance that is nonetheless clear and entertaining.

By: Theo

Theo — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 02:52:53 +0000

Obviously I’m very late to the party here, but thought I’d throw my opinion into the hat anyway.

I have just finished listening to Deathly Hallows narrated by Jim Dale, having previously listened to the first six books read by Stephen Fry. For my money Fry is better. What it largely boils down to for me is the accents.

This may not be perceptible to an American listener, but the way Dale voices some of the characters is extremely peculiar. The most egregious example, for me, is the way he portrays Ron with some mix of generic Northern English working class and a more specialised kind of broad cod-Yorkshire accent. It struck me as odd at first, having never really imagined Ron with that voice, but I was prepared to roll with it. But then as soon as I heard Dale’s reading of Fred and George, neither of whom have an accent at all like Ron’s, or really any distinctive kind of accent at all (despite growing up in the same household!), it was kind of a deal-breaker for me.

I would say that, when it comes to reading the basic prose, Dale is more energetic, which is certainly suited to the high-tempo parts of the book. For the more subdued scenes, though, Fry has a slightly more dignified approach, which suits the dark subject matter of Deathly Hallows in particular.

I’d say that if you’re an American who is unfamiliar with English regional accents, then Dale will suit you just fine, and might be the much better option for the more light-hearted early books. For any British people reading, though, I’d say we got the best option in Stephen Fry, and it’s not worth the effort or expense of seeking out the Dale recordings for anything other than curiosity’s sake.

By: Jensenly

Jensenly — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 04:41:54 +0000

Wow, LAURAHOLT, that was a great summary! It’s been a while since I have been to this blog, but I am terribly glad I decided to come back and visit the site. You nailed it for me when you wrote that Fry’s version was so much longer than Dale’s – he just seems to take too long in making anything exciting. I love having both sets of audio books, however.

It’s still bizarre to me why there are two different sets of audio books depending on where you live, (especially given that both actors are British), but whatever! More for us Potterheads to discuss!

Cheers to you all!

Lynn in CA

By: LauraHolt

LauraHolt — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:28:01 +0000

Dale vs. Fry
What I’ve found is that this debate tends to be more about popularity and country pride rather than the actual performances. I think that a lot of the people who haven’t listened to Dale but proclaim Fry to be better then Dale do so because:
1. Stephen Fry is an [b]AMAZING[/b] writer and a [b]BRILLIANT[/b] comedic actor (the preference is based more on the general Awesomeness of Fry himself then the actual performance)
2. Fry’s version is the UK version (the preference is to support the version released in your country.)
3. J.K.Rowling picked Fry for the UK version. (of course she did .More Americans and Brits know Fry then they know Dale. I had to look Dale up on imdb.com and my response was ‘Oh that’s the bad guy from Pete’s Dragon…that’s random.’)
I’ve seen a lot of comments in various forums regarding this question and people say things like Fry is a proper Brit or only an Englishman should read HP which is absurd because Dale is an Englishman too. In fact because of Dale’s [b]BRILLIANT[/b] readings Dale was awarded the M.B.E. (Member of the order of the British Empire) in the 2003 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his services to British Children’s Literature in America.
If you have the ability purchase Dale and Fry but if you can only buy one then buy Dale
I have listened to Dale’s reading of the series 7 times and Fry’s twice. Stephen Fry was good; pleasant to listen to and easy on the ears. Fry is a great audio book reader.
Jim Dale approached the books as an actor first, and a reader second. Listening to Fry was like listening to a children’s story. Listening to Dale is like listening to poetry that has been ignited. It’s literally a West End or Broadway one man show.
Dale’s reading of the HP series has a constant sense of urgency to it. Even in the parts that aren’t dramatic Dale finds a way to keep the story alive He makes the exposition exciting. Fry , not as much. This is the reason why Fry’s readings of COS, POA, GOF, OOTP,HBP and DH are 45mins – 3hrs LONGER than Dale’s readings.
Dale’s ability to employ a multitude of accents and various speech affectations helped him to create distinct characters. Fry, especially in the first few books of the series, has a limited amount of voices/personas and he struggles to keep his voices separate.
Dale’s vocal portrayals of JK’s female characters are far more realistic than Fry’s. Instead of trying to physically sound like a woman Dale, rather wisely, focuses on the cadence of female speech as well as all of the non-verbal speech things that we girls do. Stephen’s use of his falsetto to portray girls, women and the Creavy brothers in the first few books of the series is very cartoonish and so Monty Python in nature that it is distracting.
Dale’s Dumbledore is just like Richard Harris’s Dumbledore; sophisticated, clever, observant, elegant, wise and too cool for school
Dale’s Snape is very similar to Alan Rickman’s Snape whereas Fry’s Snape sounds a bit like an evil Fraiser Crane.
Dale’s Voldermort supports JK’s text of him being snake like whereas Fry’s Snape is a bit high pitched.

That’s my opinion.

As far as critical acclaim goes here is how they stack up.

Stephen Fry has won six awards for his readings of the Harry Potter books of which I could only find specific names for three of them – 1999 Talkie Award for his reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – 2001 Gold Spoken Word Award for his reading of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – 2004 Gold Spoken Word Award for his reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

[b]Jim Dale’s Awards & Nominations for Dale’s Reading of the Harry Potter Series[/b]
1999 Grammy Nomination
2000 Audiofile Earphone Award
2000 The Benjamin Franklin Award “Best Children’s Audio Book”
2000 Grammy Award “Best Children’s Audio Book”
2001 Audie Award “Best Solo Narration”
2001 Audiofile Earphone Award “Best Children’s Audio Book”
2001 The Benjamin Franklin Award “Best Children’s Audio Book”
2004 Grammy Award Nomination
2004 Audie Award “Audio Book of the Year 2004”
2004 Audie Award “Best Children’s Audio Book 2004”
2004 Audiofile Earphone Award “Best Children’s Audio Book”
2005 Grammy Award Nomination
2005 Audiofile Earphone Award
2006 Publishers Weekly’s Children’s Narrator of the Year Award
2006 First inductee in the Audio Publishers Association’s “Hall of Fame”
2008 Grammy Award “Best Audiobook For Children”
2008 Audie Award “Best Solo Narration USA and Canada”
2008 Publisher’s Weekly “One of the Audiobooks of the Year 2008
[b]Jim Dale’s Three Guinness World Records for Harry Potter[/b] – Most Character Voices in an Audio Book – 134 for HP and the OOTP – Most Character Voices in an Audio Book – 146 for HP and the DH – Jim Dale occupied the first SIX places of the ‘Top Ten Best Selling Audio C.D’s of America and Canada’,with his recordings of the Harry Potter books.
Jim awarded the M.B.E by the Queen.

You should still listen to both as both performers bring something to the Books.

By: jensenly

jensenly — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:09:31 +0000

Nicely put, Alderete.

Oh, and I finally ended up cruising through other parts of your blog. Loved your “CD audiobook transfer to your iPod” posts. The first time I tried to transfer a CD book to my iPod, it took FOREVER. I gave up and just started lsitening to it on my soon-to-be-obsolete portable Walkman CD player.

Your instructions and photos were most informative.

By: Alderete

Alderete — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:40:48 +0000

@jensenly and everyone else: I recently listened to the entire Harry Potter series twice in a row, once the Jim Dale recordings, and once the Stephen Fry performances. Then I re-listened to key sections of the Jim Dale versions.

I hope to post a more complete review in the future, but the short version is, both are awesome, and whichever set you have, you can be happy with it. Jim Dale’s performance is more energetic and whimsical, and that suits the material well. Stephen Fry’s performance is more subtle and understated, and brings out some of the more adult themes of the books, and makes for a more sophisticated experience. Both are wonderful, and I’ll certainly listen to both again in the future.

By: jensenly

jensenly — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:07:34 +0000

After listening to OOTP and HBP by Dale, followed by DH by Fry all within the last 2 months, I am now certain that I enjoy Dale’s style over Fry’s. Dale’s voices are more distinctive (especially women characters). I agree with Aaron that Fry is more fluid and also his pacing seems to be slower. I seem to pick up on very distinct words when Fry reads and come away with more vivid scenes in my mind as a result. However, I enjoy Dale’s voices much more than Fry’s.

And it is fun to a little of both to listen to.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:27:31 +0000

I have listened to several books by both narrators and I find it odd that Jim Dale was chosen for the American audience rather than Mr. Fry. Jim Dale’s I listened to years ago and absolutely loved. However his penchant for pausing in the middle of sentences (apparently to inhale) as well as his odd sense of accenting certain syllables I found very strange and at times distracting. I suspect that it would sound less strange to a british ear whereas the Stephen Fry narration is very smooth and fluid even to my American ear. The point that Dale’s Narration is much more animated and more playful is completely true and I do enjoy that aspect. Personally I would like to have the complete collection by both Narrators for whatever mood I happen to be in.