At ceremonies before tonight’s telecast, it was announced that Jim Dale won the Grammy Award in the category best “Spoken Word Album for Children” for his audio recording of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” written by J.K. Rowling. Congratulations Jim Dale!
If you have not yet heard Jim Dale’s voice work for the Harry Potter audio books, be sure to check out these excerpts here from Random House.
Congratulations to Mr. Dale! I have all of the HP books on CD or tape. I listen to one of the books nearly every night before going to sleep (and during sleep when the CD is on a loop repeat). I am amazed at his voicing for every character. I recommend the HP books and the HP audio books to everyone who will listen to me! Now that the HP series is finished perhaps Mr. Dale will record other books. There have been many books by authors whom I love to read but were unable to listen to because I did not like the reader’s voice.
Congrats again for a job very well done!
When i heard/saw that he won i was jumping up and down on the bed. my mother looked at me like i was nuts….but she knows how much i love his work. I am a true fan. and i am sooooo pleased that his hard work has been recognized. Congrats Jim
This is an extreemly American thing and we in the rest of the world are utterly baffled. Jim is certainly not the voice of the books elsewhere (we all know who that is) but good luck to him, I suppose.
I am very happy for Jim Dale but for me, he was my favourite funny man in the legendary Carry on films, and not the voice of Harry Potter. That prestigious and deserving honour goes to Stephen Fry which makes me sad because I don’t think he has received any award or recognition for that part of his outstanding portfolio. Listening to Fry read HP is music to the ears and by far the best voice in audio book today.with his superb character voices and eloquent delivery. Jim Dale reads HP like its a horse race but bless him, he is good and has a completely different approach. Just not as good as Fry :)
Posted by Professor Potter on February 11, 2008, 11:12 AM
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Its not strange that America will have Americans reading audiobooks. That is understandable. What is strange is that Jim Dale is British! Yet is only the voice of HP to Americans. But Jim Dale reads at a “racy” pace which is (in comparison to the way British people generally speal) is more America friendly becasue I feel Americans do generally speak at a faster rate than us British, generally that is. I wonder if thats the correct logic of not using Fry for the American version (ie too British!)
Posted by Professor Potter on February 11, 2008, 11:20 AM
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Sorry, but I cannot get enthusiastic about Jim Dale. We wer egiven a free set of audio tapes of one of the books at the Phoenix Rising conference in New Orleans last year, and I gave them away to the local library because I find his voice so grating, and his characterisations so exaggerated and intrusive that they interfere with the text. And don’t even get me started on the awful way he reads Hermione – I really think this is one of the reasons she’s not as popular a character in the States.
Stephen Fry (the British versions) are simply the best! Some of the CD sets contain an extra in the form of an interview between Stephen Fry and Jo Rowlig, in which she states how wonderfully subtle she finds his voices, and that his accents never detract from the story. This echoes my feelings exactly.
Now I am going to hide under an Erumpent horn in the hope that it will deter all you Jim Dale fans from throwing insults and snargeluff pods at me! (Hey, to each his own, right?).
I have to disagree with Professor Potter and M Jones. As a Brazilian, I certainly qualify as part of “the rest of the World” and I have to say that, having listened to both Fry´s and Dale´s version I personally preferred the latter.
I hate the Brazilian translation, so I read the books in English, even tough it´s not my first language. For that purpose, I chose to purchase the British printed version, so that I could have the original version (I cannot stand to see philosopher´s become sorcerer´s, for instance).
When I tryed the audiobook, Mr. Fry´s was, naturally, my first choice, seeing that he reads the British version. However, after listening to a friend´s American version, I decided to give it a try and overlook the changes made in text of the British to the American version. That is saying something for someone like me and was only possible because I found Mr. Dale´s version engaging.
I think both Mr. Dale and Mr. Fry deserve recognition for the amazing job they do. But it´s not right to disdain of one of them just to praise the other. I think it is, essentially, a matter of taste. It´s nice that the English speakers have two superb options to choose from.
By the way, I do like better Fry´s Snape than Dale´s.
(I apologize in advance for any mistakes in my grammar or spell. I did take a great risk by posting such a big comment.)
I’m american, and i love Jim Dale’s voice. I find it really soothing, and i think some of his characters are just classic (Professor McGonnagall, or Hagrid for example). I’m curious (and hope) to hear Fry’s version of the series, because i’ve heard such praise about his work. Even so, I think we (the harry potter community) are lucky to have such talented and creative people to read the Harry Potter books.
Great to hear! I have all of the HP books on audio CD as well, the ones that are done by Jim Dale. And he does a fantastic job on them!