The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Albums: Two Full-Cast Audio Dramatisations

At long last, after some 40 years, you can now own a copy of the original albums of both The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the subsequent album, The Restaurant at the end of the Universe!Listen to this in CD quality, and relive the experiences of Arthur, Ford, Zaphod, Trillian, and, who can forget Marvin, the paranoid Android.Before you say, "this is another recording of the radio production," think again. The material in these albums is similar to the TV series, but, you get to use your own imagination. These albums were originally recorded, because there were rights issues regarding the original sound track, since music from other records was used in the actual radio production.There is one slight discrepancy in the opening theme of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. For some reason, the producers decided not to use the original introduction to "Journey of the Sorcerer" from the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy album, and used some of the introduction to the same theme from the Restaurant at the end of the Universe. However, this is a minor issue, and will not take away from your enjoying this romp through the galaxy one more time with some unforgettable characters!

I've had a digital rip of the LP- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for years, complete with pops, scratches, and surface noise which I've listened to for years wishing that I had a cleaner copy to listen to. And now....This not the BBC radio shows, rather these were re-written and re-recorded by Douglas Adams in studio, with different music, sound effects and a slightly different script.If you're a devotee of H2G2 you really need this in your collection, the vinyl copies are really tough to find and are usually in pretty rough shape. These CDs give all you Hoopy Froods out there a chance to enjoy a bit more of DNA's brilliance!

I had these recordings on cassette when I was young, and I played them so much I wore out the mechanics of the cassette (it started squeeking). I've been looking for this exact recording in digital format, and am so glad I finally found it!

The first LP is spread over two CDs, and runs over 1 1/2 hours. the second LP is all on one CD, at barely over 1 hour. If you are familiar with the radio plays, you be be conscious of the cuts that were made in this script. However, I observe that with the less dense material and slower pace, it maybe easier for some people to follow the storyline.Even with my having started listening on the radio, and seeking out the audio cassettes, and later the CDs, it made for an interesting listen at the computer for me, anyway,

It's fun, great version, etc. But this CD has the sound of being digitized from vinyl, and not a very good one at that. Shame they weren't able to source it from the original tapes. Lots of vinyl artifacts and sounds like it was run through a de-noising plugin.

So far I have only had the chance to play part of disk 1 (side 1 of what was the LP) and it is just as I remember it from the double LP version minus the record noise. It's in stereo and sounds quite good apart from the occasional hard "S".I'm quite happy that I purchased this and it should complete my collection of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy audio collection (I have the original radio broadcasts as well)The set also came with some nice reproductions of the artwork.Fully recommended if you are a fan (and why wouldn't you be, even if you don't have a digital watch?)

I was so pleased to get the original version back in the day but left it at an ex girlfriend’s house and never went back. Now my life is complete again, I have missed it!

The original vinyl albums.....transferred to CD.Different (slightly) from the early radio shows...But a blast from the past.Loved hearing the section with Hotblack...at Milliways......which doesn't feature on the radio show CDs.

I came to The Hitch-Hiker universe in a roundabout way.I read the book first, then listened to the second radio series, then the second album (included here), then the TV show, then the First album (also included here) and finally the original radio show.Still with me? Good. This circuitous route means that the albums in this collection were my first exposure to the original material in an audio form. Because of this, I think of these as the definitive versions, an opinion shared by BBC Television it seems - after all, this is what they used as the basis for their TV adaptation.These recordings feature most of the original cast... but not everyone. Presumably a couple of actors were unavailable during the recording sessions. It's no big deal - you really don't notice. Everyone is comfortable in their familiar roles, the script has been fine tuned by Adams, John Lloyd and Geoffrey Perkins and the music is exceptional from Tim Souster and Paddy Kingsland. Everything sounds as fresh and funny as it did 40 years ago(blimey, I'm old).I have some issues with this presentation of the albums, though.I already own the original recordings on vinyl, but like so many of us I no longer have a stereo system to play them on. This CD re-issue was a dream come true and an instant purchase. However... The track listings are wrong.They are presented in a similar manner to the original vinyl release, with side 1 and 2 listed separately. Adding up sides 3 and 4 gives a total of 19 tracks - two more than are actually on the disc. Similarly, the third disc, The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe, has a total of 14 tracks listed - three fewer than are on the disc.I assume that the printed material included in the booklet is taken directly from the original album track listing (i don't have access to my albums to confirm this) and that this is some sort of error in the encoding process. It doesn't affect the recordings in any way. It just annoys the perfectionist geek in me.At last I can listen to these again with ease.

Turned up on time and sealed always loved hitchhiker's and this is absolutely awesome without a doubt I'd recommend this to anyone definitely