Poems and Songs of Middle Earth became the first commercially available audio recording of Tolkien's voice after the success of The Lord of the Rings, as well as the earliest album of music inspired by his fictional Middle-earth.

[17] Arriving decades before the mainstream advent of the audiobook, Caedmon "answered the question on many readers' minds", said in the words of historian Matthew Rubery: "What did authors sound like?

"[18] Since its founding in 1952, Caedmon had already pressed records by many of the preeminent authors of 20th century literature, among them Albert Camus, T. S. Eliot, William Faulkner, Langston Hughes, James Joyce, Thomas Mann, Sylvia Plath, Gertrude Stein, Wallace Stevens, and W. B.

[29] The illustration on the LP sleeve's cover—a "triptych" view of a Middle-earth landscape designed by Pauline Baynes—had previously appeared on the slipcase of the deluxe three-volume edition of The Lord of the Rings published by Allen & Unwin in 1964 (but printed in 1963).

[22] In his essay, Auden lauds Tolkien's verse, calling the poems' metres "as exciting as they are various", and claims the author's fantasy works will either totally enthrall you or leave you stone cold, and, whichever your response, nothing and nobody will ever change it.

[45] The reissued LP came as part of the first batch of the retailer's new "Caedmon series", in which it would re-release several albums from the label's back catalog each month at a discounted price of £1.99 (equivalent to £36 in 2023).

[1] As late as 1985, Caedmon continued to sell tapes of the album, which it marketed alongside audiobooks of works by Tolkien and other authors of fantasy fiction.

[48] In 1977 Caedmon reissued Poems and Songs of Middle Earth as part of a box set compilation on LP and cassette formats, called The J. R. R. Tolkien Soundbook.

The Tolkien Soundbook was one of the first five releases in the series, alongside other entries based on works by Joyce, Thomas, Ogden Nash and Edgar Allan Poe.

[50] Tolkien's recitals from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil reportedly has noticeably higher fidelity on the Soundbook box set than they did on the original 1967 LP.

[52] Following publication of the sheet music and Swann's early concert performances, The Road Goes Ever On divided opinion among professional critics and Tolkien fans alike.

[53] Reception to the musical portions of Poems and Songs of Middle Earth was similarly mixed, while critical consensus was more united with praise for Tolkien's readings.

Frederick Woods, a reviewer for classical music magazine The Gramophone, professed great admiration for Tolkien's fiction and readings but ambivalence as to the quality of Swann's compositions.

Fuller reported "[a]lready, in England, the cycle [The Road Goes Ever On] has established itself in the concert repertory" and predicted "it is likely to become an accepted recital unit in more than one range of voice."

In The Horn Book Magazine, Ethel L. Hynes wrote that Elvin's vocals "reveal[ed] [the songs'] beautiful melodic line and the lyric romanticism that matches the mood of the texts.

[41] John R. Searles at the English Journal generally praised the compositions, especially "Namárië", which he said would may tend to strike many listeners as "the most appropriate and moving melody" on the collection.

"[29] Catheryne S. Franklin—a professor of library science at the University of Texas at Austin, reviewing the album for audiovisual education journal Film News—judged Tolkien's accented pronunciation sufficiently intelligible for a general American audience: "Though British speech patterns are often difficult to understand, especially if words are 'bitten off' (which is the main criticism of Basil Rathbone's readings), Mr. Tolkien's pleasant voice and delivery are less 'clipped' and 'British' than might be expected."

"[56] In the years following its release, educators and academics cited the album's value as pedagogical tool for teaching children and a resource for enhanced understanding of Tolkien's poetics.

[58] The album was further endorsed for its usefulness as a multimedia teaching aid by educator Don Adrian Davidson (in 1972),[59] elementary school library specialist Mary Ann Paulin (in 1982),[60] and children's author and librarian Sarah Ellis (in 2000).

[48] In poet Paul Edwin Zimmer's view, the album's recordings of Tolkien reading his own verse clarify the task of analysing and applying scansion to the author's poetry, full as it is of complex "metrical tricks", evident in for example "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil".

"Swann's song cycle", said the Tolkien scholar David Bratman, "has never gotten quite the attention it deserves, partly because its one recording is in a reserved, fastidious style.