[pryelluw]

YouTube has certainly made him into some kind of prophet. Which is hilarious given he referred to himself as a cunning entertainer.

I can see how this cult of persona can turn you off. The ideas he presents are not new just in an amusing way. People tend to flock and hype such storytellers.

[sammalloy]

I tell everyone within the hearing range of my voice and written word not to listen to the YouTube mashups of Alan Watts. They take his words out of context of the original lectures and turn them into something completely different. And if you need music to listen to Watts, you’ve pretty much missed the entire point of what he’s saying. Sure, people want to feel good, but that can also get in the way of meaning and interpretation.

[froh]

do you happen to have a recommendation handy for a trustworthy collection of his talks?

[sammalloy]

Unfortunately, his son and associates have taken down most of the full length lectures within the last five years, as you probably already know. Other than purchasing the audio directly from his son on his site, I believe they did release many of the transcripts of the full length lectures on his and other sites, so you can still read them.

[pryelluw]

You can read his books. They pretty much have the same content as the talks.

[froh]

I love his voice and how he speaks. and I wasn't aware his family controls the recordings (see the sibling comment to yours).

[sammalloy]

I don’t recall what year the copyright takedowns began, but about five years ago it became noticeable. In the late 1990s to early to mid 2000s, you could find hobbyists uploading them all over the place. When YouTube got started there was a brief point in time where almost half (or maybe more than half) of all Alan Watts recordings were uploaded. Podcasters like Lorenzo made it even more popular (don’t recall where he got his recording from, but pretty sure he was later served with a takedown notice by the Watts family).

[TedDoesntTalk]

The Pirate Bay has many collections.