Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits

Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits is a compilation album by jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi (credited to the Vince Guaraldi Trio) released by Fantasy Records in 1998. The album was the first of several posthumous releases containing a mix of previously released material in addition to nine previously unavailable songs featured in prime-time animated television specials based on the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz.[4]

Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits
Compilation album by
Vince Guaraldi
ReleasedSeptember 8, 1998 (1998-09-08)
RecordedOctober 1964-December 1974, 1983, 1998
Genre
Length37:07
LabelFantasy
Vince Guaraldi chronology
Greatest Hits
(1980)		 Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits
(1998)		 The Charlie Brown Suite & Other Favorites
(2003)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
All About Jazz[2]
Five Cents Please[3]

Background

Vince Guaraldi died of a sudden heart attack on February 6, 1976, at age 47, having composed music scores for 16 Peanuts television specials and the feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Despite the wealth of material Guaraldi recorded for these specials, only three album's worth of Peanuts songs were released during his lifetime: Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964), A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) and Oh Good Grief! (1968).

After the 1996 tribute album Linus and Lucy: The Music of Vince Guaraldi by New Age pianist George Winston sparked renewed interest in Guaraldi's music, Fantasy Records assembled a compilation album in 1998, 22 years after Guaraldi's final Peanuts project (It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (1976)).[3]

Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits contains a mix of previously released material featured on the Fantasy releases Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Christmas plus unreleased music cues from the latter as well as It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966), A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973) and Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (1975). Several music cues were sourced directly from the television audio tracks and were licensed for inclusion from Lee Mendelson Film Productions.[3]

Fantasy also inadvertently included one non-Guaraldi track ("Joe Cool"), a composite of two music cues composed by Ed Bogas and Desirée Goyette for The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show (CBS, 1983-85).[3][1] The title bears no relation to the multiple renditions of "Joe Cool" composed by Guaraldi during his lifetime.[3]

Critical reception

Guaraldi historian Derrick Bang commented that the newly released material "is a joy, although some of these cuts are a bit 'muddy', and they lack the polish and studio perfection of Fantasy's earlier releases; they have an unsweetened quality, and display the uneven volume, jump starts and slow fades that betray their probable origins from television audio tracks."[3] AllMusic critic Cub Koda said the wealth of unreleased material was a "true goldmine" for fans.[1]

Track listing

All songs written by Vince Guaraldi except where noted. Incorrectly titled tracks appear along with their proper titles.[1][3]

Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits track listing
No. Printed title Correct title (if applicable) Television special Length Songwriters Notes
1. "Joe Cool" The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show2:07Ed Bogas, Desirée Goyettenon-Guaraldi track; song is a composite of two untitled music cues composed by Ed Bogas and Desirée Goyette for The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show; sourced directly from television soundtrack, licensed for inclusion from Lee Mendelson Film Productions[3]
2. "Surfin' Snoopy" "Air Music"A Charlie Brown Christmas
Charlie Brown's All-Stars		1:11sourced directly from television soundtrack, licensed for inclusion from Lee Mendelson Film Productions[3]
3. "Heartburn Waltz" Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown2:38sourced directly from television soundtrack, licensed for inclusion from Lee Mendelson Film Productions[3]
4. "Track Meet" 2:40variation of "Christmas Is Coming" from A Charlie Brown Christmas[3]
5. "Camptown Races" 2:25Stephen Foster; arr. by V. Guaraldi
6. "Oh, Good Grief" "Schroeder"2:00vocal number sung by members of Glenn Mendelson's sixth-grade class; song is titled "Oh, Good Grief" but melody is taken from "Schroeder"[3]
7. "Charlie Brown Theme" A Charlie Brown Christmas2:00Vince Guaraldi, Lee Mendelsonpreviously released on Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964)
8. "Schroeder" 1:54previously released on Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964)
9. "Charlie's Blues" "Charlie Brown Blues"A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving1:22aka as "Play It Again, Charlie Brown"; sourced directly from television soundtrack, licensed for inclusion from Lee Mendelson Film Productions[3]
10. "Great Pumpkin Waltz" It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown2:29sourced directly from television soundtrack, licensed for inclusion from Lee Mendelson Film Productions[3]
11. "Thanksgiving Theme" A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving2:02sourced directly from television soundtrack, licensed for inclusion from Lee Mendelson Film Productions[3]
12. "Linus and Lucy" A Charlie Brown Christmas3:07previously released on Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964) and A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
13. "Christmas Time Is Here" (vocal) A Charlie Brown Christmas2:46previously released on A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
14. "Christmas Time Is Here" (instrumental) A Charlie Brown Christmas6:03previously released on A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)[3]

Personnel

References
  1. Koda, Cub. Review of Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits at AllMusic. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  2. Payne, Douglas (October 1, 1998). "Vince Guaraldi Trio: Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits". All About Jazz. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  3. Bang, Derrick. "Vince Guaraldi on LP and CD: Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits". fivecentsplease.org. Derrick Bang, Scott McGuire. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  4. Vince Guaraldi at concord.com. Retrieved 5 April 2020
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