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Nothing like a holiday surprise in the mail three days before Thanksgiving! And it's Vince Guaraldi, too! Ooowee!

When the good people at the Concord Music Group send me something, I'm sure to give it a listen. And Vince Guaraldi! Guaraldi is an archetype of the holiday genre.

I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas when it was first aired, in December 1965. I was a fan of the Peanuts comic strip (who wasn't?), and I waited with anticipation for weeks to see the show. I remember feeling disappointed with the wistful melancholy of the show. But over the years I grew to love watching all of the needles falling off the lovable loser of a tree Charlie Brown picked out. To take our annual schmaltzfest and instead of producing kitsch or pablum, giving us an original score and a script with so much depth and heart: I see now what an edgy statement the producers of this show were making. Sure it was sentimental and earnest, but the earnestness was mixed with irony, in ways that had been heretofore unknown. It was both a break with traditional, sugarcoated musicals and a groundbreaking work of wry humor much more in keeping with boomer sensibilities than with anything that had come before. I don't believe such an in-your-face slap at over-the-top commercialism could easily be made today for network television--too much attention is now paid to marketing and demographics, product placement and big name artists. These days we're much more likely to get Nick & Jessica's Family Christmas.

Over the years I came to appreciate the original aspects of the show and its coolly adventurous score more and more. Today, I see it as one of the top five greatest Christmas albums ever made.

This remastered, extra track reissue has quite a bit to recommend it, especially if you don't already own a copy of the original CD release. For one thing, the remastered tracks seem to have a fuller, richer sound. Newer technology and such, I suppose. Also, there are four great new alternative takes included in this release, two of which, Christmas Is Coming and The Christmas Song, contain upwards of an additional minute each of additional improv riffing in that inimitably moody Guaraldi style.

Some people enjoy hearing the same old same old every year. Me, I'm always up for something new and different. Obviously. But it is rare one can hear both on the same album. But that is certainly the case with this wonderful new reissue of A Charlie Brown Christmas. What a year this is!

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2006)

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From the liner notes:

Vince Guaraldi, piano
Fred Marshall, bass
Jerry Granelli, drums
Monty Budwig, bass, on #12 and 15 only
Colin Bailey drums, on #12 and 15 only

Reissue Produced by Cheryl Pawelski
Remixed by Stephen Hart from the original analog multi-track masters (Fantasy Studios, 2006)
Mastered by George Horn (Fantasy Studios, 2006)
Design: Jamie Putnam
Photos from the Fantasy Archives
Project Assistance:
Abbey Anna, Rikka Arnold, Bill Belmont, Audrey Bilger, Chris Clough, Terri Hinte, Rob Ondarza, Jennifer Peters, Andrew Pham, Mark Wexler

Vince Guaraldi

A Charlie Brown Christmas
(Remastered,
extra track reissue)

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Track List