Don’t say we didn’t warn you that audio cassettes were becoming “popular” again with certain people. We would love to see Thriller or Synchronicity on a premium Maxell tape but we are not holding our breath. Lucy might be there to pull the plug on us. If your kids have never heard the album before, A Charlie Brown Christmas, could make a fun stocking stuffer to enjoy on Christmas Day after you dust off the old Nakamichi Dragon.
This holiday season, perennial favorite A Charlie Brown Christmas makes its return to cassette tape for the first time in three decades. Due out November 5th on Craft Recordings and available for pre-order today, this collectible, silver-colored cassette is limited to 5,000 units worldwide and makes the perfect stocking stuffer for PEANUTS fans of any age.
The timeless soundtrack to the enduring, 1965 television special features a host of yuletide standards from the Vince Guaraldi Trio, plus such originals as “Christmas Time Is Here” and the iconic “Linus and Lucy.”
The cassette serves as a companion piece to the recently announced “Silver Foil” vinyl edition of A Charlie Brown Christmas, which reimagines the album’s classic white cover with a stunning, embossed silver foil jacket.
Available October 1st, the limited pressing can be found in several vinyl color variants at select retailers, while fans can pre-order a festive glitter-infused clear vinyl edition exclusively on Craft Recordings’ official store.
On December 9, 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas aired on TV screens across America and instantly captured the hearts and ears of a generation. Bolstering the animated special, based on Charles M. Schulz’s immensely popular PEANUTS comic strip, was an engaging score from Bay Area jazz artist Vince Guaraldi, who brought characters like Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Snoopy to life through his evocative cues.
Working primarily with bassist Fred Marshall and drummer Jerry Granelli, Guaraldi paired inspired interpretations of traditional holiday fare (“O Tannenbaum,” “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” and “What Child Is This”) with original compositions, including the instantly recognizable “Linus and Lucy” theme, “Skating,” and “Christmas Time Is Here.”
The latter song, available as both an instrumental and vocal track, featured young choral singers from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in San Rafael, CA.
More than five decades later, the Emmy and Peabody-winning animated classic now streams on Apple TV+ and has spawned more than two dozen subsequent PEANUTS specials.
Guaraldi’s soundtrack, meanwhile, has since become one of the best-selling jazz albums in history, second only to Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, and regularly ranks among America’s top-selling holiday albums every December. In 2016, A Charlie Brown Christmas was certified 4x platinum by the RIAA, while last year, A Charlie Brown Christmas entered the Billboard 200’s Top Ten for the very first time—55 years after its initial release.
The album has also been inducted into the GRAMMY® Hall of Fame and added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry. For more on Vince Guaraldi, follow on Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music.
Price & Availability
- $12.99 at Amazon (cassette, available November 5, 2021)
- $24.99 at Amazon (LP, available October 1, 2021)
