Some of us are old enough to remember when “Peanuts” and Charlie Brown were as popular as SpongeBob and Patrick are today. Definitely more innocent and and not as rife with pop culture references and social commentary. One of the really memorable aspects of Charlie Brown was the music; and not just the iconic theme music composed by Vince Guaraldi. Craft Recordings have announced a new vinyl reissue of A Boy Named Charlie Brown and you can guarantee that we’re pre-ordering it today.
The classic title features newly remastered audio, cut from the original analog tapes, plus eight collectible PEANUTS baseball cards.
“Baseball Theme” will make its debut as a limited-edition, 7-inch single for Record Store Day 2021.
Craft Recordings announces a vinyl reissue of the PEANUTS classic, A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Featuring nine evocative cues from the Vince Guaraldi Trio, the album has been newly remastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio.
On the back of the cards are key stats for each player, including their field position and favorite sandwich. A Boy Named Charlie Brown will also be offered in three colorful variants, including a green-grass pressing at Target, a sky-blue version for Vinyl Me Please, plus a special baseball mitt-brown edition at the Craft Recordings Store, limited to 350 units.
Additionally, one of the most memorable tracks off the album, the up-tempo “Baseball Theme,” will be available for the very first time as a standalone, 7-inch single—exclusively for Record Store Day 2021.
Offering the original, 1964 soundtrack version of the song, plus an alternative studio take, the limited-edition release is pressed on white vinyl and housed in a colorful jacket, featuring whimsical, baseball-themed images of Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Visit recordstoreday.com for a list of participating indie retailers.
In the early ’60s, Bay Area jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi was a fast-rising star. A frequent collaborator of vibraphonist Cal Tjader’s, Guaraldi had broken out on his own just a few years prior, releasing several records as a leader. But it was 1962’s Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus that made Guaraldi a household name. Inspired by the French/Brazilian film Black Orpheus, the album featured both original material and covers from the Academy Award-winning picture, including Guaraldi’s instrumental composition, “Cast Your Fate to the Wind.”
The song became a breakout hit across the country and earned the artist a GRAMMY® Award. Concurrently, just across town, producer Lee Mendelson was working on a TV documentary about cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the PEANUTS comic strip. But he was still searching for the perfect music to accompany the film.
One afternoon, Mendelson caught “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” on the radio. As soon as he heard it, he knew Guaraldi was the man for the job. His instinct was spot-on. Guaraldi’s sophisticated recordings—which also featured the talents of bassist Monty Budwig and drummer Colin Bailey—instantly brought the PEANUTS characters to life.
In the 2012 book Vince Guaraldi at the Piano (Derrick Bang, McFarland & Company, Inc.), Mendelson recalled that the score “just blew me away. It was so right, and so perfect, for Charlie Brown and the other characters…There was a sense, even before it was put to animation, that there was something very, very special about that music.” While the documentary—titled A Boy Named Charlie Brown—never made it to the airwaves, Guaraldi’s score was released by Fantasy Records as Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown in 1964.
In stores July 16 and available for pre-order today ($24.98 at Amazon), the LP also includes a special bonus: eight collectible baseball cards that showcase Charlie Brown’s team of misfits: Snoopy, Woodstock, Peppermint Patty, Linus and Lucy Van Pelt, Franklin Armstrong, Schroeder, and, of course, manager and pitcher, Charlie Brown.
