Vince Guaraldi - A Charlie Brown Christmas: You cannot fuck with this album.

otm

The highlight: Skating

is all of his stuff like this? i saw a used record yesterday that was hella cheap but i didn't know if it was all official awesome stuff like this

"Skating" is so the highlight that I almost have problems with a lot of the rest of the record, actually.

you're fucking with the unfuckwithable, n.

"Skating" IS great!

I knew this would be a Chaki thread.

Where is the thread Ned started about this album where we later discovered that Colin Bailey and Monty Budwig probably didn't play on "Linus and Lucy"?

Well, here's the story at any rate: Snoopy Dogged

And here's the thread: Reissue of the Year

apparently they did fuck with it though; that remaster has the wrong take of Linus and Lucy as well as some other weird problems.

This album rules so hard.

is all of his stuff like this? i saw a used record yesterday that was hella cheap but i didn't know if it was all official awesome stuff like this

-- M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, December 7, 2007 4:24 PM (56 minutes ago)

definitely search the albums he did with Bola Sete. not really "like this" (more bossa nova inflected) but pretty awesome.

Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus is great and features his big hit "Cast Your Fate to the Wind," always the most rocking song on the Muzak playlist.

"A Boy Named Charlie Brown" is like this.

UNFUCKWITHABLE!!!

-- chaki, Friday, December 7, 2007 2:21 PM (Friday, December 7, 2007 2:21 PM) Bookmark Link

QFT

One of the best reasons to look forward to December: the right to play this album without feeling guilty.

I feel no guilt, ever. I'll rock this shit year round.

^^^Upstanding citizen.

Oddly listening to it right now, over a glass of cheap red wine with the Missus. Agreed. Unfuckwithable (as I wrote here back in 2005.

"in person" has a nice mix of standards like "On Green Dolphin Street" and "Jitterbug Waltz" with some Brazilian numbers, but I haven't really listened to it enough.

(missed chance to make cheap joke about honoring the yule log fire)

teh charlie brown easter soundtrack is awesome - guaraldi fuzz-bass acid rock

jamz kick in @ 1:49

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8qbXoeaOOE

snoopy-san

古い録音テープから、Windowsムービーメーカーを使って復元しました。

"Christmas is Coming" = BEST EVAR

as much as i want to be the first contrarian on this thread, i cant. totally, 100% unfuckwitable. best bargain-bin find i've ever had at princeton record exchange.

Listening to this now and lord but I love this record. Never much paid attention to it before, but the sequencing is so terrific!

i.e., the way "Hark the Herald Angel Sings" transitions into the relatively (for this album) hard running jazz of "Christmas is Coming" is so great to me.

is all of his stuff like this? i saw a used record yesterday that was hella cheap but i didn't know if it was all official awesome stuff like this

-- M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, December 7, 2007 4:24 PM (56 minutes ago)

definitely search the albums he did with Bola Sete. not really "like this" (more bossa nova inflected) but pretty awesome.

-- Stormy Davis, Friday, December 7, 2007 5:30 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus is great and features his big hit "Cast Your Fate to the Wind," always the most rocking song on the Muzak playlist.

-- James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, December 7, 2007 7:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

seconding Jazz Impressions... and highly recommending From All sides w/ Bola Sete.

apparently they did fuck with it though; that remaster has the wrong take of Linus and Lucy as well as some other weird problems.

-- akm, Friday, December 7, 2007 11:00 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

What???

yeah how could you fuck up THAT ONE out of all the tracks?

i dunno, you can read the amazon comments about it as well as other places on the internet. the earlier version (for instance, the same version you can buy at starbucks) has the correct takes, and apparently some boxed version you can find at costco and best buy on a candian label have correct songs; but the remaster (which has 'greensleeves' added) is all messed up

Never noticed it being different before. There's an alternate take of "Linus and Lucy" as a bonus track that's markedly different, but it's a bonus, not a substitution.

okay, it's this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Brown-Christmas-Vince-Guaraldi/dp/B000ICLSMY/r

not the one pictured uptop that is messed up.

Since the thread title begs, I will fuck with this album.
"Hark the Herald Angels Sing". It's cute, but can also be a mood killer.

i duno man that intro is haunting and the singy part reminds me of the cartoon

What mood does it kill, exactly?

The light jazzy mellow mood. I like the intro a lot, but when they start belting it out... sometimes I skip.

chaki you are so right, it's impossible to have this album on and be sad.

only thing it's missing is that awesome little "snoopy" theme that plays when he's decorating the doghouse.

... sometimes I skip.
http://www.animateit.net/data/thumbnails/105/6fc43d4c.gif

I love this album.

Yeah, I think i'm gonna bring it to the office tomorrow.

'christmas time is here' is the saddest song ever, how can you put it on and NOT be sad?

The funny thing is of course how the lyrics are anything but that -- it's a gentle celebration when read, and even sung. I wouldn't call it flat out sad as a result, but it's certainly wistful, and in a 1966 context almost seems like it was meant to function in the same nostalgic headspace as "I'll Be Home For Christmas" did a generation earlier. Now that it's become part of all our collective memories, the function has transformed away from being part of a welcoming thought of 'what Christmas is like' -- it, along with the ice-skating part, was the first thing that anyone saw/heard of the special upon first broadcast -- to something else entirely.

Yep, unfuckwithable. And who could forget this:

http://the-op.com/images/episode/204/gm-snoopy_sm.jpg

This is in my top 10 ever, so I'm not hating. But, has anyone else felt jarred by the Hark the Herald Angels number? I feel like it's at a different volume than the rest of the record.

LP on sale for $7!
http://www.turntablelab.com/vinyl/147/434/2635.html

It truly is one of the very few albums I can listen to in seemingly endless rotations (so long as it's December, that is).

"Hark the Herald Angels Sing". It's cute, but can also be a mood killer.

It's grown on me, but it's taken a long while. I agree, though -- it does act as a mood killer. If not killer, then certainly a mood maimer.

Guaraldi hits a few clinkers during his Charlie Parkerish take on "O Tannenbaum," but I could care less. The epitome of a cool yule.
I had the earlier version of the album and the sound quality of the reissue is dramatically improved.

So unfuckwithable. This shit just rules.

Most of the Peanuts TV specials did get screened in Britain but I don't recall ever seeing the Christmas one.

Nonetheless I did go out and buy this album last weekend on the basis of the above recommendations and it is indeed a lovely and wistful thing, sort of a missing link between Bill Evans' Conversations With Myself and Low's Christmas. The vocal version of "Christmas Time Is Here" would have caused a sensation if Brian Wilson had come up with it, except that the absence of harmonies - the kids all sing the topline of the melody - makes it even more poignant. Not sure that "Hark The Herald Angels" acappella quite works in this context, though.

Also, "Skating" has one of the loveliest chord sequences ever. It's a real tragedy that Guaraldi died so young.

I'm a year late but it's that gruesome time again.This reminds me of proper Xmas. Those that don't happen anymore. Cry.
Got this at the weekend and came on here just knowing there would be a thread.

You're all so otfm.
'Skating' is indeed beautiful, 'Linus and Lucy' is as great as ever but 'Christmas Is Coming' is also so good, eventhough the jazz breakdown pushes it slightly too much for these ears.

So where do I turn next Guaraldi wise? Or anybody in a similar vein

Appreciated

Oh and Merry Fucking Christmas

Aw Fk _I missed 'Christmas Time is Here'...

Oh and Merry Fucking Christmas
― Fer Ark (13 minutes ago)

Aw Fk _I missed 'Christmas Time is Here'...
― Fer Ark (1 minute ago)

Yer one contradictory dude! :)

O and Merry Fookin Xmas to ya too, then!

Sorry, I was wrapping presents and lost the end of the sellotape - lost my temper too ;-)

A remarkably early wrapper, you.

I wish I could talk more 'bout Vince Guaraldi but, eh, I've only heard a couple of tunes by him.

Hah - I played this last friday night to some random drunken chixorz

so, uh, BEST ALBUM EVER!

So true, on my pod all year round...

Last night I saw my son dancing to this album and oh, it was total happiness...

:-D And how is that good little dude?

very well indeed! - but the news is that he will be joined by 2 (TWO!) little brothers next March...next Christmas will be busy around here.

! (Did I mention I was planning on swinging by your neck of the woods again in June...)

This just means we will place you in the twins' room - and good luck! : )

Hahah.

So did Vince ever sing any numbers other than "Joe Cool" and "Little Birdie"? He should have!

Seriously, Ned, just let me know when. Mi casa su casa!

Will do!

everyone start listening to this album again, at the request of chaki

Always do, always will, as evinced upthread, there's just some shit you can't mess with.

it is way too early to revive xmas album threads but y this is fucking xcllnt

not yet, but soon. this album still has such an aura and power and is tied to so many memories that i really try not to play it outside of december, out of fear that it will lose its punch. but i would second black orpheus as a capable placeholder in the meantime.

Too early to play it just yet, but just an hour ago I was thinking about giving this as my Secret Santa present to a workmate.

I'm not ashamed to admit I listened to some Xmas tunes last night and enjoyed it.

Classic, times infinity. One of the few Christmas records that I can still enjoy front-to-back.

Always a tiny thrill when "Skating" or "Christmas is Coming" kicks in during shuffle play

I usually cant stand Christmas music, but this record is fantastic. The only other Guaraldi I know is James Gang's version of "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" which, if I remember right, is part the Bomber.

love this stuff, also recommend the modern jazz quartet album "on tour" which hits a similar vibe as this

i was about to post to the "hate everybody and everything" thread
and then i put this on. now is nice.
and dude died too early at 47.

ok but now is not too early 2 put this on!

no i know, just sayin

http://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/jazz-charlie-brown-vince-guaraldi-story/
http://www.fivecentsplease.org/dpb/guaraldi.html

"You'd never know when you were going to recognize him," Schulz once commented. "Something was always growing or not growing."

havin a moment to this tbrr

prrrrrrum prrrrrrrum prrrrrum pum pum.

sweet icicles of piano

way early i know but i'm just giving 'skating' my first listen of the year and :').

I'm considering using Skating at my wedding next May.

i for one would offer much in the way of :') to that.

The only Christmas album worth owning. All the others are cheesy classless novelties.

Gidouddahere.

The only Christmas album worth owning. All the others are cheesy classless novelties.

This is a falsehood.

have often played this album on repeat for hours without tiring of it.

Thanks for the revive; just bought a real copy of this. Beautiful.

watched the thanksgiving special the other day, and loved the music on that one too. the collegiate-sounding theme is available on comps, but don't think the soundtrack has been released on cd. linus and lucy theme gets a cool, faux-boogaloo reading too

Thanks for the revive; just bought a real copy of this. Beautiful.

I picked up a copy earlier this year and have been waiting all year to play it! Think I'll wait until it gets cold though, feels wrong to play it when the high is 68F.

PEANUTS is some str8 garbage and if you can't admit it then you are lying to yourself and to god

is cankles the boob who hates Harpo Marx too?

― Dr Morbius

the fuck u talkin bout blorbius???? i love the marx bros!!

― cankles

is there a good way to hear the music from all the other specials? you'd figure there would be a box set or something by now, but no such luck.

there's a CD of the big songs from all the holiday albums, has some overlap with the xmas album but not too much.

this is the only christmas album i really need (even though i have a bunch more). sometimes i think it's the only album i need at all!

This year I went all out and practically played it every day this month. And I never once got tired of that.

My son's been working on Christmas Time is Here on the piano for the last couple weeks. It's been pretty sweet!

always excited to have a damp snowfall with big fluffy flakes b/c it enhances 'skating' tenfold

There was a show on PBS I think about him last year that was pretty great. I have most of his albums plus some other mellow piano-based stuff in a playlist titled "Snoopyjazz."

Start with A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing (1957) and work yr way from there! Some of his tunes get an interesting orchestrated treatment in The Charlie Brown Suite, and George Winston did a couple albums of his music and isn't too bad either.

heard some kind of indie take on Christmas Time at the grocery store this morning. didn't really live up to the original...

This is the only Christmas album I ever need. Though I do also enjoy the Fahey Christmas record(s) that all the vinyl shops are always trying to get rid of.

heard some kind of indie take on Christmas Time at the grocery store this morning. didn't really live up to the original...

― Free Me's Electric Trumpet (Moodles), Tuesday, December 23, 2014 11:47 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

department of superfluous second sentences

so sad that guaraldi didn't really live long enough to see his tunes become standards

I have listened to this album about 10-15 times this month alone. Not Christmas specific to me any more, it works all Winter, but I only really ramp it up in December. Somed days "Skating" is the best song, but all of them have a special place for me.

There is a really great cover of "Christmas Time Is Here" by Lambchop out there. Kurt Wagner does a pretty funny spoken-word little ad lib in the middle. Well worth checking out if you can find it.

I did some baking this morning while this was playing, so calming & beautiful

"Skating" definitely the perfect soundtrack to the step where you shake powdered sugar on the cookies.

otm

Banging this shit rn what up

Me too this morning, right after the unsurpassable nat king cole Xmas album

officemate has ben playing this all morning. Our room is a happy little corner rn

I tried to fuck with this album and it fucked me up.

This is the only Christmas music that I keep in my regular off-season rotation.

Dilla, late '95: The Parcyde's Splattitorium. The VG trio hanging on a pedal point bassline

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_qwK-0xmZ8

have to agree with upthread posters about only listening in december. been listening since i was a kid and it's tied to so many strong memories (and like, smells)

for better or worse i tend to compare any waltz to Skating. Super-perfection

jazz impressions of black orpheus is the one you can listen to outside of december to get yr guaraldi fix

VG's black Orpheus is certainly one of the cooler outings

my non-seasonal VG trio has been A Boy Named Charlie Brown sdtk

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41gA9mQq7CL.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6DuzxtQyc4

redundant, i sorry

"A Boy Named Charlie Brown" is like this.

― Bobbi Peru, Friday, December 7, 2007 8:49 PM (eight years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I was gonna play "A Boy Named..." just last night but couldn't find my copy, grrr! Need to re-organize again.

(Ended up putting on a Guaraldi best-of instead)

"great pumpkin waltz" is still my fav autumn/halloween time music

gets me every time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvI_FNrczzQ

i heard "Linus and Lucy" twice yesterday, once played live by Los Straitjackets

My number one album every December. Never gets tired.

well, thats my xmas groove kickstarted.

i love "my little drum"

is this the greatest album of all time? I say yes

it probably is my desert island pick

there was a new yorker article a while back about vince guaraldi and i would've posted it here but it was by some serious jazz guy and the tone of the piece was so negative and condescending it bummed me out

I usually only put this on in the wintertime, but I'm feeling especially sad tonight and there aren't many records that can bum me out as this one can. it's hard for me to separate this from the CBS special, which somewhat embrassingly might be one of my favorite 'films'

a lot of guaraldi's other work feels very melancholy to me. i'm not sure whether that's something i'm projecting onto it because of this album/special, but i find this track in particular just crushingly sad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R19lxut_dw

i moved into a new apartment the other day, cheaper than my old one, and much better in every way. i'm already a homebody - this is not good for me. i never want to leave home.

anyway, i unpacked the record player and this album first, and played it as we started organizing our new home. every single song is an all-timer imo

get out and catch some snowflakes on your tongue. they taste like sugar

Jerry Granelli is still going strong, loving his Plays The Music Of Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison album.

first snowstorm of the year was yesterday, and this was on all day today. it’s kind of astonishing — and has there ever been an ILM thread with 100+ posts and unanimous approval?

btw props to the folks up there who recommended jazz impressions of black orpheus, really fantastic stuff.

Love this album so much.

Re: non-festve Vince jams, I used to drop 'Samba De Orpheus' at the end of the night at an old DJ gig of mine and it always went down a treat, perk little banger that it is.

the only bit i don't like is when the kids sing "Hark The Herald". The film isn't something that's traditionally shown at Christmas in the UK, so without context it's quite annoying and disruptive. Best bit: Skating

ffs that post of mine was a typo fest... *festive, *perky

im a weirdo who has always hated the special, but this album might be the greatest LP of all time

Forever the best, just yesterday I was looking at plugging the gaps in my collection of those 'complete' volumes and had pulled a couple of the 70s ones down from the shelf.

saw "Peanuts Portraits" in Rough Trade yesterday and was so tempted to get it

I've been watching some of the early non-holiday specials of late. Lots of Guaraldi weaving throughout. Have they issued his non-xmas Peanuts music?

Oh absolutely, there are even a couple of volumes of unreleased cues and all.

the special is probably one of my ten favorite films, full stop

I was thinking about the TV show last week, when I heard "Christmas Time Is Here" on the radio. First, that in the new year I'm going to start a biography of Charles Schulz that a friend gave me a few years back. Then about the show: more than just a great TV show, I'm not kidding when I say--sorry for the hyperbole--I think it's one of the great pieces of art of the past 50 years or whatever. Especially first airing as it did in December of '65, in the middle of all that was happening in the States. I think the date comes up right at the end, at the bottom of the screen--gives me a chill. It'd take a lot more effort and space to explain myself. (I love when "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" comes in.) I was sad when I heard that this was the first year it wasn't going to get a network showing, that it had been bought by one of the big streaming services.

the special is one of my favorites as well, and the LP is one of the very, very few christmas-related albums/songs i enjoy around this time of year. i tolerate a few more, and want all the rest of christmas music to not be part of 10% of the year (e.g., "the christmas tenth of life")

also thanks for the Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus tip above! it's brightening my morning up for sure, it's wonderful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhTBykWo0mg

Jerry Granelli is still going strong, loving his Plays The Music Of Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison album.

― calzino, Tuesday, May 19, 2020 7:17 AM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

Jerry Granelli unfortunately passed away in July. Absolutely incredible and inspiring musician.

i do truly love this record but this year my inner voice keeps dolefully singing “omicron is here”

;_;

All time LP.

At some point since this thread began, I think the meaning of "fuck with" kind of got reversed. Nowadays if someone says they "fuck with" an album that probably means they like it, no?

looooooooooooool estela

Crowds are rapt in fear
Sniffles coughs
Your breathing stops
The loss of all held dear

A+

yes, thank you forks

love this stuff, also recommend the modern jazz quartet album "on tour" which hits a similar vibe as this

― mr. que, covering up the vital parts, lest he embarrass the ladi (M@tt He1ges0n), Wednesday, November 18, 2009 4:47 PM (twelve years ago)

belated thanks for this recommendation btw! i‘ve got it on now and it does have a similar mood, espec “skating in central park”

Modern Jazz Quartet and John Lewis absolutely rule. In some strange way that I won't expand on they remind me more of Kraftwerk than Vince Guaralidi! The two European Concert volume albums are ace.

Never knowingly undersoloed

Still accurate. This, though...is a bit insane.

https://craftrecordings.com/collections/vince-guaraldi/products/vince-guaraldi-trio-a-charlie-brown-christmas-super-deluxe-edition-4-cd-blu-ray

(But I still want it.)

And with the season nigh and with in fact three total reissues this fall on Craft (including Great Pumpkin and Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus), I had occasion for some thoughts

https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-weekly-73870968

best album of all time, perfect wistful melancholy without being morose, as well as having a couple all time uptempo jams. And deep cuts! My Little Drum is amazing.

Played this morning as my wife and myself were opening presents, I vetoed her suggestion of Sufjan Stevens, it's always so sad sounding to me.

Amazing album. No you cannot fuck with it, except for “Linus and Lucy” which is crap. Every time that comes on, my dinner party guests are like, “That was some nice mellow Christmas music we had there, Mr. Snrub. Why did you kill it and put on the fucking Charlie Brown theme song?”

you need better dinner party guests imo

the correct response is to do this dance

https://media.tenor.com/QQPHo0TcWmcAAAAC/charlie-brown-christmas-dance.gif

for real tho

except for “Linus and Lucy” which is crap.

Sorry but no. Iconic for a reason!

That is just silly. If there's a jarring moment, it's the bad kid singing on Hark the Herald Angels Sing, but that has its charms.
'Skating' is the best cut

"Linus and Lucy" haters are defective.

Why yes I got that complete sessions box set I linked above. I regret absolutely nothing.

"Linus and Lucy" makes as much sense on a Xmas playlist as Thurl Ravenscroft reading an unpopular recluse to filth for 5 solid minutes

🤨

Why you're a mean one, Mr. H.

(To be clear, I think “Linus and Lucy” does belong on Xmas playlists)

so you're saying that Mr. Snrub's soul is an appalling dump heap

“Linus and Lucy”is Christmas in my house.

A Charlie Brown Christmasis perhaps not as iconic in the UK compared to the US but it truly is this planet's best Christmas music.

"christmas is coming" goes so hard

it’s a perfect record. I finally bought a shitty overpriced green vinyl reissue because I felt I had to own it, I play it every couple of days every december. the movie is perfect too

Great new piece from Nate Chinen on another Guaraldi landmark, his Charlie Brown Thanksgiving songs, now available properly standalone for the first time:

https://www.wrti.org/arts-desk/2023-11-20/after-50-years-the-hip-soundtrack-for-a-charlie-brown-thanksgiving-is-available-as-a-full-musical-feast