Good Grief! Craft Recordings Marks 70 Years of "Peanuts" with Two New Reissues

Good Grief! Craft Recordings Marks 70 Years of “Peanuts” with Two New Reissues

Peanuts Greatest Hits and Portraits — BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM

On October 2, 1950, cartoonist Charles M. Schulz debuted Peanuts in seven newspapers, introducing the world in that first strip’s four panels to Charlie Brown and his friends Shermy and Patty. Peanuts and its memorable cast of characters went on to inspire television specials, motion pictures, stage musicals, and countless merchandise items as well as numerous albums. This summer, Craft Recordings will celebrate 70 years of Peanuts with two vinyl reissues. On July 24, the label will release a picture disc of 2015’s Peanuts Greatest Hits with Snoopy and Woodstock emblazoned on the vinyl. (A 2016 picture disc release had Charlie Brown and Lucy’s faces instead, and a standard black vinyl edition is still available, too.) The next month, on August 21, Craft will debut the 2010 collection Peanuts Portraits: The Classic Character Themes on vinyl. Both releases feature the timeless and indelible music of late composer-pianist Vince Guaraldi.

Limited to 2,500 individually numbered units, the Peanuts Greatest Hits picture disc culls its 12 tracks from Peanuts‘ perennial television specials including Guaraldi’s “Linus and Lucy,” “Great Pumpkin Waltz,” and “Christmas Time Is Here,” as well as relatively lesser-known compositions like the Woodstock ode “Little Birdie” featuring Guaraldi on sung vocals, as well. The compilation was originally issued on CD in 2015.

Over its eleven tracks, Peanuts Portraits portrays each character from the strip in music. Beginning with “Linus and Lucy,” it then presents such musical portraits as “Sally’s Blues,” “Peppermint Patty,” “Frieda (With Naturally Curly Hair),” “Schroeder” (in an alternate take),” and “Joe Cool,” an ode to Snoopy’s hip alter ego. In addition to the Guaraldi compositions – the above five plus four more – the set features two tracks recorded in the 1990s by pianist George Winston: his take on “Linus and Lucy” plus another portrait of a Snoopy persona, “The Masked Marvel.” A total of eight tracks make their vinyl debuts here. Peanuts Portraits will be released to general retail in a black vinyl edition, while Vinyl Me Please will offer an exclusive version of the album pressed on 180-gram red vinyl.

The catchy, jazz-inflected songs on Peanuts Greatest Hits and Peanuts Portraits instantly conjure up Schulz’s cherished characters, whether from his original strip (which continues to run today in reprints; he drew the last original strip in 2000, the year of his death) or the beloved television specials from producer Lee Mendelson, director Bill Melendez, and their collaborators. Look for Peanuts Greatest Hits on July 24 and Peanuts Portraits on August 21, both from Craft Recordings.

The Vince Guaraldi Trio, Peanuts Greatest Hits (Fantasy FAN 34798, 2015 – reissued Craft Recordings, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Side A

Linus And Lucy
Charlie Brown Theme
Baseball Theme
Oh, Good Grief
Happiness Is
Little Birdie

Side B:

Great Pumpkin Waltz
Thanksgiving Theme
Christmas Is Coming
Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)
Skating
Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal)

Vince Guaraldi and George Winston, Peanuts Portraits (Fantasy FAN 32033, 2010 – reissued Craft Recordings, 2020)

Black Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Red Vinyl: Vinyl Me Please

Side A:

Linus And Lucy
Sally’s Blues
Blue Charlie Brown (Version # 2)
Peppermint Patty
Charlie’s Blues (Variation)
Joe Cool

Side B:

Frieda (With The Naturally Curly Hair) (Alternate)
Schroeder (Alternate)
Little Birdie
Masked Marvel (George Winston)
Linus And Lucy (George Winston)

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.