Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today!  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Vince Guaraldi, Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown: Original Soundtrack Recording (Lee Mendelson Productions) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The Lee Mendelson family continues its series of debut releases from the Peanuts animation library with this premiere audio release of the score for 1975's Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown.  The 50th anniversary release includes Vince Guaraldi's complete 22-cue score plus eight never-before-heard bonus tracks.  Guaraldi was joined on the sessions by Seward McCain on electric bass and Vince Lateano on drums for such treats as "Heartburn Blues" and an updated version of "Linus and Lucy."  The album has been sourced from the original 2" session tapes as transferred to a 192kHz/24bit master, mixed by Terry Carleton, restored and mastered by Vinson Hudson, and produced by Sean Mendelson and Jason Mendelson. The CD includes an 8-page insert, and the vinyl LP includes a 4-page insert. Both formats offer track-by-track notes by Sean Mendelson and Jason Mendelson as well as Guaraldi historian Derrick Bang.  Note that the LP boasts additional photos and memorabilia images.​

Various Artists, NOW 12" '80s: 1984 Part One (NOW Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The ongoing series of U.K. NOW releases continues today with this 4CD set of extended mixes including key tracks from Queen ("I Want to Break Free"), Tina Turner ("What's Love Got to Do with It"), Ray Parker, Jr. ("Ghostbusters"), Chaka Khan ("I Feel for You"), Duran Duran ("The Wild Boys"), and Band Aid ("Do They Know It's Christmas," of course).

Gracie Abrams, The Secret of Life: Deluxe Edition (Interscope) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The singer-songwriter's 2024 studio album - a worldwide chart-topper and No. 2 album in the U.S. which features Taylor Swift on "Us" - returns in an expanded edition with four additional tracks including the top 10 single "That's So True."  Also available on vinyl and digitally/streaming.

Ari Axelrod, A Place for Us: A Celebration of Jewish Broadway (PS Classics) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The Bistro Award- and Julie Wilson Award-winning cabaret star Ari Axelrod brings his celebrated A Place for Us show to the studio with this freshly reconceived album featuring a 13-piece orchestra arranged and conducted by Mike Stapleton (with additional arrangements by Larry Yurman) and produced by Tommy Krasker and Bart Migal.  A Place for Us presents a vivid array of classic theatre songs written by (mostly!) by Jewish Americans, among them Stephen Sondheim ("Everybody Say Don't" from Anyone Can Whistle), Leonard Bernstein ("Cool" and "Somewhere," both with Sondheim, from West Side Story), Stephen Schwartz ("Corner of the Sky" from Pippin), the Gershwins ("It Ain't Necessarily So" from Porgy and Bess), and current talents such as Jason Robert Brown ("Hope") and Adam Guettel ("Migratory V," from Myths and Hymns).  A musical rumination on Jewish identity, culture, and community, A Place for Us is available on CD and digitally/streaming.