The beloved Peanuts comic strip from Charles Shulz turns 70 this year and to commemorate the milestone anniversary, Craft Recordings has announced the release of two special limited-edition vinyl albums, Peanuts Greatest Hits and Peanuts Portraits. The two albums feature the music of the Vince Guaraldi Trio as well as special features for even the biggest Peanuts fans as they celebrate the anniversary Charlie Brown and his friends.
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The first release, Peanuts Greatest Hits, is a limited-edition picture disk that features the faces of characters Snoopy and Woodstock. Limited to 2500 individually numbered units, Peanuts Greatest Hits will be available beginning July 24. The album features music for all seasons from the animated TV specials, including the iconic “Linus And Lucy” as well as “Great Pumpkin Waltz” and holiday favorite “Christmas Time Is Here.” Side A features Snoopy while Side B features Woodstock — who himself celebrated the 50th anniversary of his official first appearance in Peanuts comics this June. In addition to iconic favorites, the album also features some of Guaraldi’s earliest Peanuts compositions, including “Baseball Theme”, which originally appeared on his 1964 LP Jazz Impressions Of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, which was the soundtrack for an unreleased TV special. The album also includes “Little Birdie” from the 1973 A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. You can pre-order the album here.
The second release is the very first vinyl pressing of Peanuts Portraits, on sale August 21st. This album collects what is described as “the vivid musical cues that Guaraldi wrote for the cast of Peanuts characters”. In addition to nine songs performed by Guaraldi, the album also includes two Peanuts tunes recorded in the ’90s by pianist George Winston, including renditions of “Linus And Lucy” and “Masked Marvel”. Eight of the selections on Peanuts Portraits make their vinyl debut on the album. You can preorder Peanuts Portraits here.
You can check out the track lists for both albums below.
Peanuts Greatest Hits:
Side A
1. Linus And Lucy
2. Charlie Brown Theme
3. Baseball Theme
4. Oh, Good Grief
5. Happiness Is
6. Little Birdie
Side B:
1. Great Pumpkin Waltz
2. Thanksgiving Theme
3. Christmas Is Coming
4. Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)
5. Skating
6. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal)
Peanuts Portraits
Side A:
1. Linus And Lucy
2. Sally’s Blues
3. Blue Charlie Brown (Version #2)
4. Peppermint Patty
5. Charlie’s Blues (variation)
6. Joe Cool
Side B:
1. Frieda (With The Naturally Curly Hair) (alternate)
2. Schroeder (alternate)
3. Little Birdie
4. Masked Marvel (George Winston)
5. Linus And Lucy (George Winston)
Created by Charles M. Schulz, one of the comic world’s most influential cartoonists, and first introduced in 1950, Peanuts became one of the most popular comic strips of all time with Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Woodstock and Pigpen—among the most cherished. The Peanuts gang has become an indelible part of popular culture and remains popular to this day with a new series Snoopy in Space that launched on Apple TV+ on November 1, 2019.
