Customer Reviews

Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One thing I was worried about before I bought this was if they had entire songs or just samples. They have entire songs. I don't understand song 6. "Good Grief" doesn't fit, it is ONLY vocal. Other than that, the songs are good, even if you don't know where they're from. Individual info:
Surfin' Snoopy is on "A Charlie Brown Christmas" when Snoopy decorates his house.
Heartburn Waltz is on "Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown" as the main theme, it is played during the class party.

Charlie Brown Theme is on many shows, played many ways.
Charlie's Blues is on "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" when Lucy tricks C.B. into kicking the football.
Great Pumpkin Waltz is on "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" as the main theme and is played in the pumpkin patch.
Thanksgiving Theme is on "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" as the main theme and is when Snoopy and Woodstock eat.
Linus and Lucy is the main theme for all.
Christmas Time is Here is on "A Charlie Brown Christmas" both CD and show.

(...), writing a review of this CD (...) is mistaken about one fact: "Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits" DOES contain more than just one tune from "A Charlie Brown Christmas." In fact, in addition to "Linus and Lucy" being here, much to my surprise and delight it contains two of the numbers included on the television special but never incorporated on that program's soundtrack album--to wit, "Surfin' Snoopy," the uptempo ditty that accompanied Snoopy's decoration of his dog house with a hilariously garish, razzle-dazzle lighting display; and the "Charlie Brown Theme," that played while poor Charlie the director tried to rally his players to get with the Christmas spirit in performing their parts in the annual Christmas show. The presence of these two long-lost tracks from the Christmas special (this CD's 1998 release marked their debut on any recorded music format--record, tape or CD) fills a longstanding void and means that ALL of Vince Guaraldi's sparkling jazz score from the Christmas special is now finally available: most of it on the original soundtrack of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," and the remainder here on "Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits". Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown.

For years Charlie Brown was a holiday staple for our family. Between Snoopy soundtracks and Mister Rogers' walking-through-the-neighborhood music, I grew up with a real fondness for jazz.

Almost all of these cuts will be instantly recognizable, and those that aren't right off will eventually come to mind. The music will conjure up fond rememberances of childhood and holidays, which is a powerful combination. And besides, it's just plain fun to listen to.

Besides the classic "Linus & Lucy", the Christmas theme "Christmas Time is Here" followed by it's intrumental counterpart, and the hard to find "Thanksgiving Theme" make this CD a bargain.

For a fan of the Peanuts gang, this CD is anything but wishy-washy.

I think many of the reviewers of this release have their minds clouded by nostalgia and sentiment. Although Guaraldi's music is pleasant enough, the best tracks on this compilation have already been previously released, AND they're in good quality stereo. The previously unreleased tracks are in mono and are mere fragments: "Surfin' Snoopy" is barely one minute in length, "Joe Cool" two minutes. The tracks have also been assembled from disparate sources so there's no flow to the album, either, and a playing time of barely 37 minutes doesn't represent great value for money. In short, this album is not one you'll be playing out a lot.

I am writing this to sort of cancel-out an unfavorable review (listed on this page) that almost made me choose a different cd. If you want a complete collection of Guaraldi's Charlie Brown music, this is it. Otherwise, you can buy three other cd's, which will cost three times as much. The reviewer who did not like this cd all that much complained that some of these songs had been released before (5 out of 14), but, hey, that's true for all "Best of ..."-type cds. I can listen to "Linus and Lucy" for a solid hour without tiring of it!

This CD was excellent! What you can't necessarily tell from the song titles is that it includes almost all the music from each holiday special. For example the Heartburn Waltz is the title song from Be My Valentine Charlie Brown and there is music from the Easter special as well. An excellent choice for all of us that grew up watching those specials. Not to mention it's a great classic jazz CD as well.

Vince guaraldi often gets a bad wrap from jazz critics, claiming that his music is soft and not deep enough to be considered great. I couldnt disagree with them more, after thelonius Monk he is the easiest jazz pianist to recognize upon listening to. His playing sings with a sense of joy unlike anybody else. And his best music was written for the peanuts cartoons.
However, this is not the peanuts disc to get. Most of the songs while charming and fun are short and underdevolped, surfin snoopy for example is energetic and catchy, but it sounds like it is just one short riff being played over and over again for 1:30. the songs that will best bring back the Holiday memories can all be found on " A Charlie Brown Christmas". I would also recomend that you buy " A Boy named charlie Brown " if you want even more peanuts music.

Please consider the following before buying all of the tracks or the CD.

If you already own the Vince Guaraldi CDs 'A Boy Named Charlie Brown' and 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', you should be warned of the overlap between those two CDs and this one: Charlie Brown Theme, Linus and Lucy, Schroeder (from the first) -- and Christmastime is Here (vocal), Christmastime is Here (instrumental) from the second. 'Track Meet' is essentially an alternate take of 'Christmas is Coming' from the second.

As much as I like Vince Guaraldi's music, most of the other tracks - Joe Cool (Not the song you know [vocal or instrumental], and not that memorable), Track Meet, Camptown Races, Oh Good Grief (which has nothing to do with that song, but is an odd 'a cappella' vocal set to the tune of 'Schroeder') - are for completists only.

I would recommend you just get both above CDs and consider just these tracks:

Surfin' Snoopy (which you may recall from the special 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', but is not on the CD)
Heartburn Waltz (from the special 'Be My Valentine Charlie Brown')
Charlie's Blues (from the special 'A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving')
Great Pumpkin Waltz (from the special 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown')
Thanksgiving Theme (from the special 'A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving')

If you're a completists, by all means get this CD, but I think your money would be FAR better spent on:

Vince Guaraldi and the Lost Cues From the Charlie Brown TV Specials - Volume 1
Vince Guaraldi and the Lost Cues From the Charlie Brown TV Specials - Volume 2

These two CDs are what this CD should have been. It's far more memorable and focuses more on the later funkier and electric piano songs Vince Guaraldi did for the specials. I just wish there was a volume that focused on the earlier cues Vince did (like for 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown').

If you love Vince Guaraldi's music for the Peanuts shows as much as I do, you'll probably enjoy listening to "Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits." But as some reviewers here point out, this is certainly not the CD to start with if you're new to this music. I'm making my own compilation of Guaraldi's Peanuts music, so this CD is valuable to me for providing some tracks I didn't have, especially since there is not a lot more original Peanuts music on the market other than A Boy Named Charlie Brown: The Original Sound Track Recording Of The CBS Television Special and A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Original Sound Track Recording Of The CBS Television Special. However, start with those two soundtracks if you don't already have them. Also, the 1989 CD Happy Anniversary, Charlie Brown! on the GRP label, which is music mostly by Guaraldi, but re-recorded years later by other artists, is also worth considering. CHARLIE BROWN'S HOLIDAY HITS is good for completing your collection, but 5 of the tracks on it are from those earlier soundtrack CDs, and of the 9 new tracks here, 7 are in mono, some are quite distorted too, and overall the music is not as good. Still, I'd say this is an enjoyable CD, and helps to complete your collection if you've already got A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN and A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS.

Like the life of Vince Guaraldi this album contains some beautiful music but is over all too soon. Running time is a hair over thirty seven minutes and only three of the tracks are longer than three minutes, so you are not exactly buying music in bulk here. For Guaraldi fans or those looking to pick up just one Peanuts album then this certainly earns a recommendation, but whilst the music and playing rate five stars the compilation loses marks for including the embarrassingly awful "Oh, Good Grief" and the only slightly better vocal version of "Christmas Time Is Here." Luckily these tunes are repeated in instrumental versions; and these are vastly superior and quite charming. So, a dozen classic slices of Guaraldi jazz, some familiar, others less so. Schroeder couldn't have played better himself.