A Charlie Brown Christmas (album)

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A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas cover
Studio album by Vince Guaraldi Trio
Released 1965
Recorded 1965
Genre Christmas music
West Coast jazz
Cool jazz
Contemporary jazz
Mainstream jazz
Length 39:25 (original album)
34:09 (1997 reissue)
Label Fantasy Records
Professional reviews

A Charlie Brown Christmas is an album by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, released in 1965 as the soundtrack to the CBS Christmas television special of the same name. It is among the most popular holiday music albums of all time. There was also a book-and-record set featuring music, dialogue and stills from the Christmas special released in 1977 on a 45 RPM vinyl record by CBS Records.

Fantasy Records reissued the album on CD in 1988; this edition is identical to the original 1965 LP release and can still be purchased in stores and online. In 1997 Fantasy issued a Starbucks Exclusive edition of the album, sold only through Starbucks retail. This version had new liner notes and omitted the track "Greensleeves". A somewhat controversial remastered version (see below) of the original album was released by Concord Records in conjunction with Fantasy on October 10, 2006. The new edition includes four previously unreleased bonus tracks — all are alternate versions of songs in the original track listing — and features Digipak packaging, new liner notes by “famed music critic/historian Joel Selvin”, and the original cover art.1

Contents

Track listing

Side one

  1. "O Tannenbaum" – 5:08
  2. "What Child Is This?" – 2:25
  3. "My Little Drum" – 3:12
  4. "Linus and Lucy" – 3:06
  5. "Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)" – 6:05

Side two

  1. "Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal Version)" – 2:47
  2. "Skating" – 2:27
  3. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" – 1:55
  4. "Christmas Is Coming" – 3:25
  5. "Für Elise" – 1:06
  6. "The Christmas Song" – 3:17
  7. "Greensleeves" – 5:26 (added with 1988 release. Not included on 1997 Starbucks release or 2006 Analogue Productions 2 LP)

2006 remastered version bonus tracks

  1. "Christmas Is Coming" (Alternate Take 1)
  2. "The Christmas Song" (Alternate Take 3)
  3. "Greensleeves" (Alternate Take 6)
  4. "Christmas Time Is Here" (Alternate Vocal Take)

Controversy over 2006 remaster

Cover art for the remastered edition restored the original 1965 design

Concord Music Group, the parent company of both Concord Records and Fantasy Records, acknowledged negative criticism in a post on its website entitled "Oh, Good Grief! A Charlie Brown Christmas Conundrum." The article explains what listeners were hearing, and notes that mistakes had indeed been made in the remastered version.

MISTAKES (the master was corrected for subsequent pressings)

  • Track 4: "Linus and Lucy" - the original LP version was an edit of two different takes. In the remix for the new CD, one of the takes was used in its entirety.
  • Track 9: "Christmas Is Coming" -- the original LP version and the version on the new CD are entirely different takes.

EXPLANATIONS

  • Track 1: "O Tannenbaum" - the original LP version had the introduction to the song cut off; the new CD has the intro reinstated.
  • Track 5: "Christmas Time Is Here (instrumental)" - the original LP version fades out at the end of the song almost losing the last chord; the new CD intentionally retains the last chord.
  • Track 7: "Skating" - the original LP version fades during the bass solo at the very end; the new CD intentionally allows the song run to its conclusion adding about ten seconds to the track.
  • Regarding the perceived use of noise reduction: The new CD is remixed from the original three-track so the reason the old familiar hiss is not heard is NOT due to the use of noise reduction, but rather that the new mix is much quieter than the two-track stereo master. The only place noise reduction was utilized was on Track 10, "Für Elise", as there is no three-track for that master -- it was originally recorded direct to two-track.

A free replacement disc (correcting the 2 errors) was offered to those who desired one, with a stated offer expiration of March 1, 2007. Also, the post promises that all new copies produced from that point forward would be of the correct version of the remastered CD.2

Credits

References

  1. ^ "Concord Music Group - A Charlie Brown Christmas [Remastered with Bonus Tracks]". Concord Music Group. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
  2. ^ shurbuilders. ""CONCORD EXPLAINS": Amazon.com Customer Review - A Charlie Brown Christmas". Amazon.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.


Wikipedia content modification information:

  • This page was last modified on 26 December 2008, at 03:53.

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