A Charlie Brown Christmas

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Amazon.com

The first time you listen to this disc you will undoubtedly be transported directly back to your childhood. Charles Schulzs Peanuts characters will go toe-tapping and funky-dancing through your minds eye. Play it a few more times, though (ignoring the dialogue snippets, if you can), and you will begin to truly revel in Guaraldis wonderful, humorous, deep piano playing. Youll hear why hes such an influence on new age ivory tickler George Winston, but youll also realize that Winstons holiday music never quite sparkles with the underlying passion, and humor, that twinkles in these grooves. Buy it for the nostalgia--keep it because it will remain one of the most enchanting albums in your holiday collection. --Michael Ruby
Rate Points :4.0
Binding :Audio CD
Label :Fantasy
Manufacturer :Fantasy
MPN :30066
ProductGroup :Music
Studio :Fantasy
Publisher :Fantasy
UPC :888072300668
EAN :0888072300668
Price :$14.98USD
Lowest Price :$8.19USD
Customer ReviewsLindas review
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :0
This is a CD I have always wanted and desired the soundtrack from day one as a young child. I totally love it and every track on it. Glad to have the original CD as part of my collection. I am very satisfied and pleased with this purchase. Love it and it is definitely a 5 star purchase and a Keeper...great CD. Great sound.

Peanut Christmas
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :0
Normally things that trigger ones childhood are not a good thing....but this CD is an exception! This is the best Christmas CD I have ever bought! Every year I treat myself to a new Christmas CD...and this year I finally picked up the Peanuts Christmas CD....I had wanted it for many years...but I just hadnt gotten around to it. It is really the best! It takes you back to your childhood, and watching all the old Peanut holiday shows just like it was yesterday. It makes wonderful background music for gatherings and parties, or just great ipod music....Im sooo happy I bought it!

Fantasy/Concord Rights An Epic Wrong!
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :4
For all those wondering if, as promised, Fantasy/Concord fixed the major mistakes they made with initial pressings of the 2006 "A Charlie Brown Christmas" remaster, the answer is a resounding "YES"!

After much comparing and contrasting of the waveforms from three editions of the album (the original 1988 reissue, the original 2006 remaster, and the updated 2006 remaster) I can, without a doubt, tell you that the two songs in question ("Linus And Lucy" and "Christmas Is Coming") on the updated 2006 remaster match the original 1988 reissue note for note.

Purists may scoff, but if youve been putting off purchasing the 2006 remaster of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," due to what you may have heard about the epic wrongs committed by Fantasy/Concord on the initial pressings of the album, dont wait any longer! Buy it for the nostalgia factor, listen to it because its the edition youve always wanted (in the too cool digipak!), and keep it because of the first rate sound quality. Honestly, this album has never sounded so full and rich!

And even if you lovingly own the 1988 CD reissue (like I do), you may surprise yourself by how often you reach for the 2006 edition instead. There IS room for two "A Charlie Brown Christmas" albums in your life, trust me!

An unfortunate remaster of a classic Christmas album
Rating Point :2 Helpful Point :0
My wife knows that the Christmas season has not officially begun for me until I start playing this album. Guaraldis unique musical whimsy is so perfectly captured on this recording that I cant imagine Christmas without it. Ive also been a composer, arranger and producer for 15 years. From the perspective as a fan of this music and also as a producer, I think this remaster is inappropriate and unfortunate for many of the reasons already stated. Any time you take an iconic recording thats been around for 40 years and try to do the original recording engineer one better, there better be either a specific problem with the original master youre trying to address or youd better be an absolutely brilliant and careful producer.

The original recording of this soundtrack was, despite some comments to the contrary, excellent. For the technology available (it likely was recorded to 4 tracks), the mix is great. Furthermore, because it IS 40 years old, its got that great "vintage" sound to it that isnt necessarily a bad thing at all. (Not every record should sound like it was recorded today!) There isnt a lot of tape hiss. The dynamics are full and the sound is warm. Whats not to love?

I guess what Im trying to say is that, while colored by the technology of the day, nothing musical was lost in the original mastering of this recording. And I think that original "sound" is part of its enduring charm.

Now take the new remaster. It is way to compressed -- the dynamics of the original performance are lost. Some unnecessary noise reduction has clearly been applied, and while there is now NO tape his whatsoever, some of the fidelity is gone with it, too. Finally, the sound stage (the perceived "spread" of the music over the stereo space) is not only less interesting, but its wildly different from the original master.

There are some albums in my collection that have benefited greatly from a careful remaster. Sometimes, the person who did the job the first time around clearly didnt know exactly what they were doing or didnt have the right equipment, and notes that had never been heard are discovered by a new producer years later. Sadly, there is no such studio magic occurring on this remaster. It just feels like a ploy to get more people to buy this album, or to get them to buy it again. But, there are extra or recut tracks, you say! Well, again, if you have reason to respect the original producer (which I think we do in this case), then I think we can assume that we are hearing the original master as he or she intended us to hear it. Remember that ANY time a band goes into a studio, stuff gets recorded that youll never hear. And what you dont hear is usually agreed upon by the producer and the musicians. So to put stuff back onto the record without being able to talk to the artist (Guaraldi is dead) is pretty gutsy and presumptuous, in my opinion. Rest assured -- theres no real reason to buy a remaster of this album. The original master will not only sound more familiar to you, but its musically superior. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Time is Here!
Rating Point :4 Helpful Point :0
Most people enjoy a wistful little look back at their childhood Christmas mornings every once in a while. Vince Guaraldi does the trick nicely. His beguiling, smart structures opened up the wide wide world of jazz to many people in 1965 when he scored the Peanuts Christmas special. He also managed to do it with a vision that induced a certain magnetism to both his work and the work of Charles Schultz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip. Listening to Charlie Browns Christmas today, one is immediately transported back to that time in your life when that one night of the year that no matter how hard you tried to will it to...just wouldnt turn into morning quickly enough. After all, Christmas just isnt Christmas without Linus and Lucy.

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