Miscellaneous / Don't box me in

Vince Guaraldi

A Charlie Brown Christmas Super Deluxe Edition

by Mattia Paneroni

Vince Guaraldi: “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Super Deluxe Edition (4xCd+Blu-ray Craft Recordings, 2022)

 

You know how if you heard Ray Charles do a song, it became a Ray Charles song? That version of ‘O Tannenbaum’ has become a Vince Guaraldi song

(Toby Gleason)

Vincent Anthony Dellaglio, better known as Vince Guaraldi, was an American jazz pianist known for his innovative approach to composition and arrangement but, above all, for scoring the television adaptation of Peanuts, the beloved characters created by Charles M. Schulz. His "Linus And Lucy" and "Christmas Time Is Here" have become genuine standards of contemporary musical culture.

Fifty-seven years after its release, Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack to the Peanuts holiday special "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is back on the new-releases shelf at the best record stores (ok, boomer…) — a timeless classic that has made both adults and children fall in love with jazz.

Craft Recordings is reissuing this masterpiece in several formats: a Super DeLuxe box set with 4xCD + Blu-ray, a 2xLP DeLuxe edition, and a single CD, both containing a new stereo mix by Paul Blakemore plus 12 bonus alternate tracks. For the most demanding collectors, a single-vinyl edition has also been pressed, in different colors depending on the distributor, featuring the original 1965 mix and packaged in a gold sleeve with embossed lettering and artwork.

The Super DeLuxe edition includes, alongside both mixes of the album, fifty previously unreleased outtakes from the five recording sessions. The hardcover book-style packaging contains an in-depth look at the recording sessions written by Derrick Bang, a Peanuts expert, along with the troubled history of this masterpiece, born almost by chance out of an earlier television flop.

At the time of writing, the box set is on sale on Amazon for just under €90.00. Since fifty variations on the themes of the original album could well prove redundant, we'd recommend that anyone without completist urges pick up at least the single CD (€17.84, also on Amazon), which, besides being one of the most beloved and best-selling records in jazz history, makes a great gift to accompany holiday indulgences and beyond.

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12/05/2026

This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Mattia Paneroni, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition

Vince Guaraldi on OndaRock

Go to artist page

Discography

 

Table of contents:

 

CD 1 – A Charlie Brown Christmas (2022 Stereo Mix)

  1. O Tannenbaum
  2. What Child Is This
  3. My Little Drum
  4. Linus And Lucy
  5. Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)
  6. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal)
  7. Skating
  8. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
  9. Christmas Is Coming
  10. Für Elise
  11. The Christmas Song

A Charlie Brown Christmas (Original Stereo Mix)

  1. O Tannenbaum
  2. What Child Is This
  3. My Little Drum
  4. Linus And Lucy
  5. Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)
  6. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal)
  7. Skating
  8. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
  9. Christmas Is Coming
  10. Für Elise
  11. The Christmas Song


Cd 2 – The Recording Sessions

 

  1. Christmas Is Coming (#1, Take 1/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  2. Christmas Is Coming (#1, Take 2/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  3. Christmas Is Coming (#1, Take 3/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  4. Christmas Is Coming (#1, Takes 4-5/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  5. Christmas Is Coming (#1, Take 6/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  6. Christmas Is Coming (#1, Take 7/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  7. Christmas Is Coming (Instrumental) (#2, Takes 1-2/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  8. Christmas Is Coming (Instrumental) (#2, Take 3/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  9. Skating (Unnumbered/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  10. Skating (#3, Takes 1-2/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  11. Skating (#3, Take 3/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  12. Skating (#3, Takes 4-6/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  13. Skating (#3, Take 7/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  14. Linus And Lucy (#4, Take 1/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  15. Christmas Is Coming (#5, Take 1/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  16. Christmas Is Coming (#5, Take 2/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  17. Christmas Is Coming (#5, Take 3/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  18. Christmas Is Coming (#5, Take 4/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  19. Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental) (#6, Take 1/Recorded September 17, 1965)
  20. Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental) (#6, Take 2/Recorded September 17, 1965)

 

Cd 3 - The Recording Sessions

 

  1. Christmas Is Coming (#1, Take 1/Recorded September 21, 1965)
  2. Christmas Is Coming (#1, Take 2/Recorded September 21, 1965)
  3. Christmas Is Coming (#1, Take 3/Recorded September 21, 1965)
  4. Christmas Is Coming (#1, Takes 4-6/Recorded September 21, 1965)
  5. Christmas Is Coming (#1, Take 7/Recorded September 21, 1965)
  6. O Tannenbaum (#2, Take 1/Recorded September 21, 1965)
  7. O Tannenbaum (#2, Take 2/Recorded September 21, 1965)
  8. O Tannenbaum (#2, Takes 3-4/Recorded September 21, 1965)
  9. O Tannenbaum (#2, Take 5/Recorded September 21, 1965)
  10. Jingle Bells (#3, Takes 1-4/Recorded September 21, 1965)
  11. Going Out Of My Head (Unnumbered/Recorded September 22, 1965)
  12. Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental) (#6, Take 3/Recorded September 22, 1965)
  13. Skating (#7, Take 1/Recorded September 21, 1965
  14. Skating (#7, Take 2/Recorded September 21, 1965)
  15. Für Elise (Takes 1-2/Recording Date Unknown)
  16. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal) (#1, Take 1/Recording Date Unknown)
  17. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal) (#1, Takes 2-3/Recording Date Unknown)
  18. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal) (#1, Take 4/Recording Date Unknown)
  19. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal) (#1, Take 5/Recording Date Unknown)
  20. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal) (#1, Rehearsal/Recording Date Unknown)
  21. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal) (#1, Take 6/Recording Date Unknown)
  22. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal) (#1, Take 7/Recording Date Unknown)

 

Cd 4 - The Recording Sessions

 

  1. Greensleeves (Take 1/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  2. Greensleeves (Takes 2-4/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  3. Greensleeves (Take 5/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  4. Greensleeves (Take 6/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  5. Greensleeves (Take 7/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  6. Greensleeves (Take 8/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  7. Greensleeves (Takes 9-10/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  8. Greensleeves (Take 11/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  9. Greensleeves (Take 12/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  10. The Christmas Song (Take 1/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  11. The Christmas Song (Takes 2-3/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  12. The Christmas Song (Takes 4-7/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  13. The Christmas Song (Take 8/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  14. The Christmas Song (Take 9/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  15. The Christmas Song (Take 10/Recorded October 28, 1965)
  16. The Christmas Song (Take 11/Recorded October 28, 1965)

 

Disc 5 – Blu-ray Audio “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (2022 Stereo Mix) (192/24 and 96/24 Hi-Resolution Audio)

 

  1. O Tannenbaum
  2. What Child Is This
  3. My Little Drum
  4. Linus And Lucy
  5. Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)
  6. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal)
  7. Skating
  8. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
  9. Christmas Is Coming
  10. Für Elise
  11. The Christmas Song

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" (2022 Dolby Atmos Mix))

  1. O Tannenbaum
  2. What Child Is This
  3. My Little Drum
  4. Linus And Lucy
  5. Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)
  6. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal)
  7. Skating
  8. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
  9. Christmas Is Coming
  10. Für Elise
  11. The Christmas Song
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