Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Grab your deerstalkers!

The 75th anniversary celebration of Guaraldi's professional career continues with the debut soundtrack release of It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown: the 11th Peanuts TV special, which debuted February 1, 1974.

The show was written by Charles Schulz, produced by Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson, and directed by Phil Roman. 

Guaraldi is joined by Tom Harrell, trumpet; Seward McCain, bass; and Mike Clark and Eliot Zigmund, drums. The combo took its time laying down this score, with six sessions at San Francisco's Wally Heider Studios: December 14 and 16-19, 1973; and January 23, 1974.

The 15 soundtrack cues are accompanied by four bonus tracks from the Mystery recording session, along with two jazz standards recorded around the same time, featuring Ron McClure on bass.

The album was mixed by Terry Carleton at Bones, and Knives Studio, and restored and mastered by Vinson Hudson. Sean and Jason Mendelson produced the album, which includes a four-page insert with art from the special, extensive liner notes by Sean and Jason Mendelson, and an historical essay by my own self.

The special "clear magnifying glass" biovinyl Record Store Day LP will debut on August 21, at your local brick-and-mortar music shop. It will be packaged with a magnifying glass, designed to help solve some of this release's "Easter egg" mysteries. 

CD, digital and additional vinyl information will be released at a later date.

The album can be pre-ordered at this Record Store Day page. (Bear in mind that not all stores get listed; if you don't see your local favorite, give 'em a call.)

TRACK LIST

1. Little Birdie
2. Mystery Theme/Mystery Theme [Reprise]
3. It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown
4. Sassy Sally/It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown [Reprise]
5. Mystery Theme [2nd Reprise]
6. Cops And Robbers
7. It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown [2nd Reprise]
8. Mystery Theme [3rd Reprise]
9. It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown [3rd Reprise]
10. Sally's Blues
11. Mystery Interlude #1
12. Joe Cool
13. It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown [4th Reprise]
14. Mystery Theme [4th Reprise]
15. Mystery Theme [5th Reprise]

BONUS TRACKS
16. It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown [2nd Reprise - Alternative Take]
17. Snoopy Holmes
18. Mystery Theme [Viberslap Mix/Studio Banter]
19. Little Birdie [Alternate Vince Whistle]
20. Cops And Robbers [Rhythm Section Mix]
21. Joe Cool [Just Vince Mix]
22. Autumn Leaves [Take 1]
23. Billie's Bounce [Take 2]

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But wait, there's more!

Target has just announced an exclusive, "tiny vinyl" edition of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which will debut July 10.

Side A features "The Great Pumpkin Waltz," and "Graveyard Theme" is on side B.

Time to once again break out your tiny record players!

2 comments:

PeanutsGuy said...

Excited for this one! Hopefully it eventually gets a wider CD/Digital release as well as plain vinyl.

I’m guessing the “Autumn Leaves” and “Billie’s Bounce” tracks come from the October 1973 recording session previously released on the North Beach album though I’m not sure how LMFP came to acquire them.

Derrick Bang said...

This is a reasonable assumption, although potential problems arise. The "North Beach" album does indeed include a cover of "Autumn Leaves" ... but not "Billie's Bounce." Guaraldi recorded the former many, many times, so the version on "North Beach" doesn't necessarily spring from the Wally Heider session you cited ... particularly since that album does not identify any sidemen. I do agree, however, that the bonus track versions of both those songs on "It's a Mystery" almost certainly come from the Wally Heider recording session on October 8, 1973. But since we don't know the origin of the version of "Autumn Leaves" on "North Beach," it's possible LMFP didn't need to worry about permissions. We'll know more once "It's a Mystery" is released, and we can closely compare the two tracks.