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CD reviews

Oh, Good Grief!

Vince Guaraldi - Oh, Good Grief! Audio CD

A fair review of the Vince Guaraldi "Oh, Good Grief!" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Vince Guaraldi reviews here, or go back to the Vince Guaraldi tabs.

Band: Vince Guaraldi
Title: Oh, Good Grief!
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Linus and Lucy 2: You're in Love, Charlie Brown 3: Peppermint Patty 4: Great Pumpkin Waltz 5: It's Your Dog Charlie Brown 6: Oh, Good Grief! 7: Red Baron 8: Rain, Rain Go Away

Classic
These strips and cartoon specials are universal to kids all over the world. I have loved Peanuts since I could read. Charles Schultz never condecended to children. He used irony in the 50s and 60s, long before it became a pop culture staple. He had bell-clear empathy for kid's struggles and insecurities, and conveyed it with Zen simplicty.

Given Peanuts sophistacation, what better than to hip kids to jazz using the cartoon. Most animated shorts then were goofball comedy, using kiddie sacerine, or light program music. But in one in a fifty year history of masterstrokes, Schultz hired Vince Gauraldi. Gauraldi was a bona-fide jazz musician, whose music was like Dave Brubeck's, but without obtuse time signuatures.

Listening to the chords move, you hear a mildly neurodic tension, which reassuringly resolves at each phrase's end. Charlie is going to get bounced around by Lucy, Lucy by Linus, Peperment by Charile, and Snoopy by Woodstock. But all will land on their feet just fine--so they can get bounced around tomorrow.

The music knows this. We rest, happily assured.

Like the strip and shows, these songs are not diluted for kids. But they are congenial, and stick in the ears; familiar and comforting as friends you have had since you were a baby. Great music when trying to salvage a bad day.

This CD is not the origonal 1965 soundtrack used in a few Peanuts CBS specials. Gauraldi redid the music a few years later, using a calvanet along with the accustic panio. Everyone was going electric, so why not Peanuts. (Come on. You know Charlie Brown was secreatly blasting the Stooges in his room) The origional soundtrack is timeless, but if you like a late 1960s barouqe sound, this is perfect.

Buy either or both, and the music still grips. Good Grief--and Good For Us.
.

A great record
Written in in the 70's, it differs from the previous works by Vince. This is a delightful piece of music. On this album he relies heavily on electronic harpsichord, something new for that time. It doesn't sound like "A Charlie Brown Christmas", because the maestro overdubbed almost each song by a layer of the already mentioned electronic instrument, and the result is somewhat noisy compositions. Most Guaraldi fans didn't like it and gave the album only moderate reviews. I don't agree. While it sure sounds different from the previous stuff, it is great.

Half of the compositions appear on a CD for the first time, the other half are reworked versions of the ones released earlier. These new versions sound really fresh with the help of electronic harpsichord and an invited guitarist.

While the different sound of the album may not appeal to the fans of Guaraldi's earlier work, it is still a great album, which you will like eventually, especially after multiple listens. .

Great Collection
We bought this used and were very happy with the condition of the CD and the delivery time was excellent. This is a great collection of Peanuts songs - I really enjoyed it.

If you don't mind the different versions, you'll like it
I thought I'd edit it and get it on my newer profile. I originally wrote this review on March 25, 2005.

As the last reviewer pointed out, these are different versions of Vince Guaraldi's selections for 5 different Charlie Brown specials (CB Christmas, CB's All Stars, Great Pumpkin, You're In Love CB and He's Your Dog CB). As for the harpsichord, I have mixed feelings about it (keeping in mind that as this album originally came out in 1968, that instrument was popularly used in the 1960's, like in the Yardbirds' "For Your Love" and the Doors' "Love Me 2 Times"). It sounds pretty on "You're In Love, Charlie Brown" (btw, there is a version in the actual special of the same name that does feature the harpsichord) and "Peppermint Patty," but sounds annoying on this version of "Linus and Lucy" and "Red Baron. " It sounds cool, though, on "Oh Good Grief" and sounds ok on It's Your Dog, CB. " 2 of the songs (my personal favorites in this CD) "Rain Rain Go Away" and "The Great Pumpkin Waltz" don't feature it at all. "GP Watlz" and "Red Baron" 1st appeared in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (another rendition of GP Waltz can be heard in You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown). The guitarist Eddie Duran proves to be a talented guitarist here, adding more of a bluesy feel to some of the songs. "Rain Rain Go Away" was featured in CB's All Stars (later featured in It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown). "In Love. . . " and "Peppermint Patty" were introduced in You're In Love, Charlie Brown. "It's Your Dog" was featured in He's Your Dog, CB (and sounds like a Linus and Lucy rewrite). Of course, "Linus and Lucy" is featued in most of the early specials (if you don't recognize the title, you'll recognize the music). "Oh Good Grief" was originally written for a documentary entitled A Boy Named CB (no relation to the movie of the same name). My main complaint is that the album clocks in at less than 30 minutes. You'd think there would be some bonus tracks on this. Oh well, this is the only place to get most of these tracks. If you don't mind different versions from some of the famous CB specials we enjoyed, by all means, get it. Other Vince Guaraldi albums recommended include A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Oh, Good Grief! is kind of a gentle signal or warning

Vince was a working jazz musician and The Peanuts soundtracks were just one aspect of his music output. Oh, Good Grief! may have been chosen as a title to gentlely with humor signal that these are not the famous TV soundtrack of these well know pieces of music and how some people will respond to them. Jazz artist are famous for revisiting and revising material as inspiration leads them. He, like The Grateful Dead who he occasionally sat in with, try to bring something new to each performance.
Others have already described the performanes better than I could.

You shouldn't try to pidgeon hole him to the style that he brought to the original soundtracks like people did to The Royal Guardsmen after their three Peasnut themed novelty hits starting with "Snoopy vs The Red Baron".

The grand irony to all this that CBS, when they received "A Charlie Brown Christmas", was extremely distressed that a jazz artist scored the soundtrack because they thought that many people would be put off a genre of music that they didn't considered mainstream enough and would turn it off. Now these pieces of music are regarded as standards that even the creator cannot re-interpret without criticism.

An article that appearred a couple of years ago in the Newark Star Ledger basically said that CBS only aired the show because they already paid for it and believed that no one would ever want to see it again. They, of course, re-evaluated the situation after it won an Emmy.

This, for me, is an interesting and refreshing album, with a few missteps, that is a welcomed change from the famous soundtrack recordings. That shouldn't mean that I don't still enjoy the soundtrack recordings as well.

If you are inflexible to hearing this music performed in a matter other than how they appear in the TV specials, avoid this disc, it holds nothing for you but disappointment.

You can see a complete list of all Vince Guaraldi discography, or go back to the Vince Guaraldi tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.