New album release of It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown and Charlie Brown's All Stars soundtracks by Vince Guaraldi

In April 1951, Vince Guaraldi gave his first known professional performance, which means 2026 marks 75 years of Vince Guaraldi's music.

As part of the commemoration, Lee Mendelson Film Productions will release the complete soundtracks from two Peanuts television specials - It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (1976) and Charlie Brown's All Stars (1966) - together on one album, arriving March 20, 2026.   This is the first official release of music from those shows.

There will be two releases of the album - a regular, "wide" release available everywhere on March 20, 2026; and then a special limited-edition Record Store Day exclusive LP version of the album, available only at participating record stores on April 18, 2026. More details on both below.

The full 34-minute soundtrack album includes 24 tracks comprising the scores from both specials: 17 tracks from Arbor Day, including two bonus alternate tracks, and the Charlie Brown’s All Stars score mixed into 7 tracks.  See below for a full track list.

Note that while nearly all of the Arbor Day tracks are in stereo sourced from the original studio session tapes, the original tapes for All Stars haven't been found, so those tracks in mono and are pulled from a 35mm negative soundtrack tape.

You can listen to excerpts from several tracks on Soundcloud, and also stream three full track released as digital singles:

• Young Man's Fancy
• Sprinkle Your Bird
• Rain, Rain, Go Away (Rain, Gentle Rain)

The pairing of the two soundtracks is apt, since both specials are baseball-themed, and the music is also thematically linked. Guaraldi debuted the track "Rain, Rain, Go Away" in Charlie Brown's All Stars, and then used it again a decade later in Arbor Day.  Through the book-ended presentation, the listener can compare and consider the evolution of Guaraldi across the years that he composed and performed for the Peanuts specials.

“Rain, Rain, Go Away (Rain Gentle Rain)” on the Arbor Day soundtrack is also notable as one of the final tracks Guaraldi ever recorded. Laid down on the afternoon of February 6, 1976 at Wally Heider Studio in San Francisco, Guaraldi unexpectedly passed away (far too young) while performing at Butterfield’s in Menlo Park a few hours later that evening.

As usual, physical copies of the album include liner notes with a track-by-track analysis by album producer Sean Mendelson, notes from album producer Jason Mendelson, and a historical essay on both the specials and soundtracks by Derrick Bang, author of Vince Guaraldi at the Piano (and FiveCentsPlease.org co-host).

In addition to the environmentally friendly materials used for both the LP and packaging, for this release Lee Mendelson Film Productions has partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant a tree in a forest of need for every physical copy of the album purchased in 2026 (with a minimum annual support of 12,000 trees planted).

The "regular" wide-release version of the album, to be released March 20, 2026, will be available as a 12" 33 RPM Black BioVinyl LP and also as a special Forest Green-colored 12” 33 RPM BioVinyl LP, both in gatefold jacket packaging; plus also as a regular CD, and digitally.

The regular versions will be available at all retailers; it can be purchased or ordered from your favorite local record retailer, or pre-order links for select retailers and digital providers can be found here.

The Record Store Day (RSD) exclusive version, coming April 18, 2026, is a nifty set of two records in one package - a 10" clear "baseball" 45 RPM LP of It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown and a 12" brown die-cut glove-shaped 45 RPM LP of Charlie Brown's All Stars.

The RSD exclusive will only be available at participating Record Store Day locations, in limited quantities; you'll need to go to a store in person to buy a copy. You can view the details of the release at recordstoreday.com, find a list of participating stores here , or call your local store to see if they're participating and expecting copies.

Note that the RSD exclusive LP set has only 22 tracks; the two bonus alternate tracks that are on the regular album version are not included on the RSD version.

To read more details about all the album and its releases, visit the Lee Mendelson Film Productions website:

• Regular album version: album information and press release
• Record Store Day exclusive ball & glove version: album information and press release

The full track listing for the album:

It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown

1. Rerun’s Lament*
2. Rerun’s Lament (Reprise)*
3. Ships Sail into Arbor
4. Laughter in the Library
5. Flatten Patten (Baseball Theme)
6. Young Man's Fancy
7. Jay Sterling Morton Jazz
8. We're the Visiting Team
9. Seeds for Thought (Joe Cool)
10. Don't Forget the Shovel
11. Sprinkle Your Bird
12. Snoopy at Bat
13. Lucy's Home Run
14. Rain, Rain, Go Away (Rain, Gentle Rain)
15. Happy Arbor Day, Charlie Brown
16. Jay Sterling Morton Jazz (Bonus Alternate Take)**
17. Happy Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (Bonus Alternate Take)**

Charlie Brown’s All Stars!

18. Charlie's Run*
19. Charlie Brown's All Stars!*
20. Baseball Theme (Medley)*
21. Oh, Good Grief!*
22. Surfin' Snoopy (Air Music)*
23. Pebble Beach*
24. Rain, Rain, Go Away*

* Tracks pulled from a 35mm negative soundtrack tape (all the rest from the original 2” 16 track session tapes)
** Bonus material not in the special; included on the regular version of the album, but not on the RSD LP version.

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And here's several recent videos from Lee Mendelson Productions that Peanuts and Guaraldi fans can enjoy right now to start celebrating 75 years of Vince!

• A very rare, not seen for 60 years television broadcast of Vince Guaraldi performing "Linus & Lucy" from 1964
• A video montage of various social media artists performing covers of Vince Guaraldi songs, compiled by Sean Mendelson. Lots of great and fun interpretations.
• A playlist of Vince Guaraldi Peanuts tracks, with occasional commentary by album producer Sean Mendelson, originally created for a Record Store Day listening party in October 2025, and now avaialble on YouTube. It's a nice selection of tracks pulled from the albums they've released so far.

A Charlie Brown Celebration now on DVD + movie double-feature Blu-ray coming November 1

On October 4, Warner Home Video released a DVD titled Charlie Brown's All Stars 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition.  It turns out the titular baseball-themed 1966 special is not the interesting part of this release (since it has been released on DVD before; see the previous blog post).

The real reason for Peanuts fans to pick up this disc - even if you have Charlie Brown's All Stars on DVD already - is that the "bonus episode" included on the disc is the 1982 special A Charlie Brown Celebration, which has never been released on DVD in the US before.

This 48-minute show consists of skits based on storylines from the Peanuts comic strip (similar to "The Charlie Brown & Snoopy Show" episodes). The special is introduced by Charles Schulz himself, and some of the skits are: Peppermint Patty accidentally enrolls in dog-training classes; Charlie Brown goes to the hospital, and Lucy promises not to pull away the football if he gets better; and while on a field trip, Linus meets a new paramour "Truffles," gets trapped on top of a barn and must be rescued by helicopter (aka Snoopy).

Unfortunately, A Charlie Brown Celebration has not been restored or remastered for this release, looking particularly rough at the beginning, and suffers from scratches, dust spots, and occasional washed out colors throughout.  (Which is ironic considering how the press release touts that All Stars has been given "completely remastered in beautiful high definition.")  It's probably still better than the special not being released on DVD at all, but it's disappointing that Warner made no effort to clean A Charlie Brown Celebration up.  It may be the poorest quality I've seen on a Peanuts DVD release.

The Charlie Brown All Stars 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition DVD featuring A Charlie Brown Celebration is out now, and and has a suggested retail price of $19.98.

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In other home video news, CBS/Paramount has announced they will be releasing the A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home Blu-ray discs in a double-feature set on November 1.  The set contains both films on two discs in one case, and at $29.99 list price, is significantly cheaper than buying the two films separately (which have a list price of $24.99 each).

Releasing a cheaper double-feature set less than two months after the first releases is rather insulting to those of us who supported CBS/Paramount by buying the films in September.  If you haven't picked up the films yet, definitely wait for the double-feature set.

A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home Blu-rays coming September 6, 2016 & other DVD news

Want to enjoy "I Before E Except After C" and "Fundamental-Friend-Dependability" in high definition? Soon you'll be able to, because the first two Peanuts theatrical films, A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home, will both be released by Paramount on Blu-ray disc on September 6, 2016.

A double-feature set, with both films on two discs in one case, will be released on November 1.  This release is much cheaper than buying the two films separately.

Unlike the DVD releases, on the Blu-rays the films are presented in the 4:3 (1.33:1) aspect ratio. This is how the movies were originally animated; the widescreen aspect ratio used on the DVDs cut off the top and bottom of the picture, and resulted in a very cramped look. Audio options on each disc are 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo mixes (in DTS MA). No bonus features are included. The list price for each disc separately is $24.99; the double feature disc lists for just $29.99.

Even though the back covers of the discs say that the "music has been changed for home video," there is no evidence of any music changes - probably this was just boilerplate text that someone forgot to remove.

Also worth noting is that the A Boy Named Charlie Brown Blu-ray includes the full 86-minute version of the film (as was the case with the DVD). A shortened 79-minute version had been released on VHS, Laserdisc, and was used for TV broadcasts. It's good to know that when CBS went back to master the film in high definition and 4:3, they also used the unedited version of the movie.

Both films were released on Blu-ray disc in Australia last year; the Australian A Boy Named Charlie Brown was incorrectly stretched out and distorted. Fortunately this is not the case with the US release.

And no, there's no word on when or if the other two classic animated Peanuts movies will be released on Blu-ray - they were only recently finally released on DVD! - but we'll keep our fingers crossed, and in the meantime, we'll be able to enjoy seeing every little detail of the first two.

(Updated September 3, 2016 with corrected info about the aspect ratios used on the Blu-rays.)

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Meanwhile, Warner Home Video has also announced a "new" Peanuts DVD - the so-called Charlie Brown's All Stars 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. However, the baseball-themed 1966 special - the Peanuts gang's second television outing - is not the interesting part of this relese, as it has already been released on DVD in the US before, as part of Warner's Peanuts 1960's Collection box set (and even before than, on Paramount's now out of print Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown disc).  This is Warner's first release of Charlie Brown's All Stars on a stand-alone disc.

The real reason for Peanuts fans to pick up this disc is that the "bonus episode" is the 1982 special A Charlie Brown Celebration, a 45-minute show consisting of skits based on storylines from the Peanuts comic strip (similar to "The Charlie Brown & Snoopy Show" episodes). This is the first US DVD release of this show. The special is introduced by Charles Schulz himself, and some of the skits are: Peppermint Patty accidentally enrolls in dog-training classes; Charlie Brown goes to the hospital, and Lucy promises not to pull away the football if he gets better; and while on a field trip, Linus meets a new paramour "Truffles," gets trapped on top of a barn and must be rescued by helicopter (aka Snoopy).  Unfortunately, this special has not been remastered or restored for the DVD release, and looks fairly poor.

The disc does not contain any other bonus material.

The Charlie Brown All Stars 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition DVD will be released on October 4, 2016, and will have a suggested retail price of $19.98 .

If you're just interested in Charlie Brown's All Stars, you would probably be better off getting the similarly priced Peanuts 1960's Collection box set instead, which also includes several other fine 1960's Peanuts specials; however, if you want to own all the Peanuts specials on DVD, you'll want to pick this one up in order to get the new-to-DVD A Charlie Brown Celebration. 

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown & Charlie Brown's All-Stars To Air Sunday, April 20, 2014 on ABC

The Easter Beagle will be making a timely visit to television screens on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014. ABC will be broadcasting the traditional springtime special It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown together with the baseball-themed special Charlie Brown's All-Stars from 7-8 PM (Eastern/Pacific time).

In 1974's It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, Linus tries to convince the gang that there's no need to decorate their own eggs, because the Easter Beagle will bring them - but given Linus' history with the Great Pumpkin, his friends are skeptical. Meanwhile, Peppermint Patty and Marcie (ignoring Linus' advice) go through a series of mishaps preparing eggs for coloring.

Charlie Brown's All-Stars was the second-ever Peanuts television special, airing in 1966, just six months after the successful broadcast of A Charlie Brown Christmas. In this special, Charlie Brown tries to keep his baseball team together with the lure of getting actual uniforms and playing in a real league, but he faces a tough decision when he learns that the sponsor will only provide them if he takes the girls and Snoopy off the team.

Reminder: It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown airs Sunday, March 31

Don't forget that It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown together with Charlie Brown's All-Stars will be broadcast from 7-8 PM (Eastern/Pacific) on Sunday, March 31, 2013 on ABC.

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown and Charlie Brown's All-Stars to Air Sunday, March 31, 2013 on ABC

ABC will broadcast It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown together with Charlie Brown's All-Stars on Sunday, March 31, 2013 from 7 - 8 PM (Eastern/Pacific time). Yes, that means you can watch It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown on Easter itself! This is a welcome return for It's the Easter Beagle, which last aired on TV in 2010.

Note that 7-8 PM is the correct broadcast time - while the original ABC press release and some other sources list the broadcast time as 8-9 PM, that is incorrect.

In 1974's It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, Linus tries to convince the gang that there's no need to decorate their own eggs, because the Easter Beagle will bring them - but given Linus' history with the Great Pumpkin, his friends are skeptical. Meanwhile, Peppermint Patty and Marcie (ignoring Linus' advice) go through a series of mishaps preparing eggs for coloring.

Charlie Brown's All-Stars was the second-ever Peanuts television special, airing in 1966 just six months after the successful broadcast of A Charlie Brown Christmas. In this special, Charlie Brown tries to keep his baseball team together with the lure of getting actual uniforms and playing in a real league, but he faces a tough decision when he learns that the sponsor will only provide them if he takes the girls and Snoopy off the team.