One of the slightly irritating aspects of this series of reissued Guaraldi soundtrack albums for Peanuts is that many of the cues are extremely short. And because the musical motifs (attached to characters) tend to be repeated, hearing the same phrase over and over in a minute-long track, without the cartoon it was intended to accompany, is not exactly going to grab and hold the listener’s attention.

In previous issues, such as the Christmas or Election editions, there have been some extended versions of pieces that the trio put down in the studio at the same time as recording the short cues. This album has fewer of these and some morsels so scanty they were hardly worth including (a 30-second ‘Woodstock’s Dream’ being a case in point), and Guaraldi’s voice introducing several cues doesn’t help extend the musical content. Maybe film historians will love it, and it does have the occasional curio, including Guaraldi’s electric harpsichord version of a Bach Minuet, plus three trio tracks including a couple of symphonic themes, originally composed by Beethoven.

David Benoit’s closing medley, recorded in 2021, is a pleasant trip back through the melodic material on the album, but hardly makes up for the scattershot nature of the whole thing. Even dedicated Peanuts fans might find this one hard going…