We Speak Music
Lee Mendelson Film Productions Celebrates 75 Years of Vince Guaraldi with Exclusive Record Store Day 2026 “Baseball & Glove” Soundtrack Release
Fresh off the success of Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, Lee Mendelson Film Productions is continuing its celebration of Vince Guaraldi’s musical legacy with a standout Record Store Day 2026 exclusive: the soundtrack release of two beloved Peanuts® television specials, It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown and Charlie Brown’s All Stars!. The special Record Store Day edition arrives April 18, 2026 at participating stores.
This collectible “Baseball & Glove” edition is exactly the kind of thing fans and vinyl collectors go nuts for. It includes two uniquely designed 45 RPM records packaged together in a PVC gatefold: a 10-inch clear “baseball” LP of It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown and a 12-inch brown die-cut glove-shaped LP of Charlie Brown’s All Stars!. The release also includes a 6-page tri-fold insert with artwork from the specials and liner notes by Sean Mendelson, Jason Mendelson, and Derrick Bang, author of Vince Guaraldi at the Piano.
The release marks the 50th anniversary of It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown and the 60th anniversary of Charlie Brown’s All Stars!, presenting complete scores that frame the first decade of Peanuts® television music. Charlie Brown’s All Stars!originally aired June 8, 1966 as the second prime-time Peanuts® special after A Charlie Brown Christmas, while It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown aired March 16, 1976 as Guaraldi’s 15th and final Peanuts® special.
There’s also real emotional weight behind this release. Arbor Day contains the final recordings by Vince Guaraldi, recorded on February 6, 1976, the day he died at age 47 in Menlo Park, California. That alone gives the set a kind of gravity beyond nostalgia. It’s not just a reissue. It’s a preservation piece.
Charlie Brown’s All Stars! features performances by the Vince Guaraldi Sextet: Vince Guaraldi on piano, Eugene “Puzzy” Firth on bass, Eddie Duran on guitar, John Coppola and Frank Snow on trumpet, and Lee Charlton on drums. The score is presented in seven tracks, with some selections restored from 35mm negative soundtrack tape. It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown features the Vince Guaraldi Trio: Guaraldi on piano, Seward McCain on bass, and Jim Zimmerman on drums. That “baseball” LP includes 14 tracks, among them “Young Man’s Fancy,” “Jay Sterling Morton Jazz,” “Sprinkle Your Bird,” “Rain, Rain, Go Away (Rain, Gentle Rain),” and “Happy Arbor Day, Charlie Brown.”
The production side is as lovingly handled as the music itself. Clark Germain mixed Arbor Day at WonderWorld Studio, while Vinson Hudson restored and mastered the recordings. Sean Mendelson and Jason Mendelson produced the release.
And there’s a nice environmental angle here, too. The records are pressed on bio-attributed vinyl said to reduce carbon footprint by roughly 90% compared with standard LP manufacturing. The packaging uses sustainably forested paper and recycled materials, and in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, Lee Mendelson Film Productions says it will plant one tree for every copy sold in 2026, with a minimum commitment of 12,000 trees.
For longtime Peanuts® fans, jazz lovers, and serious soundtrack collectors, this one feels less like a novelty and more like an event. It celebrates two classic specials, honors one of the most distinctive composers ever connected to animation, and packages it all in a format that actually feels worthy of the music.
Release Information
Record Store Day Exclusive: April 18, 2026
The official website for Lee Mendelson Film Productions may be found at https://www.mendelsonproductions.com
We Speak Music
Phoebe June Traces Love, Distance and Heartbreak on New EP ‘Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate’
For Phoebe June, some stories are easier to tell through music.
Her new EP, ‘Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate’, is an intimate collection that traces the emotional journey of a relationship from the exhilaration of falling in love to distance, uncertainty, heartbreak and, ultimately, learning to let go.
Inspired by artists including Gracie Abrams, Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers, Phoebe June combines diary-like lyricism with melancholic ballads, subtle uptempo moments and an understated, emotionally honest production style.
At the centre of the project is ‘Thursday’, a bittersweet track about loving someone from a distance and holding onto the hope that the connection might survive.
Written after Phoebe left a country that held deep personal meaning, and left someone she cared about behind, the song looks back at the relationship from its beginning. Even its title is personal: the two first met on a Thursday.
The song captures the complicated feeling of walking away from something meaningful without believing that it necessarily has to be over. It’s about distance, memory and the possibility of finding your way back to someone, while recognising that hope only works when it goes both ways.
Across six tracks, the EP develops that story in sequence.
‘Everything You Are’ opens the project with the warmth of new love, while ‘Dead Sea’ explores the security of finding someone who helps you stay afloat through difficult times. As the story progresses, ‘Thursday’ introduces separation before ‘Getaway Car’ moves into the aftermath; unanswered questions, lingering attachment and the realisation that someone can profoundly affect your life while still being unhealthy for you.
‘One Day’ leaves the door open to the possibility of a future reunion, balancing hope with the understanding that some relationships may only exist in memory.
The EP closes with ‘Ophelia’, its emotional breaking point. Inspired in part by Friedrich Heyser’s painting of the same name, the track confronts the pain of feeling manipulated and unappreciated after giving everything to someone else.
The result is a project that deliberately moves from light to dark. Phoebe June considered not only the narrative but the emotional progression when sequencing the EP, allowing the brightness of its opening to gradually give way to the heartbreak of its closing moments.
Even the title reflects that feeling.
‘Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate’ takes its name from a flower, with the image of a gate separating two people becoming a metaphor for a love that remains beautiful but just out of reach. To reach over it requires effort, just as maintaining a connection across distance, uncertainty and changing circumstances does.
Ultimately, Phoebe June isn’t interested in simply documenting her own heartbreak.
She wants listeners to recognise themselves in it.
‘Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate’ is a collection about love, nostalgia, hope and regret and about what remains when something beautiful ends up on the other side of the gate.
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