40 Years: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Could the old Peanuts gang’s Christmas antics really be hitting the 40-year mark? This well-deserved tribute to one of the most popular holiday TV specials ever features a stellar adult-contemporary lineup that includes Toni Braxton, Norman Brown, Chaka Khan, Dave Koz, the Rippingtons, Vanessa Williams, and others. The unfettered sentimentality that marked the original TV special and the wry wisdom of these enduring characters are captured here and there in an album that manages to reinvent the magic of cartoon characters and the Christmas season, complete with a brief respite of Für Elise and lite jazz style that permeates the overall mix. To celebrate the anniversary, the vocalists and musicians have made what is truly an immediately accessible record that will appeal from kids from 1 to 92.--Martin Keller