The Hidden Genius of It’s A SpongeBob Christmas
Lenny Kaye, eMusic.com
What do jingle bells sound like underwater? It’s A Spongebob Christmas Album answers that Zen-like question and many others. It’s also of the most sophisticated and creative elaborations on Yuletiding you’re likely to find.
Beauty in Two Dimensions: ‘It’s a Spongebob Christmas!’
Gene Sculatti, Rock’s Back Pages
I’m a fool for Christmas records. Good ones, that is: Spector’s list-topper, sure, and the Beach Boys’ album that starts with “Little St. Nick” and ends with Dennis Wilson wishing holiday greetings to fans “if you happen to be listening to this album right now.” And the Four Seasons,’ Bobby Darin’s hepped-up gospel set (The 25th Day of December), and all those Roy Wood and Slade jivers too.
question of the day: What fictional characters need their own Christmas album?
Flick Filosopher
Spongebob Squarepants has his own Christmas album! Festive festivities in Bikini Bottom! And it’s none of your “Jingle Bells” or “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” It’s all-new, all Spongebobby tunes such as “Don’t Be a Jerk (It’s Christmas)” and “Christmas Eve Jitters” and “Ho, Ho Hoedown.” You can listen to the entire album free at producer Andy Paley’s site, and you can buy it in digital format fromAmazon U.S. and iTunes U.S. Alas, the album appears to entirely unavailable in Canada, and only “Don’t Be a Jerk (It’s Christmas)” is downloadable from Amazon U.K. and iTunes U.K. (Via Boing Boing.)
SpongeBob follows ‘Best Day Ever’ with Christmas album
Jim Bessman, Examiner.com
The latest item in the hugely popularSpongeBob SquarePants animated TV series’ extensive merchandise line is its first holiday album, It’s A SpongeBob Christmas! Album.
The all-original 12-track set, released via Nickelodeon Records, features vocals and songwriting by SpongeBob voice actor Tom Kenny, who co-wrote ten of the songs with producer Andy Paley. It is available digitally from all online music retailers, and includes four songs from the new stop-motion animated TV special It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!, which premiered on CBS last week and plays again on Nickelodeon on Dec. 9.
It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!
Jason Weisberger, BoingBoing.net
Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob, and Andy Paley, a veteran music producer, have collaborated on a 12 track SpongeBob christmas album!
New SpongeBob SquarePants Song Urges Shoppers Not to Be Jerks This Holiday Season
Huffington Post
So who’s responsible for the catchiest holiday song to come along in years? Would you believe Michael Vick and South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson (who — you may recall — shouted “You lie!” at President Obama back in September 2009 as our Commander-in-Chief was addressing a joint session of Congress)?
Strange but true, folks. During a recent phone interview, Tom Kenny — the actor / comedian / songwriter who’s probably best known for voicing SpongeBob SquarePants — revealed that it was Vick and Wilson’s bad behavior which helped inspire the creation of that new Xmas classic, “Don’t Be a Jerk (It’s Christmas).”
SpongeBob Christmas special goes stop-motion
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — How does “It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!” squeeze even more fun out of our porous little hero and the Bikini Bottom gang? By turning the animated characters three-dimensional for their holiday special.
In a tribute to classic fare such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” the “SpongeBob SquarePants” crew has been re-imagined as puppets and put through their comedy paces for stop-motion photography.
Review: ‘It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!’ adds an extra dimension
Los Angeles Times
In a sort of holiday miracle — brought about by the painstaking work of human hands — SpongeBob SquarePants gains a third dimension this week.
The cartoon that bears his name, which has remained firmly, even boldly, flat for its nine seasons (over 13 years), has been puppet-animated for the yuletide special “It’s a SpongeBob Christmas.” As antic as its model, and a little more magical and lifelike, it premieres Friday night on CBS, at the stay-up-late hour of 9:30 (following rebroadcasts of the old Rankin/Bass cartoon “Frosty the Snowman,” the Bill Melendez “Frosty Returns” and “Hoops & Yoyo Ruin Christmas,” starring characters created for Hallmark cards), and will repeat on its home network, Nickelodeon, Sunday, Dec. 9, at a child-friendly 7:30 p.m. (It is already available on DVD.)