Can

"Silent Night"

BY David DacksPublished Dec 22, 2009

Have we reached the tipping point of holiday music yet? That point at which grudging tolerance and good will to all genres is replaced by seething hatred of anything with sleigh bells as percussion? Then maybe it's time to put a little Kraut-mas into your holidays (Krautrock-mas? I dunno, the nog is getting to me…). The fine folks at Mute Records have unearthed Can's seasonal offering from 1976, and are offering it as a free download.

Jaki Liebezeit's steady drumming (maybe they should have covered "Little Drummer Boy?") holds down a deceptively simple but shape shifting take on the familiar melody. I'm sure everyone was full of Christmas cheer while cutting this version. I would love to have heard what the band's former vocalists, the über-eccentric Malcolm Mooney or Damo Suzuki could have done with the words.

Download Can's "Silent Night" here.

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