Galaxie 500 take Yoko Ono’s delicate Christmas song and transform it into an intense Velvets-like jam that improves on the original.

Never heard this before: the original version is the B-side of John & Yoko’s 1971 single Happy Christmas (War Is Over).That’s lovely, but this is even better.

Ono considered it the first pop song she ever wrote; Galaxie 500 start off in similar style, with a fragile vocal, but then take it to places she could never have imagined.

They released their version in 1990, with bassist Naomi Yang singing over Dean Wareham’s echoey guitar riff and drummer Damon Krukowsky’s barely-there percussion.

Building slowly with acoustic guitars and sleigh bells, it eventually explodes into Velvets-like intensity and a five-minute guitar solo by Wareham.

It’s simply glorious.