Lou Reed, John Cale & Nico Ba-ta-clan 2LP

Following the disbandment of Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico reunited in January 1972 for a one-night-only acoustic performance at Le Bataclan theatre in Paris, France. The show was recorded on the club's soundboard and broadcast on French television. Bootlegged for years, the concert was given an official commercial release in 2004; however, due to a problem with tape transfers, the speed was slow compared to the original concert.

This 2LP reissue is fully remastered with the speed corrected, and includes two bonus tracks recorded during rehearsal: "Pale Blue Eyes" and "Candy Says."

Their first time taking the stage together in five years, the energy/tension coming off the 1000 capacity room is near palpable. And the performances, inspired, are made all the better for it

a no-brainer for all dimension of VU, John Cale, Lou Reed, and/or Nico enthusiasts

a unique moment in musical history just before these three erstwhile Jekylls became forever Hydes

In many ways, this one-off gig acted as the trio's concluding statement, a snapshot of everyone's favorite rock and roll apostates at the end of their collective reign. Later that year, Lou would release Transformer and shoot off into the cosmos of superstardom, and John Cale would quietly bless cult audiences with his opus Paris 1919 (a record whose genius arguably rivals that of Transformer). Use Le Bataclan '72 as a jumping-off point for your own trip down the Velvets rabbit hole, keeping in mind of course that it doesn't get much better than this.