The sound quality is dodgy at best. The performance is loose and under-rehearsed. Singer Lou Reed and guitarist Sterling Morrison are the only original members in the band.

Were it recorded on any other night, Live at Max's Kansas City would be just another cruddy Velvets bootleg. But it happened to be recorded on Aug. 23, 1970 -- Reed's last night with the band -- making it a bona fide rock 'n' roll artifact.

This reissue doesn't do much to fix the dropouts and distortion. Or to stop hyperactive teenage drummer Billy Yule from doing his best Keith Moon impersonation on VU classics like I'm Waiting for the Man and White Light White Heat. But it does expand the original 10-song album with seven other tracks recorded that fateful night.

So now you finally get the tale of the tape in its dodgy, loose, under-rehearsed entirety.

Track Listing
Disc 1:
1. I'm Waiting for the Man
2. White Light White Heat
3. I'm Set Free
4. Sweet Jane [Version 1]
5. Lonesome Cowboy Bill [Version 1]
6. New Age
7. Beginning to See the LightListen

Disc 2:
1. Who Loves the Sun
2. Sweet Jane [Version 2]
3. Ill Be Your Mirror
4. Pale Blue Eyes
5. Candy Says
6. Sunday Morning
7. After Hours
8. Femme Fatale
9. Some Kinda Love
10. Lonesome Cowboy Bill [Version 2]