The Velvet Forum

Again, this recording has been in circulation for a long time but Bill's copy is far superior to all the extant copies. I'll put a link to it below.

Lou Reed 1972-07-29 Aylesbury audience recording BA copy

Friar's Club
Borough Assembly Hall
Market Square
Aylesbury
1972-07-29

01: audience/tuning 1.37
02: White Light/White Heat 3.47
03: Lonesome Cowboy Bill 4.34
04: I'm Waiting For The Man 5.13
05: Ride Into The Sun 4.08
06: New Age 4.39
07: Walk And Talk It 4.04
08: Sweet Jane 5.06
09: Going Down 2.38
10: I Cant Stand It (short cuts in middle) 3.24
11: Berlin 5.49
12: Head Held High 3.37
13: Cool It Down/Wild Child 14.25
14: Heroin 7.47
15: audience/tuning 3.04
16: Rock And Roll 5.34

Lou Reed: guitar, vocals
Vinny Laporta: guitar
Eddie Reynolds: guitar
Bobby Resigno: bass
Scottie Clark: drums

lineage: Maxell Low Noise "C-90" cassette from the collection of Bill Allerton - Pioneer CT-S670D player - wav - flac

wav transfer October 2025 by lurid_uk

After his first solo LP had bombed, Lou must have felt that the pressure was on him to be the big unit-shifter that RCA expected him to be. Luckily, long-time fan David Bowie was there to lend a hand - he was a rising star in the UK and he nhad the music press captivated by his outrageous new Ziggy Stardust persona. On 8th July, Lou appeared as David's guest at the Friends Of The Earth "Save The Whale" benefit show in London. Ziggy and the boys backed Lou for 3 songs and the appearance was good publicity for all concerned. On 14th July, Lou played his first show on UK soil at the King's Cross (Scala) Cinema in Pentonville Road, London, backed by The Tots. His new friend Mick Rock was on hand and took the iconic photo which would soon grace the cover of "Transformer". The surviving tape from that evening is evidence that Lou put on a passionate show to an enthusiastic audience. Two days later, Bowie held a series of press conferences at the Dorchester Hotel, London, and invited both Lou and Iggy Pop along to join the fun. Again, Mr Rock was there to record events. On 28th July, Lou and The Tots were back at the Scala Cinema ("by popular demand"), and that gig was followed by a short series of shows in and around London. At the start of August, Lou, David and Mick Ronson hit Trident Studios to lay down the tracks for Transformer. The LP appears to have been completed by mid-September and Lou set out on a tour of small venues throughout the UK to promote it. By December he was back in New York, ready to marry Bettye and conquer the USA....

I don't know how many people the Borough Assembly Hall in Aylesbury actually held but it hosted many notable concerts - the Yule/Tucker "Velveteens" had played here the previous November. David Bowie's 1971 and 1972 shows here are (properly) regarded as being legendary.


RIP Lou and Bill

the audio: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/opxdsibh ... 291li&dl=0

Hi Gordon, thanks for this. I started to listen to it, and the sound quality is great, especially for a 1972 cassette. However, it's a semitone too fast (= 6%) i.e. WL/WH is A flat instead of G.

thanks - I'll have a go at slowing it down.

Strangely, the previously circulating copy of this recording (which was dreadful quality) ran too slow.....

falconwhit wrote: ↑02 Nov 2025 21:40 Hi Gordon, thanks for this. I started to listen to it, and the sound quality is great, especially for a 1972 cassette. However, it's a semitone too fast (= 6%) i.e. WL/WH is A flat instead of G.