Lou Reed may have been a reluctant icon for the smart, art-fueled post-classic rock upheavals his efforts with the Velvet Underground and early solo albums inspired, but he's gratifyingly become one of the genre's wisest and most beloved godfathers. This two-plus hour live double-disc collection captures the 62-year-old Reed onstage in Los Angeles in 2003 on the heels of his ambitious, if commercially disappointing tribute to Poe, The Raven. Yet despite that unpromising context, the performances captured here nonetheless represent another unlikely career high-water mark. Wending his way through a body of work that seems ever more resilient and uncompromising in an increasingly disposable, marketing-mad pop landscape, Reed manages to evoke both big-rock grandeur and a surprisingly playful cabaret intimacy, cutting his too easily clichéd nihilism with bracing doses of cautious, world-weary optimism. The focus may be on Reed the troubadour/poet, but his unusual, drummer-less band (including Mike Rathke on guitar/synth, bassist Fernando Saunders and the bold, occasionally chilling cello of Joan Scarpantoni) imparts the performance with both a stunning range and dramatic edge, be they smartly rethought Velvets classics or stark, timely revisitations of "The Day John Kennedy Died" and "Men of Good Fortune." It's the rarest and best kind of live album: One that showcases a familiar artist in a compelling new light.