Paris 1919 remains John Cale’s most beautiful solo album, but devalued by reedy vocals and weedy production, it would be eclipsed by the monumental Music For A New Society and Artificial Intelligence. On Friday, seemingly apropos of nothing and 37 years after its commercially disappointing release, the classically trained Velvet Underground co-leader re-visited it in its entirety (albeit in a slightly different running order) with the Heritage Orchestra offering stately gravitas and his band providing a rock kick.

Exactly why he has embarked upon this grand but glorious folly must remain a mystery, for the
67-year-old, notoriously grumpy prince of Wales was in no mood for chat. As it was, with his voice gaining authority over the decades and the orchestra engrossingly vying for space with Cale’s keyboards and his band’s guitars, the music spoke eloquently for itself.

Playing two pianos simultaneously, hair flapping like the unlikely offspring of Timothy Spall and Michael Heseltine, Cale had the annoyed air of a pensioner with a point to prove. Yet although Antarctica Starts Here was a reminder that nobody does coldness quite so wearily, with its trombone solo and fleet-footed arrangement, Graham Greene had an added layer of wit and Paris 1919 itself was imperiously baroque.

Afterwards, he returned to lightly plunder his back catalogue, nodding to Henrik Ibsen on the hypnotic Hedda Gabler, Dylan Thomas on Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night and Elvis Presley on his ever-evolving take on Heartbreak Hotel, which goes deeper into the song’s jet-black heart of darkness each time Cale reconstructs it.

He bid farewell with an almost cheery “hope you’ve had as much fun as we have”, leaving us to cherish the hubris of an evening that served no point whatsoever, had no commercial tie-in, but which was an untrammelled delight.