best MTV Unplugged that was released as an official album

Neil

and really vote for these as albums you've owned and listened to or just as episodes you might've seen and enjoyed once or twice, whatever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27J2yH_6YQ0

I'm torn between Joe Walsh and Ricky Martin. Those seem like the most obvious choices.

love the "aw YEAH!" of recognition at the beginning xpost

of the ones i've heard as actual albums, i'd rank them:

Jay-Z > Neil Young > Nirvana > Page & Plant > Mariah Carey > Eric Clapton > Arrested Development (lol i bought this!) > Springsteen

But yeah, Neil (who's Unplugged disc is a do-over, I think), Jay-Z w/ Roots, Nirvana, Page/Plant, and, if memory serves, Maxwell are pretty good. Lauryn Hill is the only outright disaster, prolly.

She cries, btw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N379v6wZwOk

lol @ the MTV site listing the taping of the Jay-Z one as 2000 instead of 2001. would love to hear a Dynasty: Roc La Familia Unplugged album too!

Maxwell did "This Woman's Work" on the Unplugged EP before the studio version too

anything but nirvana is shallops, come on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JYxc5ftEzg

"she is the bomb, truly"

anything but nirvana is shallops, come on

haha i actually forgot about nirvana

the Neil one is the only one I actually ever want to listen to, functions really well as a standalone piece of work where most of the rest of these come off as novelties. amazes me that Neil hates it.

the only Nirvana track that really stands out to me from their Unplugged set is the "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" cover

the band is rickety enough I can see why Neil was disappointed but the song choices are crazy inspired and I'll take some versions from that over the Harvest Moon originals (honestly between Unplugged and the Dreamin' Man live album, there's not many versions I need from HM at all)

yeah I got rid of HM, the Unplugged set has the best songs from it anyway and the performances are better

biggest wtf is def the pump organ version of Like a Hurricane

The Lauryn Hill one was jaw-dropping in how crazy she was

neil's the only one listed here that I own -- it's great. the dylan album is missing.

oh wait, i have the nirvana one too. my wife was just trying to convince me to get rid of it, matter of fact. her: "are you REALLY going to listen to this?" me: "maybe? someday?"

Neil > Jay-Z > Dylan

As a "LOL Natalie is quitting the band you guys" artifact the 10,000 Maniacs is good. Very good versions of "Gold Rush Brides" and "Eat For Two" on there.

biggest wtf is def the pump organ version of Like a Hurricane

― Hyper Rescue Troop (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, March 21, 2011 11:58 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol i like it!

the only ones ive heard are nirvana & jay-z

i like the nirvana 1 quite a lot

yeah that like a hurricane is so great. think he called it the "dracula" version.

the track worth hearing on the Lauryn Hill one is the 20 minutes of incoherent rambling

lol i like it!

oh I do too, it's amazing. just really left-field

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQm3To6QYHg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLkglYqlotE

Having Fun With Lauryn On Stage!

^^ this is the reason I voted for Lauryn!

Was Bjork actually released as an album though?

Let's not forget that Tony Bennett's won ALBUM OF THE YEAR at the grammys

voting for 10,000 Maniacs although would agree with the poster upthread, it's really like a Natalie Merchant show with the rest of the band as backing musicians which sucks rather

Neil.

Mariah's Unplugged (actually marketed as an EP at the time) is my favorite album by her; voting for that.

I like Nirvana's, too. I actually thought Great White had one of these. Maybe I'm just thinking that their unplugged set seemed surprisingly good to me at the time. (Especially the Zeppelin cover, iirc.) And I'm pretty sure Tesla had an Unplugged album too, but that must not've been MTV-branded I guess.

Was Bjork actually released as an album though?

― i have a hot bagel waiting for me in my bed so ill say this: (kkvgz), Monday, March 21, 2011 12:24 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark

it was released as a disc of an official box set

"Let's not forget that Tony Bennett's won ALBUM OF THE YEAR at the grammys"

Yeah so did Eric Clapton.. I would be happy to never again hear unplugged "Layla" for the rest of my life.

clapton unplugged makes me think of this dude, who did the delicate tinkly percussion oh so delicately
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cOgWh963FRA/Sf63zswL6TI/AAAAAAAABp4/1qMMbqg3Qco/s400/raycooper1.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5rVgxmekeM

Always had a soft spot for this one version for some reason. Mostly for the excellent solo by Mr. Anon Session Guy at 3:08 I think.

loool tylerw otm

clapton unplugged makes me think of this dude, who did the delicate tinkly percussion oh so delicately

weird - coulda sworn I just saw this guy in that Nilsson doc last night

oh was that him? maybe?
that pic is all like: "give it up for dr. strangelove on the hi-hat"

Page & Plant for not actually being unplugged; for revisiting some of the old shit in an interesting way; and for the fucking tremendous Michael Lee, the greatest drummer (after Bonham) that Page or Plant ever played with, and the only conceivable Bonham replacement in LZ.

(Sadly, Lee died in 2008)

the Jay-Z album is still one of my favorites of his. I don't play any of them for pleasure anymore, but Bjork, Neil Young, and Mariah Carey are damn good. Paul McCartney's is still underrated.

x-post Bald drummer is Ray Cooper, who has played with a host of arena names: Clapton, Elton John, Stones, George Harrison, Pink Floyd, McCartney ... and Nilsson, yes.

Ray Cooper, yeah that was definitely him in the Nilsson doc

Making a mix CD or playlist with personal favorites from these shows is really the only way I can listen to "unplugged.." I don't really think they work well as full length albums.

I hate "Page & Plant" mostly because I can't say the name without wincing.

I usually end up referencing Page & Plant when I try to think of stuff I really hated about the 90's.

Neil Unplugged was the first CD I ever bought...love it to this day. Agree that the versions on Unplugged pretty much beat out most of HM. And pump organ on Hurricane is killer, I love it.

Nirvana prolly second, same sort of thing where it actually feels like a standalone album.

Got mad respect for Neil Young for going on and doing a song off his (at the time) much mocked synthpop album, but I'm voting Nirvana.

Kind of amazed they're still doing these as I think of them as very much an early 90s thing (there's a Katy Perry Unplugged wtf?) Is the Bjork one any good?

"Stringman" and "Transformer Man" alone are worth the purchase of the Young Unplugged.

Katy Perry "I Kissed A Girl" unplugged... done in 5/8-6/8 cool jazz style

oh okay now it's back in the original style

this is really weird

srsly guys don't leave me alone in my befuddlement here

You deserve that and more for referring to anything by Katy Perry as "cool."

the acoustic guitar solo is... I mean, why

Bon Jovi doing "Hallelujah" on their unplugged show last year (?) was pretty lol

If you've ever wondered what it would sound like if Katy Perry covered Fountains of Wayne... your prayers have been answered

Her passionate "Jewel" kind of delivery sends that song off into a whole different direction that is v weird

but I am not a katy perry fan.
nor a FoW fan (anymore...truth is I was for about a week)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKR0haLDrek

wayne's world ref'd bald percussion dude in their unplugged parody

haaaa, yeah, i remember that.

why does katy pronounce hackensack like she's dolores o'riordan?

because she's a national treasure who shoots fireworks out of her boobs

I thought she shot boobs out of her fireworks....?

Classic Clapton Unplugged parody via Mr. Show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1mzDR3onnI

whoever wrote that Willips Brighton tune is a fucking genius, I get it stuck in my head all the time

take it from me, a guy who's had mouth sores

Was Bjork actually released as an album though?

― i have a hot bagel waiting for me in my bed so ill say this: (kkvgz), Monday, March 21, 2011 12:24 PM

it was released as a disc of an official box set

― some dude, Tuesday, 22 March 2011 03:48

also a stand-alone DVD

If you can buy into the Dashboard Confessional thing (which I realize is difficult if you're not grossly emotionally immature), I think the Dashboard Unplugged album is actually the best way to listen to it. There's no extra value/power/entertainment when it's just a recording of Chris Carrabba singing by himself, but when he is accompanied by a couple hundred kids who know basically every line, and seem to absolutely believe in the feelings the dude is projecting, it is kinda amazing. Like, it is less about the music itself than that for some reason the chorus of white suburban kids in the background are fully committed to that music. I went to see Dashboard live a bunch of times, because I liked the experience of being in that crowd.

I have not heard most of these, and even then still think Nirvana's is better as music, but I have listened to maybe like three albums as many times as I have listened to Dashboard Confessional Unplugged. So I'm sucking it up and voting for that.

i thought it was incredibly gangster how springsteen just said 'fuck all yall' and did a plugged in set

I own the Mariah EP but I prefer Nirvana Unplugged, Man Who Sold The World > I'll Be There.

Of those I've heard:

Neil Young>Nirvana>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Page & Plant>Eric Clapton>10,000 Maniacs>Alice in Chains>>>>>>The Corrs

Need to hear the Jay-Z.

Pumo organ Like a Hurricane was the first version I heard. Didn't get around to the original for years.

Voting Nirvana just ahead of Neil.

sorry, I loled at 'pumo' organ :)

the organ line on that version of the song kind of makes me think of "fly me to the moon"

yeah I get that too

You've never heard of the pumo organ? It's pretty rare.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRPJUaZKGIs

"Plugged". Because it was........ plugged....

wait Geir you have some bizarre bias for electric instruments over acoustic instruments, among your other bizarre biases?

lol yeah that's a new one

geir contains multitudes

clearly this is the most magical and wonderful and etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg1C1-MwQIk

I mean there's this bit starting around 4:07 where it sounds like all the organs/keyboards are, like, frolicking through the park together and it makes me SQUEEE!!!/grinny as fuck, like very few other moments in history of music make me giddy like this one.

God she is so wonderful...she is what is fun

what about MTV unpluggeds that didn't get realeased as records.. Like the Stevie Ray Vaughn Unplugged.. Its THEE only performance of him playing acoustically, and he fucking shredded that shit solo. I remember watching it when it aired originally and it was AMAZING!!!

Three of the SRV tracks are on his box set.

there are some outtakes on youtube last I looked, and a performance of Pride and Joy..

If there's enough material for an album, I'm kinda surprised that Sony hasn't issued it yet. They're always finding some "new" SRV stuff to put out every few years. Maybe they'll pair it with a new edition of In Step.

wait Geir you have some bizarre bias for electric instruments over acoustic instruments, among your other bizarre biases?

Acoustic instruments are fine, but just acoustic guitars and nothing else becomes a bit boring.

what about MTV unpluggeds that didn't get realeased as records.. Like the Stevie Ray Vaughn Unplugged.. Its THEE only performance of him playing acoustically, and he fucking shredded that shit solo. I remember watching it when it aired originally and it was AMAZING!!!

― SeanWayne, Tuesday, March 22, 2011 1:48 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

best MTV Unplugged that was NOT released as an official album

because of the visuals and the timing, nirvana. of the wish they'd officially release ones, rem

Does anyone know who the first Unplugged artist was that used a full drum kit? I remember that on the first batch of Unpluggeds, the drummers would play maracas and bongos and tambourines. And usually not very well.

just acoustic guitars and nothing else becomes a bit boring

Geir, don't ever change.

i haven't heard most of these but lauryn's is HILARIOUS

anyone else think Bjork is kinda hot in that vid?

um yes. she is usually pretty hot.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

one time i worked in a really isolated place for a month and before i left the nearby town i had money to buy three albums, one of which was lauryn hill unplugged O_O

love the starkness of helpless on neil young, also my favorite album

Is the Bjork good?

she look real good

um yes. she is usually pretty hot.

― tylerw, Tuesday, March 22, 2011 1:24 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark

really? never really noticed before.

how are you enjoying opening your eyes for the first time

overrated

if you never noticed how do you even know she's overrated?

wait nm

:D

lol

Nirvana

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

predictable blowout, but nice showing for Neil! Jay shoulda got more votes though.

Jay-Z's was definitely a really inventive one....he'd probably finish second on my list

why do 2 people like the korn one

it's probably the funniest of all of these, other than maybe Lauryn Hill

anybody heard the joe walsh?

If I was a rock critic in the early '90s Bruce Springsteen Plugged my pithy one-sentence review would be "They filled the wrong hole."

you can work the grammar out on that one yourself

^^^ second sentence