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Favourite Unplugged Sessions

Started by A Passing Turk Slipper, November 22, 2004, 06:46:04 PM

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A Passing Turk Slipper

I just finished downloading an REM MTV Unplugged session. It's great stuff, tracks like Pop Song 89, Belong and even It's the End of the World as We Know it (which gets great at the end) sounding wonderful in a lovely acoustic style. The Nirvana MTV unplugged album is absolutely brilliant as I expect most here will know. I probably return back to that more than any other Nirvana album, songs like About a Girl sound even better unplugged than they do in the original. It makes you wish Nirvana had done a whole acoustic album, it could have been amazing.
I don't know much about what MTV Unplugged is but I thought this could be a thread about your favourite Unplugged session from any band, and it doesn't need to be MTV either, any non electric sessions count.  But please don't just right a one sentence answer. Expand and tell us what specific tracks stand out etc. Preferably from a band that normally doesn't do acoustic stuff, but it doesn't matter either way.

Brinx

The Eric Clapton Unplugged session stands out for me. Not so much just for the big hits in it but the basic blues feel of the whole thing. So much nicer in simple acoustic than with his backing singers and electic twiddlings.

I'm not a huge Clapton fan by any means but certainly can appreciate that record.

ninestonecreature

Paul McCartney's is the epitome of Unplugged. It was recorded back in 1990, when the concept was still in its infancy, and before featured artists had begun cheating and sneaking in semi-acoustics and amplifiers.

Macca's was performed wholly on acoustic instruments, not an amp in sight. All the guitars- even Hamish Stuart's acoustic bass- were miked up. The band had to ensure throughout that they didn't wander too far off mic, such was the rootsy, bare-bones set-up of the whole thing.

Some great readings of songs like 'Blackbird' and 'Here, There and Everywhere', as well as lesser-known Beatles B-sides like 'She's A Woman' and Macca solo stuff like 'Junk' and 'That Would Be Something'.

cesspit_soul

Alanis Morissette's Vancouver Sessions performance is particularly moving. It manages to incorporate a blend of old and new songs, revisiting rarities such as "Still" from the Dogma soundtrack. "Eight Easy Steps" is a particular highlight, the acoustic guitars and slowed-down melody completely transforming the song from self-deprecating rock fest to poignant and resonant slow-burner. It really highlights Alanis' evolution as an artist, and is far superior to the frankly lacklustre MTV Unplugged performance which, aside from a beautiful acoustic version of "Ironic", was sadly lacking.

A Passing Turk Slipper

Quote from: "ninestonecreature"Paul McCartney's is the epitome of Unplugged. It was recorded back in 1990, when the concept was still in its infancy, and before featured artists had begun cheating and sneaking in semi-acoustics and amplifiers.

Macca's was performed wholly on acoustic instruments, not an amp in sight. All the guitars- even Hamish Stuart's acoustic bass- were miked up. The band had to ensure throughout that they didn't wander too far off mic, such was the rootsy, bare-bones set-up of the whole thing.

Some great readings of songs like 'Blackbird' and 'Here, There and Everywhere', as well as lesser-known Beatles B-sides like 'She's A Woman' and Macca solo stuff like 'Junk' and 'That Would Be Something'.
That sounds ace, I'd love to hear that. If it's out on CD I'll buy it next time I'm getting something from Amazon. Keep 'em coming folks.

El Unicornio, mang

Crowded House did a good one before they released Woodface ('Weather With You' and 'Don't Dream It's Over' are notably absent)

Pearl Jam did a good one too, I recall, as did The Cure

Oh, and the Oasis one is worth seeing if you're interested in watching the unplugged equivalent of a car crash

fEDORA

Bjork - by a country mile. 'Violently Happy' backed by an orchestra of wine glasses was just about the finest thing MTV ever put on the air.

MrManson

Alice In Chains' MTV Unplugged session is horrible. It's quite hard to watch, due to the state of Layne, though the songs are very powerful when unplugged.

It's not my favourite (Nirvana's Unplugged gets that vote) but it's certainly worth a listen/view.

kidsick5000

off topic slightly but...

The unplugged that stands out for me is that fugee woman Lauryn Hill's.

It was on in the Dvd bit of hmv once, and it was the most miserable thing you could ever hear in your life.

Each maudlin, slumping song was intercut with huge rambling moans about how awful everything was and how she was in a 'bad place' before, moved in to a 'bad place' and then only saw 'bad places' in the future.

It was like watching someone performing their suicide note.

But you could tell that she felt that what she was saying was of the utmost performance.

the audience went from the typical unplugged ' YES YES YES i know this song entusiam to that "what times the pub open?/shes scaring me mummy' look in record time.

See it once, not all of it naturally, just to see how far an ego can go.

Back to the good examples

Peking O

Quote from: "A Passing Turk Slipper"But please don't just right a one sentence answer.

Ooh get her. I'll left one instead.

Someone's already mentioned Bjork, which is by far the best one. The Nirvana one is overrated I think, but perhaps I'm tainted by the views of Q readers who always hold it up as their finest hour. For me, Nirvana were at their best when firing balls of feedback across the walls of small clubs, while somehow still retaining their perfect pop poise. The Neil Young one is great. Especially 'Like A Hurricane' played out on an organ. It's only tarnished by the fact that it was later revealed he performed about 98 takes of each song before deeming them ok for broadcast. Which goes against the whole ethos of the show dunnit?

3-d lobster

Eric Clapton because it inspired me to learn guitar. I bought the book and played everysong for about 6 months.
I also really like Denis Leary, I had only heard the asshole song but the rest of his songs are good. It also has a great intro a pure unplugged moment, a full band with no instuments. It still makes me laugh.

A Passing Turk Slipper

Quote from: "Peking O"The Neil Young one is great. Especially 'Like A Hurricane' played out on an organ. It's only tarnished by the fact that it was later revealed he performed about 98 takes of each song before deeming them ok for broadcast. Which goes against the whole ethos of the show dunnit?
Didn't he just do one set, hated it so did another?

Jemble Fred

The Macca one's definitely on CD, and sweet it is too.

If there's one group I'd like to see Unplugged, it's the Pet Shop Boys. I know you can count the number of PSB admirers on here on one leper's hand, but I reckon Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are two of the finest songwriters of the last twenty years, lyrically and musically. My main problem with them is that I'm not a huge fan of electropop. But when they veer into serious (to my mind) music, as heard on 'Behaviour', 'Release', and their work with Johnny Marr, their talent for rustling up beautiful melodies comes to the fore.

Chris probably wouldn't be too happy to do it, as he's the hardcore Dance and Pop merchant, but the more miserable he looks while he's hammering away on the piano, the better the gig would be.

Do a search for acoustic+psb, you'll be surprised.

ninestonecreature

Quoteninestonecreature wrote:
Paul McCartney's is the epitome of Unplugged. It was recorded back in 1990, when the concept was still in its infancy, and before featured artists had begun cheating and sneaking in semi-acoustics and amplifiers.

Macca's was performed wholly on acoustic instruments, not an amp in sight. All the guitars- even Hamish Stuart's acoustic bass- were miked up. The band had to ensure throughout that they didn't wander too far off mic, such was the rootsy, bare-bones set-up of the whole thing.

Some great readings of songs like 'Blackbird' and 'Here, There and Everywhere', as well as lesser-known Beatles B-sides like 'She's A Woman' and Macca solo stuff like 'Junk' and 'That Would Be Something'.

That sounds ace, I'd love to hear that. If it's out on CD I'll buy it next time I'm getting something from Amazon. Keep 'em coming folks.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000008IAG/qid=1101203702/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-8998737-1745404

An absolute steal at six quid.

Quoteoff topic slightly but...

The unplugged that stands out for me is that fugee woman Lauryn Hill's.

Yeah, that was dire. She winds me up, that woman- obviously thinks being the mother of Bob Marley's grandchild makes her a musical icon by proxy. I always thought her 'Miseducation' album was hugely overrated too.

Spiteface

I have this one Smashing Pumpkins bootleg from 1993 that's an acoustic thing for French radio, and oddly, they manage to make even some of the rockier tracks work, Siva sounds surprisingly good.

I also have somewhere another acoustic show from the Late Mellon Collie/Pre-Adore era, that sees them do an acoustic version of XYU, which isn't as shit as that might sound, just very different.

EFB

I'd like to see Korn or RATM do an unplugged.

"Blind" and "Bombtrack" work surprizingly well on an acoustic.

Trust me.

I know whereof I speak.

terminallyrelaxed

I heartily recommend Arrested Develoment's Unplugged Session - I think it was recorded outside on a sunny day in Central Park and it absolutely fucking rocks, all bongos and some seriously good accapella. I used to have this but its all scratched up now, but get it and you won't be sorry. I think this is it:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000003JBL/qid=1101213428/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_27_4/202-3634781-4400600

NobodyGetsOutAlive

Quote from: "The Unicorn"Pearl Jam did a good one too

Yes, it's worth a look about to find the audio (and maybe even a video) of them doing "Keep on Rocking in the Free World" at this session which was never broadcast.  And when they do "Porch" at the end and Eddie gets nup on the stool and starts writing on himself and going off into a big pro-choice rant, even though it's a bit embarassing, it's quite interetsing to see. Part of me is surprised it didn't get censored in a way.

At the time, I liked the Oasis one. I was quite into them at that point and thought that Noel's singing was a lot better suited to the unplugged environment.

Morrisfan82

One thing I've always been slightly confused about: what was the thinking behind the Unplugged concept originally? Was it merely meant as an intimate outlet for bands to perform acoustically, or was it meant as more of a reaction to a supposed glut of 'heavy' or over-produced music around that time?

Beagle 2

[marywhitehouseexperience]UTAH SAINTS U-U-UTAH SAINTS![/marywhitehouseexperience]

I didn't think the Oasis one was too bad considering the circumstances, Noel can't have had any time to rehearse the numbers Liam was going to do. I was forced to listen to the Alice in Chains one over and over while working in a shop at christmas, that's not too bad if you're into that kind of thing. I'd love to hear that Macca one, the only version of 'junk' i've heard is off anthology, i'll have to grab it later on.

Pearl Jam's set was excellent but my favourite was KISS.  I'm sure this opinion won't  go down especially well, but they were absolutely note perfect, did a selection of their rare 70's songs and I have yet to hear a singer who can sing live as well Paul Stanley.

ninestonecreature

QuoteI'd love to hear that Macca one, the only version of 'junk' i've heard is off anthology, i'll have to grab it later on.

You can find the 'official' version on 'McCartney' (1970), his first solo album. Very similar to the anthology version, but ornamented with piano and bass. One of his loveliest tunes.

Spiteface

Anyone here heard any Djali Zwan stuff??

Some of that's really good, It's not entirely acoustic (There are a few electrics here and there), but more folky than the regular Zwan were.

I'm Listening to one of their shows right now...