Essential Live Albums

[liebzz]

Bob Dylan - MTV Unplugged

Dylan’s turn at an Unplugged is course completely natural to him. Tombstone Blues seemed like the perfect opener, Watchtower’s amazing, John Brown is also an early highlight. Knockin on Heaven’s Door is a bit quieter but the arrangement is solid. Yet nothing here touches a phenomenal Like a Rolling Stone. Dylan crafted a great setlist that covered much of his career and his voice is in better form than I expected. Seems like it’s been a while since a Dylan live album so this was very welcomed.

The Essential Performance: Like a Rolling Stone

Up Next: Mariah Carey - MTV Unplugged EP

[VinylGuy]

Another one that was huge here when i was a kid. I never listened to it tough, not sure why.

[wease]

I had forgotten about the Mariah Carey one. Pretty big. I’ll Be There was EVERYWHERE

[liebzz]

Mariah Carey - MTV Unplugged EP

This is what happens when an otherworldly talent is chewed up, over-masticated, and spit back out. Okay, maybe I am looking a bit too far into the future from this release. At the moment of this recording in 1992, Mariah Carey was still a young talent producing huge pop hits, but with an unbelievable voice largely put to good use, particularly here backed with real instruments and live. Her songs, the covers, she and the backing band certainly deliver in spades, even if I really don’t care about the songs really at all. A weird dichotomy of recognizing game, but not liking the game. I’ll Be There was everywhere at the time, but it’s still massive in its delivery and is the main event here, akin to Whitney Houston’s Star Spangled Banner from the Super Bowl.

The Essential Performance: I’ll Be There

Up Next: 10,000 Maniacs - MTV Unplugged

[wease]

I don’t remember, are you doing the Yo! Unplugged Rap show? The one with LL Cool J?

[liebzz]

I don’t remember, are you doing the Yo! Unplugged Rap show? The one with LL Cool J?

It’s on the list. I am substantially altering the order of the unplugged sets because Neil isn’t on Spotify so I have to find time to watch it on YouTube or something. I wanted to try to watch it tonight but got caught up in other things. Hopefully tomorrow even though it disrupts the flow. Would’ve been great right after Dylan.

[wease]

I don’t remember, are you doing the Yo! Unplugged Rap show? The one with LL Cool J?

It’s on the list. I am substantially altering the order of the unplugged sets because Neil isn’t on Spotify so I have to find time to watch it on YouTube or something. I wanted to try to watch it tonight but got caught up in other things. Hopefully tomorrow even though it disrupts the flow. Would’ve been great right after Dylan.

Aw hell yeah. The backing band is TIGHT

[liebzz]

10,000 Maniacs - MTV Unplugged

I know next to nothing about this band, but I do know as a teenager that there came a point where either this episode of Unplugged or Beavis and Butthead were playing on MTV constantly for a period of time. I always kept switching the channel on this episode. As a teenager, I just didn’t care enough to stop flipping the channel. As an adult, I can immediately recognize that this is a quality performance, at the very least in its highlights, though I can’t say I care any more for the songs themselves. Hits I never knew were theirs, These Are Days and Candy Everyone Wants, we’re fine. Really this one shines best on Eat for Two and their cover of Because the Night. The latter is the winner here, but both of those are really good.

The Essential Performance: Because the Night

Up Next: Alanis Morissette - Live / Unplugged

[liebzz]

Alanis Morissette - Live / Unplugged

Really for the third straight live album, this is not an artist I’ve ever been a particular fan of. I know the hits and all, and never really thought to dive any deeper, so it’s some first listen and initial impressions happening. While I could take or leave some of the material here, there are some standout performances here. You Learn is really well done in this format, as is the closing Uninvited and I Was Hoping. Very impressed by those, but the two that really impressed me were her cover of King of Pain, and You Oughta Know, which Dave Coullier jokes aside (Cut. It. Out.), the arrangement is different enough from the original to be interesting but not so different as to alienate those who want the pure version. Really impressed by these moments noted. If I had to pick one, I like King of Pain more as a song, so it wins.

The Essential Performance: King of Pain

Up Next: Jay-Z - Unplugged

[wease]

I forgot about her covering King of Pain. That is a good one.

[liebzz]

Jay-Z - Unplugged

Staying outside the general comfort zone here with Jay-Z, again with little to no background. The Roots provide the instrumental backing and this takes a talented Jay-Z and brings him to the stratosphere. Izzy (H.O.V.A.) kicks this off perfectly, and it seems to just roll through quickly with stop offs at Big Pimpin’, Hard Knock Life, a medley with Mary J. Blige, followed by a bit more long form Song Cry and I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me). All exceptional, though my favorite here is the soulful Heart of the City. I liked this way more than I expected.

The Essential Performance: Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)

Up Next: LL Cool J/De La Soul - Yo MTV Unplugged Raps

[VinylGuy]

Alanis Morissette - Live / Unplugged

Really for the third straight live album, this is not an artist I’ve ever been a particular fan of. I know the hits and all, and never really thought to dive any deeper, so it’s some first listen and initial impressions happening. While I could take or leave some of the material here, there are some standout performances here. You Learn is really well done in this format, as is the closing Uninvited and I Was Hoping. Very impressed by those, but the two that really impressed me were her cover of King of Pain, and You Oughta Know, which Dave Coullier jokes aside (Cut. It. Out.), the arrangement is different enough from the original to be interesting but not so different as to alienate those who want the pure version. Really impressed by these moments noted. If I had to pick one, I like King of Pain more as a song, so it wins.

The Essential Performance: King of Pain

Up Next: Jay-Z - Unplugged

King Of Pain was huuuge in mtv around this release. I never liked this Unplugged that much, but it made sense for her to make it, because it was very big.

The 10,000 Maniacs was one of those rare shows we never got in full in Argentina, just one or two songs. I dont remember much of the show but the cd was everywhere.

[liebzz]

A Tribe Called Quest / MC Lyte / LL Cool J / De La Soul - Yo! MTV Raps Unplugged

An ensemble of rap artists in the early 90s with a killer backing band - each with a song though LL Cool J, the most mainstream star of the bunch, gets two. All of these performances are fantastic, both A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul really sticking out, but you can’t top the energy of Mama Said Knock You Out, with a crowd nearly tearing the place apart. This was fun.

The Essential Performance: LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out

Up Next: KISS - MTV Unplugged

[liebzz]

KISS - MTV Unplugged

While this performance is mostly fine, this rather seems like the low point of this miniature journey within a journey. The first 2/3 of the show are with the many times revamped KISS lineup and they do an admirable job through hits and newer songs, but the real point to this thing is the reunion with the classic lineup with Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. Nothing to Lose is the winner here, though Rock n Roll All Nite certainly is also very good. It wasn’t until the last 3-4 songs that they finally raised the stakes but probably it was worth it for that moment.

The Essential Performance: Nothing to Lose

Up Next: Live - MTV Unplugged

[liebzz]

Live - MTV Unplugged

I remember seeing this one quite a few times as a teenager. At this point, they are pulling from their first two albums, and the performance is quite tight throughout. Hits like I Alone, and Lightning Crazhes mix nicely with The Beauty of Grey and Operation Spirit, but the closing White Discussion is really amazing, where the band just really takes off with Ed K.’s voice. I honestly haven’t listened to this band in over 20 years so a nice refreshing trip down memory lane.

The Essential Performance: White Discussion

Up Next: R.E.M. - MTV Unplugged (1991)

[McParadigm]

Really driving home for me just how little mtv I watched. I didn’t know that half these people did an unplugged. Live, Alanis, Mariah, 10,000 Maniacs…never heard or saw a one. I only knew Kiss because RnR All Night was played on local radio.

[VinylGuy]

yeah the kiss one was huge back in the day.

But i think mostly Rnr all night...that video was played all day.

[dad]

yeah the kiss one was huge back in the day.

But i think mostly Rnr all night...that video was played all day.

all night...and part of every day.

[McParadigm]

Everybody used to bitch about MTV not playing music anymore, but you guys routinely make 1990’s MTV sound like an absolute punishment.

[liebzz]

Admittedly, I did not know about Jay-Z’s but I knew about the rest.

1990s MTV was weird because of all its transitions. It went from playing music videos around the clock with rare programming like Unplugged or MTV News to break it up, and had some shows like Yo! MTV Raps and Headbanger’s Ball, and those I think served as a way to compartmentalize music - a breeding ground for a “this and not that” selectivity. It seemed people liked rap or rock but not both, or the new Seattle based grunge rock or hair metal. There never seemed to be a middle ground, and MTV more than any other format were the tastemakers.

That then transitioned to hit shows Beavis and Butthead, which shared a music connection in its humor and storytelling, to The Real World, which had nothing to do with music. After The Real World, MTV moved fully away from music television and became this vortex of bad TV that people seemed to watch but complained about incessantly.

Unplugged, however, was a game changer and a moment where you felt like artists were challenged to reflect their songs from a new light and a real event - something that wouldn’t be replicated for another decade with VH1’s Storytellers series.