Unplugged is a 1992 album by Eric Clapton, recorded at Bray Studios, England in front of an audience for the MTV Unplugged series. Recorded in January 1992, and released in August, songs include a version of the successful 1991 single "Tears in Heaven" and an acoustic version of "Layla". Critical reception has been mixed, though most critics feel the album is relaxed and charming. The album won three Grammy Awards in 1993 and sold 26 million copies worldwide.

Clapton performed the show in front of a small audience on 16 January 1992 at Bray Film Studios in Windsor, England. In addition to the final album tracks, the performance included early versions of "My Father's Eyes" and "Circus Left Town" along with "Worried Life Blues" and a version of "Rollin' and Tumblin'". Clapton played Martin 000-42 acoustic guitars for much of the performance, and in 2004, one of the guitars sold for 791,500 USD (£434,400) in auction. Commenting on the popularity of the album in his 2007 autobiography, Clapton wishes the reader to understand the great emotional toll he experienced around that time, and suggests that they visit the grave of his son Conor in Ripley to do so.

Critic reception has been mixed though muted; in general, reviewers report that the album, if unremarkable, is relaxed and pleasant. Stephen Thomas Erlewine for AllMusic feels that people have misrepresented and mythologised the album; that though it came after Paul McCartney's MTV Unplugged album, Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) (1991), people often mistake it for "the first-ever MTV album", that they often feel that "it alone was responsible for revitalizing Clapton's career", and that "Tears in Heaven" was first recorded here. Erlewine feels that the songs are "lively and relaxed", that Clapton turns "Layla" from an "anguished howl of pain into a cozy shuffle and the whole album proceeds at a similar amiable gait" while "Clapton is embracing his middle age".Robert Christgau was sharper in his comments, feeling that in an effort to be inoffensive "Clapton-the-electric-guitarist" has been relegated "to the mists of memory", and that "Layla" was turned into a "whispery greeting card".

...
Wikipedia