Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)
| Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) | ||||
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| Live album by Paul McCartney | ||||
| Released | 20 May 1991 (UK) 4 June 1991 (US) |
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| Recorded | 25 January 1991 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 58:29 | |||
| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Producer | Joel Gallen (TV producer for MTV) Recorded by Geoff Emerick |
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| Paul McCartney chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |
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| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| The Essential Rock Discography | 6/10 |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) is a live unplugged performance by Paul McCartney, recorded and released in 1991. Following the vastness of his world tour recently captured on Tripping the Live Fantastic, McCartney relished the opportunity to strip back his songs and appear on the newly launched acoustic-only show MTV Unplugged. Consequently, McCartney was the first in a long line of artists to release an unplugged album.
Unlike other artists who appeared on the acclaimed show with acoustic instruments plugged into amplifiers (producing the sound heard), McCartney's instruments were 100% unplugged. Microphones were carefully placed close to guitars, pianos, etc. to pick up the sound (this can be seen on the album cover, where a large rectangular microphone is pictured in front of McCartney's acoustic guitar).
Using the same line-up that had recently backed him (save for Blair Cunningham who had replaced Chris Whitten), McCartney used the opportunity to dust off some of his rarer tracks, including three from his 1970 debut album McCartney, alongside several covers and amid a helping of familiar Beatles hits.
This recording was one of the first in the famed MTV Unplugged series.
Several tracks performed in the show were not included on the album, as follows: "Things We Said Today", "Midnight Special", "Matchbox", "Mean Woman Blues" and "The Fool". Numbers rehearsed by the band but not performed at all include: "Mother Nature's Son", "Figure of Eight", "Cut Across Shorty", "Heartbreak Hotel", "Heart of the Country", "She's My Baby", and "Mrs Vandebilt". "Things We Said Today" and "Midnight Special" would see official release two years later in 1993 as B-sides to the "Biker Like An Icon" single.
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