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MTV's 'Unplugged' Reborn


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MTV's 'Unplugged' Reborn With The Police, Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi

May 31, 2007, 11:00 AM ET

Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

MTV's on-again, off-again "Unplugged" program will return in a big way this summer, with new episodes featuring the Police, Bon Jovi, Kenny Chesney, Mary J. Blige and John Mayer. This time around, however, the show will be rolled out on a variety of related channels and platforms, including VH1, CMT and MTV.com.

 

Bon Jovi will usher in the 2007 edition of the series beginning June 22 on MTV. The next two evenings, VH1 and CMT will air a version of "Unplugged" specifically tailored to those channels' audiences.

 

Bon Jovi is credited with inspiring the "Unplugged" format after its stripped-down performance on the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards. The group's appearance coincides with its new country-tinged album, "Lost Highway," due June 19 via Island.

 

No information has yet been unveiled about the other tapings, although the Police will reportedly hold their "Unplugged" show in mid-July in Miami. Rumor has it the group is also mulling the release of an album featuring acoustic renditions of old materia

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  • 2 months later...
Legacy Refurbishes Vintage 'Unplugged' Albums

Mariah Carey

August 09, 2007, 12:05 PM ET

Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

Columbia/Legacy will on Sept. 18 reissue four vintage "MTV Unplugged" albums from Mariah Carey, Alice In Chains, Tony Bennett and Bob Dylan. Each package also includes a DVD with previously unreleased tracks and extras.

 

Carey's "Unplugged," recorded in 1992, is expanded here with three music videos, an interview, behind-the-scenes clips and the artist's own home movies. Alice In Chains' session, taped in April 1996, will feature the previously unaired songs "Frogs," "Angry Chair" and "The Killer Is Me."

 

Bennett's "Unplugged," which introduced his music to a new generation of listeners in the throes of grunge, includes the previously unreleased audio tracks "(Just a) Little Street Where Old Friends Meet" and "When Do the Bells Ring for Me." The DVD boasts the music video for "Steppin' Out With My Baby" and interviews with Bennett and Elvis Costello.

 

Meanwhile, Dylan's release appends "Dignity" to the CD portion as well as "Tombstone Blues," "John Brown" and "Desolation Row" to the Dvd.

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Bon fucking Jovi... urgh... of all the bands that would work really well in this setting, that sounds like torture...

 

Any more info on bands featuring other than The Police?? Not really sure how that'd work...

 

Dylan's unplugged is really good. The early versions of it had a awful looped crowd applause during Knockin' on Heaven's Door that drove me insane...

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"Meanwhile, Dylan's release appends "Dignity" to the CD portion as well as "Tombstone Blues," "John Brown" and "Desolation Row" to the Dvd."

 

I just returned from the library and picked up the DVD of Dylan unplugged that came out a while back and it's got these four tunes on it already....

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"Meanwhile, Dylan's release appends "Dignity" to the CD portion as well as "Tombstone Blues," "John Brown" and "Desolation Row" to the Dvd."

 

I just returned from the library and picked up the DVD of Dylan unplugged that came out a while back and it's got these four tunes on it already....

 

Yeah, I was going to say that. They are also the best songs on it, so I can't understand why they were left off the show originally. I think he did 2 nights, or something, (didn't he?) and one of them was really great (from what I've read of it), and the other one they showed on tv - go figure.

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the dylan rehearsals were really good... he didn 'Hazel' too which wasnt on the official release.

 

still the finished product does have some gems. here's what Dylan had to say about it in 1995:

 

On the eve of his MTV Unplugged album, the usually reclusive Bob

Dylan agreed to an exclusive chat about his current activities.

After a string of West Coast dates this month, he and his band

resume touring in Europe in June, then return for a full US tour this

fall. He spent three weeks in January writing new songs but

probably won't record them before 1996. What else? Read on.

Gundersen:

How did you plan this 'Unplugged' project?

Dylan:

I wasn't quite sure how to do it and what material to use. I would

have liked to do old folk songs with acoustic instruments, but

there was a lot of input from other sources as to what would be

right for the MTV audience. The record company said, "You can't

do that, it's too obscure." At one time, I would have argued, but

there's no point. OK, so what's not obscure? They said "Knockin'

on Heaven's Door."

Gundersen:

And "Like a Rolling Stone," your signature.

Dylan:

I was hearing a lot about how Eric Clapton did "Layla" acoustically

for "Unplugged." That influenced me to do the same for "Like a

Rolling Stone," but it would never get played that way normally.

Gundersen:

Would you consider an "Unplugged" sequel"?

Dylan:

I'd consider doing "Unplugged" again in a relaxed setting where I

didn't feel like I was on the spot. I felt like I had to deliver, and I

delivered something that was preconceived for me. That wasn't a

problem, but it wasn't necessarily what I wanted to do.

Gundersen:

Do you prefer playing acoustic over electric?

Dylan:

They're pretty much equal to me. I try not to deface the song with

electricity or non-electricity. I'd rather get something out of the

song verbally and phonetically than depend on tonality of

instruments.

Gundersen:

Was performing before TV cameras difficult?

Dylan:

It's hard to rise above some lukewarm attitude toward TV. I've

never catered to that medium. It doesn't really pay off for me.

Gundersen:

Was the studio audience a typical Dylan crowd?

Dylan:

I'd never seen them before. (Laughs) As I recall, they were in the

polite category.

Gundersen:

Did you approve of the finished show?

Dylan:

I can't say. I didn't see it.

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i swear i heard a story a few years ago about dylan's unplugged. the first night the crowd was so lukewarm he got pissed & re-recorded it. this time w/ friends, etc.

as good as it is, i would've much rather heard him do old folk songs. fuckin' mtv

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Wasn't it Neil Young that showed up and played certain songs two and three times because he kept screwing them up?

 

Other Notable Unplugged Appearances for me:

Nirvana -- arguably the best ever

Clapton -- simply great

Oasis -- Lead singer too drunk to play and the other Gallagher did all the singing, which was far better.

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