Best unplugged live

Not a fan of Alice in Chains but I respect your taste in music.  Started to post my favorite but got to thinking about it and did some googling and found there are a lot of them that I've never heard.  I think I've found an area to do some searching and listening. thanks for posting.  --JErry

Of the ones I've heard, Nirvana.... 

Claptons' Unplugged kind of set the table for those that followed in my mind, Nirvanas was quite good as well. Enjoy the music

I agree Eric's performance was awesome. Rod Stewart and Ron Wood setlist was also enjoyable. 

I would also like to add the first half of CSN&Ys album 4 Way Street which was done acoustically.

Have to agree with @carlsbad , going to be doing a little digging, didn't realize the sheer number of unplugged albums.

@tooblue 

Yes, and reading they were on each others nerves when it was recorded. I think they sounded great! 

I'm going to nominate - Rust Never Sleeps - Side 1 

Neil and Crazy Horse 

@voodoolounge thanks for starting this thread, it has opened my eyes to a lot of albums I did not know were out there or just decided to ignore. Of the few I have, I bought on a whim but really like and enjoy.

@tooblue 

You're welcome ✌

Not live I think, but half of "Giant Step" by Taj Mahal is acoustic.

Great double LP.

DeKay

Try to find

The Pretenders - Isle of View. (tip:a wordplay) 

It got so boring after awhile because everyone felt compelled to do it. And then it just died out like anything else where sheep are following sheep are following sheep. I enjoyed Nirvana when it first aired but let's go with whoever did it first. Was it Clapton? Go Eric.

Okay, mainly talking about how trendy it became with the grunge bands...the novelty was the contrast between hard noise and soft acoustic. What if the Sex Pistols had done an acoustic version of Never Mind The Bollocks? Same thing. It would've blown minds. The contrast.

I didn't care much for Clapton's effort.  I found myself cringing.  I'm sure I am alone in this; perhaps I'm missing the point.

Not exactly. To be honest, and I've listened to most of his stuff beginning with The Yardbirds, the only Clapton record I ever liked was Disraeli Gears, probably helped by the fact that my original pressing just sounds so good. But I respect that he is held in such high regard by fans and musicians. They obviously hear something that I don't. It's all good.

I'm a big fan of all unplugged performances (MTV). Here are some of my favorites:

1. Rolling Stones - Stripped

2. Eric Clapton - Unplugged (MTV)

3. Nirvana - Unplugged (MTV)

4. Paul McCartney (MTV) - although not sure if a vinyl version is available

5. REM Unplugged (MTV)

+1 on Stripped. Start with Not fade away and come around back to SFM and Like a Rolling Stone. Much better mix that way imho.

unplugged was, imo, one of the few redeeming offerings from mtv

too bad it is no more, except for the occasional special

i think one problem is that fewer and fewer pop - rock artists have the musical chops to do an unplugged performance (and it is work... alot of work... to adapt the material, and even then, it is like a great monitor speaker... it shows you exactly what you got... or don't got... )

@jjss49 - I agree. There is no purer form of expression. So many electrified  compositions were composed on acoustic Instruments. I too believe it is a by gone era, and you would be hard pressed to find a few to perform at that level.

I only have Nirvana - "Unplugged" on vinyl. It's pretty good, if you are a Nirvana fan (I'm not much of a fan).

I have "The Unplugged Collection, Volume One" on CD as well. It's a collection of songs, one from each artist, from the early Unplugged sessions. There are some really good tracks in the collection. My favorite might be - Elvis Costello "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror".

If you want to hear a really great acoustic album, from a modern electric rock band, check out - Band of Horses - "Acoustic at the Ryman". I find the acoustic arrangements of the chosen selections to be fantastic.

Alice in Chains, definitely one of my favorite. 

For you that lost faith.

Sara Bareilles - Brave Enough: Live at the Variety Playhouse

Full dynamics

MTV could have kept this series on -air.

Happy Listening!

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Endangered Species

Sorry, but Band of Horses is just the support act here :)

KD Lang MTV unplugged...wow

Newbie here, sorry for popping in. I own several MTV unplugged CDs, and most of them are extremely well recorded (IMO)....here are some recommendations

MTV Unplugged - 10,000 maniacs (With David Byrne on a 3 tracks)

MTV Unplugged - Alice in Chains

Unplugged - Neil Young

MTV Unplugged - Florence & The Machine

MTV Unplugged - Pearl Jam

MTV Unplugged (UK) - Stone Temple Pilots (with Scott Weiland, very hard to find)

MTV Unplugged - Alanis Morissette

Unplugged and Seated (Having a Party) - Rod Stewart with Ronnie Wood

In Concert/MTV Plugged - Bruce Springsteen

No Quarter (MTV Unleaded) - Page and Plant

Unplugged (Live at Hull City Hall) - Liam Gallagher

Not MTV unplugged, but a favorite live recording Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus

+1 on 'Rust Never Sleeps' by Neil Young & The Crazy Horse.

+1 on 'MTV Unplugged' by 10,000 Maniacs

I also really like 'The Hits Unplugged' by Foreigner.  Very well done.

The Scorpions Unplugged on MTV I thought was pretty good. 

Disclaimer #1: I have been a Neil Young fan since “After The Gold Rush” was imprinted onto my 14 year-old brain. Disclaimer #2, I have listened to perhaps a half dozen of the series. On Neil’s unplugged album, the pared down approach fit his music perfectly. He played “Like A Hurricane” on a pump organ in the style of a haunted sea shanty. That recording still speaks to me. 
 

I liked the Nirvana and Eric Clapton recordings also. 

@vthokie83  - Newbie here, sorry for popping in.

Welcome to AudiogoN! No reason to be sorry. Everyone has a first post and your input is welcome. Hope to see you around. AudiogoN is billed as "The High End Audio Community", however many of the most popular threads are music related. Feel free to post or comment on any of the audio equipment threads or any of the music threads.

@vthokie83   great list!  I need to check some of those out I haven’t heard.

Thank you for the warm welcome, I'll be seeing you guys around the threads....first time posting, but I've been lurking getting ideas for the last 6 months or so.

I am remodeling the first floor of my house, and am replacing almost all of my gear. The agreement with my wife, just get rid of my floor standing Thiel 3.6 speakers (she thinks they are ugly) and go to bookshelfs....and she's good with it. Not sure she had any clue of the consequences of that statement, but I will have to hide the sub somewhere.

@vthokie83  - Wow, replacing Thiel 3.6 floorstanders with bookshelf speakers is going to be a tough one, and possibly/probably expensive! Good luck with it. Are you going to also try to integrate a subwoofer into the system? Have you seen the (very popular) Thiel Speaker thread here on AudiogoN? You might want to post on that thread asking for input on replacements.

Curious if you have started a list of potential replacement bookshelf speakers? 

Anyway, good luck, and enjoy the music.

Nirvana & Alice In Chains

More of a departure, presentation-wise, than the other Unplugged shows, thereby providing a more interesting take on their music.  The fact that, in both cases, the shows were so good speaks to the quality of their songwriting.  The cello in Nirvana’s case was beautiful, and the live vocal harmonies really shone in both cases (but especially Alice In Chains)

Hearing Nirvana do Bowie, Vaselines, Meat Puppets and Leadbelly is another plus. 

Reubent,

Yes replacing the Thiels with a bookshelf is not possible in my budget. But I'm 15 years older than when I bought them, and my listening style has changed dramatically as I've reached 60. I think I can be satisfied with a $3,000ish pair of bookshelfs, and a REL T/5X or T/7X.....especially if I pair them with great electronics. Right now purchased a Denafrips Pontus II D, AC and am strongly considering a Nuprime Audio AMG STA amp.....if I can figure out the volume control issue.

Thought of some more great live recordings in my collection, even if the recording quality is less than perfect the performances make up for it: Talking Heads Stop Making Sense, Eagles Hell Freezes Over, Allman Brothers Live at Filmore East, Cheap Trick Live at Budokan, Lynyrd Skynyrd One More For/From The Road, Bob Seger Live Bullet, Aretha Live at Filmore West, Rush Exit Stage Left, and of course the previously mentioned Little Feat Waiting for Columbus which is prior to Lowell George's deat.

Hey Newbie here again, and not sure how to go about this.

I have most of my system purchased or settled on, but I'm still overwhelmed on speaker matching. I've over indulged on speaker research, and would like to post my  system and get some feedback on good matches. Just want to make sure I post in the proper thread. Thank you in advance.

RDK777:

McCartney unplugged in 1991 was excellent. Even more so on vinyl

"Paul McCartney Unplugged the official bootleg"

It is an MPL production but available only as a Hispa Vox (Spanish) pressing. It sounds great.

@vthokie83 - You can post your system under "virtual systems"

From the home page - www,audiogon.com, click on "explore" on the yellow banner. You'll see "virtual systems" in the drop down menu". Click on virtual systems and there will be a "create system" button in the yellow banner.

You can post your system there. You could also just post create a new post, probably in the speaker forum, asking for assistance. Just list your system components in the post.

Good luck....

Thank you Reubent, greatly appreciated.

Larry Carlton w/ Robben Ford unplugged 2013 - Rio Samba is blissfully toxic

Here's another I just discovered on Qobuz...great recording!

Hot Tuna - 1969 Live at the New Orleans house - Berkeley CA

Thanks! Jorma & Jack

The Scorpions. Unplugged.

I sort of like their electric guitar work, but this acoustic set is really something. I prefer it to the original hit versions.

ozzy

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds “Live at Radio City”.

 Nothing like acoustic guitars flying around the room like bats!

Hi gents! Maybe you could assist with some speaker requests. I have posted my system, but a swamped with speaker recommendation......and I'm kind of frozen with indecision. Please let me know if you have any suggestions, or if I should just bugger off

Brian

Clapton’s album had its moments.  k.d.lang is excellent at anything she does, but the one unplugged event I play regularly is Joe Bonamasa’s, “Live at the Vienna Opera House”.

Just recently, I’ve been turned on to the Jerry Garcia and John Grisman offerings they did in te1990s.

From Wikipedia: The series first aired November 26, 1989, featuring Squeeze, Syd Straw and Elliot Easton. 

The Corrs unplugged