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Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)
Live album by
Paul McCartney
Released20 May 1991 (UK)
4 June 1991 (US)
Recorded25 January 1991
GenreAcoustic, folk, country, blues
Length58:29
LabelParlophone
ProducerPaul McCartney
Paul McCartney chronology
Tripping the Live Fantastic
(1990) 		Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)
(1991) 		Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio
(1991)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
The Essential Rock Discography6/10[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[4]

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 took the opportunity to strip back his songs and appear on the acoustic-only show MTV Unplugged, which had only been on air for over a year at that point. Subsequently, McCartney was the first in a long line of artists to release an album of their performance on the show.[5]

Unlike other artists who appeared on the show with acoustic instruments plugged into amplifiers, McCartney's instruments were entirely 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 bring out some of his rarer tracks, including three from his 1970 debut album McCartney, alongside several covers and amid a number of familiar Beatles hits.

Songs

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". Songs 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", "Mean Woman Blues", and "Midnight Special" would see official release two years later in 1993 as B-sides to the "Biker Like an Icon" single.

Release

Critical response to Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) was very warm. Initially released in a limited edition, individually numbered run in 1991, Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)—with artwork that recalls Снова в СССР's—was reissued in a more permanent fashion in the late 1990s. Upon its original issue, it reached number 7 in the UK and became McCartney's highest-peaking US album in almost ten years, reaching number 14.

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Be-Bop-A-Lula"Gene Vincent / Tex Davis4:04
2."I Lost My Little Girl"Paul McCartney1:45
3."Here, There and Everywhere"John Lennon–Paul McCartney3:16
4."Blue Moon of Kentucky"Bill Monroe4:21
5."We Can Work It Out"John Lennon–Paul McCartney2:48
6."San Francisco Bay Blues"Jesse Fuller3:29
7."I've Just Seen a Face"John Lennon–Paul McCartney3:01
8."Every Night"Paul McCartney3:24
9."She's a Woman"John Lennon–Paul McCartney3:39
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Hi-Heel Sneakers"Robert Higginbotham4:08
2."And I Love Her"John Lennon–Paul McCartney4:17
3."That Would Be Something"Paul McCartney4:02
4."Blackbird"John Lennon–Paul McCartney2:09
5."Ain't No Sunshine"Bill Withers4:05
6."Good Rockin' Tonight"Roy Brown3:42
7."Singing the Blues"Melvin Endsley3:46
8."Junk" (instrumental)Paul McCartney2:26

Personnel

Charts

Chart performance for Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)
Chart (1991) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[6] 81
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[7] 42
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[8] 13
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[9] 20
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[10] 39
UK Albums (OCC)[11] 7
US Billboard 200[12] 14

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Unplugged at AllMusic
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th edn). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 1257. ISBN 0-19-531373-9.
  3. ^ Strong, Martin C. (2006). The Essential Rock Discography. Edinburgh, UK: Canongate. p. 696. ISBN 978-1-84195-827-9.
  4. ^ Randall, Mac; Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds) (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th edn). New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. p. 526. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  5. ^ "This Day in History: Nov 26, 1989: MTV Unplugged premieres". History. Archived from the original on 7 March 2010.
  6. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 181.
  7. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Paul McCartney – Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  8. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Paul McCartney – Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  9. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Paul McCartney – Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  10. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Paul McCartney – Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  11. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  12. ^ "Paul McCartney Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
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