Disco de Mariah Carey: “MTV Unplugged EP”

This Mariah's 3rd album, a live album so the public can see that she is really the one singing in her albums and to justify why until that moment she hasn't had a national tour, she hits every can on known note and the public respond very weel to them.

The album has only 7 songs: 2 from the Album Mariah Carey, 4 from her Emotions album and 1 extra, a cover from the Jackson 5 hit, I'll be there which she sinhs with her back up singer Troy Lorenz.

1. Emotions.- Great vocal, sounds great live. 10/10

2. If it's over.- Not a single but one of her favorite songs, great voice. 9/10

3. Someday.- Great use of her back up vocals, the rap sound very nice, very fun song. 10/10

4. Vision of love.- Her trade mark song, she demostrates here the power of her voice, she reaches very high notes and the song sounds incredible. 10/10

5. Make it happen.- Her latter single up to that date, lot of back up vocals. 9/10

6. I'll be there.- The "new song" in this set, a remake from the Jackson 5 song, this one sounds so good, her voice has a melancholic tone that I really like, perfect. 10/10

7. Can't let go.- Nice ballad, nice performance. 9/10

Boy, she can really sing....

This, her debut album Mariah Carey, and Emotions are the best Mariah albums. This one is so amazing in particular. None of the songs are bad and she sings her heart out on them all. I could put this album on repeat and listen to it for hours. If you're wondering if you should buy it - do. It's an amazing album and really beings the best out of her and her voice. She isn't as glossy sounding as she is on her albums, but in a good way. You can hear the rawness of her voice and the soul in her voice much more and she lets go and sings passionately & sounds like she's having a lot of fun.

Emotions - So great. She started out the song with a different intro, then went into the song as it is on the album. She hits the high notes perfectly, silencing the critics. The audience goes crazy. She did an amazing job singing this song live.

If It's Over - Perfection. I personally love this one better than the album version. It's sung amazingly and with a lot of emotion. You can tell this song meant a lot to her. Singing it live brought the best out of it.

Someday - This live version is fun & she lets her backup singers sing right out front a bit more. She sounds like she's having the time of her life and the high note at the end is not forced sounding like the album version. This version isn't as aggressive as the studio version; it's more fun and carefree.

Vision Of Love - Her voice sounded a bit tired here, but she sang it amazingly. I prefer the album version though & I've heard her sing this song better live at different performances. Still great though.

Make It Happen - So much better than the album version. She took a boring, poppy song and made it a bit jazzy and upbeat. Vocally it's great and outshines the original version from the album hands down.

I'll Be There - Trey Lorenz joins her and they cover the Jackson's hit. It's pretty and sung well. Trey has a great voice too. No wonder it went to #1.

Can't Let Go - Her backup singers start singing it after the show was ending and Mariah seems surprised. She giggles and tells the audience that she is going to sing it for them because she is so happy that they made her feel at home and she wants to thank them. This one shows the emotion that the album version lacked and is more raw and less poppy. It's vocally better in my opinion. It's sweet, because in a way she was letting the audience know she 'Can't Let Go' of them because it was nearing the end of the MTV Unpligged performance. The end of the song has her thanking the audience for coming and telling them she loves them.

Starting with the MTV Unplugged EP critics started being kinder to Carey's releases. A strange phenomenon, perhaps, but this EP did tap into many good things in Carey's artistic makeup that she would eventually lose over subsequent years.

First, her gospel influence. With backup singers (most notable being duet partner Trey Lorenz) who match her vocal prowess note for note, Carey manages to evoke much more of a communal spirit on this EP than on other albums, where hers is often the only voice heard on a song. Second, spontaneity. Carey's studio albums (especially since Music Box) are so crammed with studio polish that it's good to hear her in a live setting for once, intimate and relaxed instead of overblown and bombastic. Finally, the song selection and arrangements. This EP is like many others in the Unplugged series in reducing certain formulas to basics and thus enhancing an artist's sound through elegant simplicity. Piano and live drums, live backup singers and bass...a nicely spare accompaniment to Carey's singing, which is more facile and expressive here than on any other release.

And the song selection is nice, with beautifully voiced Jackson 5 cover "I'll Be There" being the flagship hit. The Carole King collaboration "If It's Over" sounds perfectly at home in this small setting, and this EP/unplugged version of "Make It Happen" beats the studio version on Emotions by a mile, sounding joyful and spontaneous instead of asthmatic and timid as on the original. And then "Can't Let Go" acquires a closeness that eludes the original and makes the song sound more emotional, like sitting in the living room of the broken-hearted one listening to her sobbing. The lyrics may remain the high-school ramblings that Carey never outgrew, but the feeling is vastly more authentic.

An essential addition to a Carey collection because, looking over her entire catalogue, it's the only time she took a step back and discovered something wonderful in minimalism and spontaneity. After this and 1993's Music Box, it's all calculated reinventions.

Mariah meshes the songs of "Mariah Carey" and "Emotions" on this one stellar recording. She can move an audience, she can sing, look good for TV, and do it all acoustically. The only original track is her classic remake of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There". Bottom Line: Melts two of the reasons Mariah Carey is a living legend into to one. Not essential for the casual Mariah listener.

Recorded live for MTV's "Unplugged" program, this acoustic 1992 concert bears witness to Mariah's fantastic performance skills. Equipped with her astoundingly powerful, lovely pipes, Mariah pulls #1 singles and b-sides out of the studio bag and makes live magic of them. Particularly on the numbers with a gospel chorus behind her, it's clear during at even the poppiest moments that this woman testifies when she picks up the mic, with echoes of divas like Aretha Franklin and Mahalia Jackson in her riveting vibratos.

Surely another part of what enlivens concerts like this one so much is the fact that Mariah helped pen all but one song - The Jackson 5's "I'll Be There." Backed by a dynamic band and the heartthrob Trey Lorenz, Mariah lights this classic ablaze with feeling, further affirming her love for her roots while staying true to her own vocal personality. "If It's Over," co-written by Carole King, takes a more traditional R&B turn with the brassy groove of the Saturday Night Live Horns, while the hit "Vision Of Love" is just plain rapturous.