Paul McCartney Album: “Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)”

I've always thought that Paul was a pretty good composer, an excellent arranger, and a fine singer and bass player. But I've also always felt (and even more so after seeing him live) that Paul McCartney lives to perform. He's truly at home onstage, and puts 110% into his performances, as evidenced in his 1976 offering, "Wings Over America."

"Unplugged: The Official Bootleg" captures a totally different side of McCartney live. Instead of approximating the arena-rock experience (which is difficult to do on a record), you're treated to an intimate, informal performance -- almost as if Paul & Co. were performing in your own living room.

Yes, Bubba, you're right. This isn't a "real" bootleg. It was released within weeks of the MTV Unplugged performance, specifically designed to beat the bootleggers to market. Paul's original idea was that it would be a "real" bootleg, manufactured at a plant other than Capitol's, and distributed underground through the same means as real bootlegs.

Obviously, Capitol/Parlophone didn't like that idea, and so Paul compromised, limiting production to 250,000 copies in the US and another 250,000 in the UK. Those 250,000 copies US sold out in the first week, peaking at #14 in Billboard (not too shabby), then dropping off because there weren't any more copies to be sold. Until now, only Japan has continued to produce the CD, and now, thankfully, it seems to be back in production again Stateside.

I bought the CD on the day of release in 1991 (I didn't even own a CD player yet), and the VINYL LP (yes, really!) two days later. It's the CD I pull out when I want to "introduce" naysayers to McCartney.

MTV Unplugged was the perfect setting for Paul McCartney. During his 1976 tour, he would perform acoustic songs with the band while sitting on stools, so the Unplugged format was a good fit. He gives a sterling performance by mixing covers with lesser known solo hits. Songs like "Every Night" & "Junk" get a new life and sound fresh. The covers including a superb version of "Singing The Blues" show how he has the ability to make someone else's song sound all his own. Unplugged gives the fans a chance to experience a legend in a small setting.

Although I never cared too much about the "Unplugged"-series, this album is really good. A lot of my friends, not being McCartney-fans, do like this album: it is cheerful, intimate and relaxed. A nice variety of songs from his (pre-) Beatles and solo years are skillfully played. I have never understood why this album is relatively unknown.

Highly recommended to people who just like good music or the "Unplugged"-series!

One of the first unplugged albums, when part of the tv show concept was to do an acoustic fresh set, and not the type of over-produced-rehearsed ready to be released as an album type of thing. So thats great. Youll hear Paul making mistakes, forgetting the lyrics to the songs, and chatting with the audience. So it is unique. He tries some songs just for the fun of it. Great liner notes by the way. I lost my little girl is the first song he ever wrote and on aint no sunshine he plays drums. The most informal set you can imagine, but coming from an ex-beatle, and in these days that every detail is polish and artificially perfected, comes as a very pleasent surprise. I wish he had released the up-close show as well on Cd.

This was a great find! A must-have for any Beatles, Wings, or Paul McCartney fan. A wonderful, intimate-feeling CD.