Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)

Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)
Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)
Live album by Paul McCartney
Released	20 May 1991 (UK); 4 June 1991 (US)
Recorded	25 January 1991
Genre	Acoustic, folk, country, blues
Length	58:29
Label	Parlophone
Producer	Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney chronology

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[2]
The Essential Rock Discography	6/10^[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.

^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Unplugged at AllMusic
^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th edn). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 1257. ISBN 0-19-531373-9.
^ Strong, Martin C. (2006). The Essential Rock Discography. Edinburgh, UK: Canongate. p. 696. ISBN 978-1-84195-827-9.
^ 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.
^ "This Day in History: Nov 26, 1989: MTV Unplugged premieres". History. Archived from the original on 7 March 2010.

[1] Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Unplugged at AllMusic

[Larkin-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.

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