Unplugged (1991) 

 


  1. Be-Bob-A-Lula
  2. I Lost My Little Girl
  3. Here, There and Everywhere
  4. Blue Moon of Kentucky
  5. We Can Work it Out
  6. San Francisco Bay Blues
  7. I've Just Seen a Face
  8. Every Night
  9. She's a Woman
  10.Hi-Heel Sneakers
  11.And I Lover Her
  12.That Would Be Something
  13.Blackbird
  14.Ain't No Sunshine
  15.Good Rocking Tonight
  16.Singing the Blues
  17.Junk

 

Coming hot on the heels of the sprawling, arena-shaking Tripping the Live Fantastic, Paul McCartney’s Unplugged album feels like a conscious gear shift—a sharp 180-degree turn from stadium bombast to coffeehouse intimacy. Gone are the lasers, the crowds, and the sweeping Beatles epics. In their place: a modest audience, a small band, and Paul, quite literally unplugged. If the first album screamed “legacy,” this one quietly mutters “back to basics.”

The title, Unplugged-The Official Bootleg, is something of a contradiction—less an underground recording than a deliberately lo-fi, fan-friendly release. For a while, the album became something of a collector’s item, going out of print shortly after its release in 1991. Copies were whispered about with hushed reverence in certain circles. It’s now widely available again, and with the mythos dialed down, what’s left is a warm, pleasantly modest affair.

Give McCartney a guitar, a microphone, and a forgiving audience, and odds are he’ll make it work. And he does here, mostly. The performance is relaxed and playful, as if Paul were doing a set for friends in a local pub rather than for posterity. He sounds like he’s enjoying himself—though the audience, curiously, sounds more sedated than elated. Polite applause, gentle chuckles, a kind of reverent hush. One might have expected a bit more enthusiasm from people seated just feet away from a living legend.

As for the material, it’s an odd mix. McCartney steers away from obvious crowd-pleasers, opting instead for a selection of 1950s and early ’60s rock ’n’ roll obscurities, lesser-known Beatles cuts, and a few solo deep tracks. It’s charming, but also frustrating. After all, Paul’s catalogue is overflowing with brilliant, underplayed songs of his own—yet here he is, again, covering material that overlaps with his recent Soviet-only covers album CHOBA B CCCP. The repetition feels unnecessary, and one can’t help but wish he’d used the opportunity to dig into his own vast back catalogue instead.

Still, there’s no denying the album’s appeal. It’s loose, unpretentious, and filled with warmth—traits often lost in McCartney’s more polished studio output. Critics and fans alike have lavished praise on it, and with good reason. But for all its easygoing charm, Unplugged feels a bit like a bonus feature rather than a main attraction. Pleasant, yes. Essential? Not quite.

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