![]() ![]() ![]() MTV Unplugged is a vastly different album compared to Nirvana and Alice In Chains – the former’s set comprised largely of covers and deep cuts while the latter largely avoided their hits – as Pearl Jam perform some of their biggest tracks from their massive debut album, Ten, released the previous year in a stripped-down, bare bones fashion that remains fresh, energized, and, somehow, hard-hitting. Having achieved mythological status among the greatest MTV Unplugged concerts, Pearl Jam lives up to near 30 years of hype on their latest live record. Much like Vedder’s political actions, “Porch” is a relentless closer that brings MTV Unplugged to a climatic close. For a closer, Pearl Jam dives into the fast paced and intense “Porch” which will likely best be remembered as Vedder took the chance to write “pro-choice” on his arms during the performance – a massive act of protest when you consider how big the band was quickly becoming and the audience they were reaching through MTV. ![]() Much like “Alive”, “Even Flow” again brings a driving rock performance to the acoustic setting. Vedder’s vocals and ability to bring a raw sense of emotion to his performance particularly shines here. “Alive” with its lengthy solo section certainly brings a a show-stopping sense of excitement, while ballads “Black” and “Jeremy” feel like a natural shift from electric to acoustic. The remaining five songs take the listener through some of Pearl Jam’s biggest hits from Ten. It is here that one will notice that rather than write alternative arrangements or choose a selection of songs that would lend themselves to an acoustic setting, Pearl Jam have simply swapped out the amps for acoustic guitars and, in a refreshing twist, have maintained the feel, integrity, and style of their work which, in some sense brings a different sense of life to the performance and, ultimately, makes for a unique acoustic performance, even 28 years later. The band, consisting of Mike McCready and Stone Gossard on acoustic guitars, Jeff Ament with a subdued but plugged in bass, and original drummer Dave Abbruzzese, follow Vedder through the soaring artistic highs of the alternative ballad before kicking off into the up-tempo hard-rocking – and originally unreleased B-side, “State Of Love And Trust”. Opening with the lush chords and Eddie Vedder’s melodic musings on “Oceans”, MTV Unplugged gets off to a slow introduction that quickly grows in scale and intensity. Having been issued on vinyl for Record Store Day 2019, Pearl Jam have now officially released MTV Unplugged on all platforms to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their first ever performance as a band. While few, if any, will ever surpass the live albums from Nirvana and Alice In Chains’ respective sessions, Pearl Jam’s 1992 concert has long been sought out as a bootleg. Now I'm always up for five or six acoustic songs somewhere in the middle of a set, because you just hear him in a way I find so pleasing.MTV’s unplugged concert series spawned iconic performances throughout the ‘90s. “ showed that Ed could really be in that kind of a setting, and really, I'm sure we learned something about that, too. “We relied a lot on the noise and the wildness of our shows to generate energy,” Gossard says. You can hear his voice unleashed here, free of expectations or Ten’s infamous reverb, jumping octaves on “Black” and erupting over time on “Porch.” Every emotion was laid bare, a rarity in stadium-ready rock. In stripping their songs down-nearly all of them pulled from the band’s 1991 debut, Ten-they took note of what made them so powerful: the melodic contours of “Oceans” and “Alive” (their only single at the time), the natural dynamism of “State of Love and Trust” and “Even Flow.” Most enlightening was the performance of frontman Eddie Vedder, who still found a way to captivate in the relative cold of a TV studio environment, without a crowd to surf or walls to climb. “But we had played very little acoustically.” ![]() When the set eventually aired in May of that year, it was both a revelation and an introduction. Recorded just three days after they’d completed their first European tour-at midnight, immediately following tapings by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men-the all-acoustic set came at a formative moment for Pearl Jam: Far from being a household name, the Seattle outfit were on their initial ascent, figuring themselves out just as they were about to very quickly (and unexpectedly) become icons. “I remember being nervous,” Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard tells Apple Music of performing for MTV’s Unplugged in March 1992. ![]()
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