Not Quite an Unknown Legend

Once again I’m looking at the most quintessential unplugged albums from the 1990s. Regular readers of this site will already know that Neil Young is one of our perennial favorites. Among other things, his Unplugged album, serves as a great introduction to his music for those less familiar with his work.

Neil Young – Unplugged (1993)

It’s been more than 15 years since this album came out. Critics and fans alike might say that he is the one guy who really doesn’t need an unplugged album. It seems like ever other album he does is an acoustic-flavored one anyway. But part of the unplugged thing is the performance aspect that shows off your talents with only a guitar and a mic.

Realistically, Neil could do have done an unplugged album at any stage of his career. He’s never been a guy to follow trends or sell out, so it’s interesting that he went for MTV Unplugged when everybody else had already signed on. Part of me likes to think he was doing it just to show all the other wannabes how it is supposed to be done.

Neil Young Unplugged has all the looseness one expects from a Neil Young show. It’s not without its passion either. Among the 14 tracks are some songs that rival the original versions. My personal favorite is the extraordinary version of Helpless, which always makes me think of a perfect summer night. There are a few tracks from his Harvest Moon album which sound like they could still use a little work; but they don’t detract from the feeling that Neil just walked out on stage and did his thing. You can’t help but think that if he recorded this on another night the choice of songs might be different. He turns in a great performance and makes doing an unplugged album feel like a no-brainer.

Die hard Neil Young fans will be happy to know that three of the songs from this album have already been used as lessons here on Guitar Noise – they are: Harvest Moon, Like A Hurricane and The Needle and the Damage Done.