It was twenty years ago today that Clapton recorded the Unpugged show in front of 300 people. It is Clapton's biggest selling record to date, the first Diamond Record Award (sales of more than 10 million) and won three Grammy Awards.

The Guitars
Jose Ramirez III nylon string classical guitar
1939 Martin 000-42, serial #73234, sold for US$ 791,500 at the Crossroads Guitar Auction 2004
1966 Martin 000-28 (converted to Style 000-45 pearl inlay by Mike Longworth), serial #208511, sold for US$ 186,700 at the Crossroads Guitar Auction 2004
Martin D-12-20 12 string guitar
Dobro in open G tuning (pre-war model, bought in the 70's from George Gruhn's shop in Nashville with a Martin style replacement neck put on it by Randy Wood

Much like the Les Paul in 1966 and the Stratocaster in 1970, Eric Clapton saved the small body Martin guitars. Around this time, Martin had pared down their line, putting most of the focus on dreadnoughts.

(The following info is from Where's Eric.)
The Eric Clapton MTV Unplugged Band
Eric Clapton – guitar / vocals
Andy Fairweather Low – guitar
Nathan East – bass
Steve Ferrone – drums
Ray Cooper – percussion
Chuck Leavell – keyboards
Katie Kissoon – backing vocals
Tessa Niles – backing vocals

The Complete Performance Set List
01. Signe
02. Before You Accuse Me
03. Hey Hey
04. Tears In Heaven (not broadcast / unissued)
05. Circus Left Town (TV broadcast only / unissued)
06. Lonely Stranger
07. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out
08. Layla
09. Signe – Take 2 (not broadcast / unissued)
10. My Father’s Eyes (not broadcast / unissued)
11. Running On Faith
12. Walking Blues (not broadcast / unissued)
13. Alberta
14. San Francisco Bay Blues (not broadcast / unissued)
15. Malted Milk (not broadcast / unissued)
16. Signe – Take 3 (not broadcast / unissued)
17. Tears In Heaven – Take 2
18. My Father’s Eyes – Take 2 (not broadcast / unissued)
19. Rollin’ And Tumblin’
20. Running On Faith – Take 2 (not broadcast / unissued)
21. Walking Blues – Take 2
22. San Francisco Bay Blues – Take 2
23. Malted Milk – Take 2
24. Worried Life Blues (not broadcast / unissued)
25. Old Love

MTV Original Broadcast Version
Debuted 11 March 1992 in the US and 27 an 29 March in the UK
01. Before You Accuse Me
02. Lonely Stranger
03. Running On Faith
04. Nobody Knows You
05. Layla
06. Tears In Heaven
07. Circus Left Town
08. Alberta
09. Rolling And Tumbling
10. Old Love

MTV “Part 2” Broadcast
Debuted June 1992
01. Walking Blues
02. Hey Hey
03. Layla
04. Rollin’ And Tumblin’
05. Signe
06. Malted Milk

Audio and Video Track List (All Formats)
01. Signe
02. Before You Accuse Me
03. Hey Hey
04. Tears In Heaven
05. Lonely Stranger
06. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
07. Layla
08. Running On Faith
09. Walkin' Blues
10. Alberta
11. San Francisco Bay Blues
12. Malted Milk
13. Old Love
14. Rollin' & Tumblin'

Wouldn't have to keep editing if I could spell right the two times.

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Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.-Khalil Gibran

Krab...Great Post and Very Thorough! Nice walk down memory lane. I loved all these songs, but Old Love and Running on Faith are my favorites. When EC plays a dobro, seems like time stands still. I always thought his acoustic stuff from 461 Ocean Blvd never got enough attention...Let it Grow and Please Be With Me are just great tunes. Heck I even like most of the songs off of Theres One In Every Crowd...High, Opposites, and Pretty Blue Eyes are just great songs...listening to them now...uh-oh, I guess that belongs in a different post!

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

I had no idea that was 20 years ago today until I read this post, but for some reason I had to listen to Unplugged today. Thanks for sharing.

Good lord, for that bit of research you should qualify for some sort of an award, nice job.
----Danny,

Really disliked this EC phase. I like him in hardcore electric blues mode, not in pipe and slippers mode. I mean Bluesbreakers and Cream compared to this unplugged stuff no contest. Unplugged is what people do when they can't think of anything else to do

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

Grogon: I can think of lots of things to do, and listoning to Clapton unplugged is definitely one of them. Have you ever heard Bonamassa or SRV unplugged, how about Hendrix or Richards or maybe Harrison. I guess not.
----Danny,

There is something about watching SRV just destroy that 12 string. The man played so hard he cracked the neck on it. Very powerful playing. Clapton's Unplugged was a game changer for me. This was the record that got me into acoustic music. It showed me how great music from before the 1980's could be.As a 13 year old musician, it did a lot to open my eyes, to make me a better musician and a better music fan. It also showed me less really can be more. That you didn't need a bunch of flashy guitar pedals to make great music.

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Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.-Khalil Gibran

You can't eat cake all the time. It is nice to have a salad every once in a while.

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Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.-Khalil Gibran

Kreb: when I was a tiny boy, Less is all there was. You either accepted it or you had nothing There was no alternative. I first became aware of guitar music while setting on the porch in the evening With my Grandpa. He was in his 50's at the time and loved to pick out an old song by jimmy Rogers the singing brakeman, or Woody Guthrie or someone like that. He wasn't a great guitar player but he kept me interested, and started a fire in me that exists even today some 64/5 years later. There's nothing that bends my ear quicker than finger Picking an old slide guitar. I swear I get more enjoyment out of my acoustic guitar than any of my other instruments except maybe one of my Harmonicas. I love the old stuff, and I love the acoustic guitar. It's the most beautiful music on earth. Sorry for the rant.
----Danny,

Happy Birthday Unplugged!!!!

We still love that album!!!!

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EC is the best

Eric unplugged is good when it's just him and his guitar but i don't like it when he's doing Robert Johnson songs backed by a full group, i just don't like the sound. Also Layla unplugged is simply dreadful a complete parody of the original song. I( don't listen to Bonamassa and have never heard much of him. Harrison the same i don't listen to him. SRV hardly ever played an acoustic guitar from what i hear, apart from doing that unplugged thing and playing his old national.

Fact is the majority of Clapton blues fans were pretty turned off that album, it really was middle of the road and terrible. Listen to Layla, bluesbreakers, disraeli gears and then listen to that. It's not even funny i tell you.

This was simply an attempt by Eric to cash in on the whole unplugged MTV thing. At the end of the day that's ok as long as i don't ever have to hear it. I prefer hearing Eric play with a bit of fire in his belly like with those videos i posted of him soloing with the Allman's. That's the real stuff there.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

As a huge lifelong EC fan, I am qualified to say Unplugged was an excellent show and disc.

Was it equal to Cream, Derek and the Dominoes or some of his other classic work?
Maybe not, but it was by no means "bad"; I saw it as an artist growing and branching out...he had been to Hades and back (drug and alcohol addictions, failure of a marriage--his fault, not hers--and the loss of a child), and he (on a personal level) probably needed a change of pace, a chance to sit down and explore some different aspects of his craft.

I'll admit that Unplugged came out at a time when I needed to slow down and reassess my life, too (bad relationship, false friends, bad job and education decisions) so maybe I'm projecting my feelings onto him. But the disc, song choices and performances are all primo, in my opinion.

I think the period between "Journeyman" and "From the Cradle" was a great phase; in that timeframe, he released "Journeyman", the soundtrack to "Rush", "24 Nights", "Unplugged", and then one of my favorite EC discs, "From the Cradle".

I even enjoyed Riding With the King, Road to Escondido and the (inspired by/tribute to) Robert Johnson discs.

Just my humble opinion, but I haven't liked a few of his more recent solo discs--"Pilgrim" was overproduced (I blame the choice of Babyface as producer more than the material--those songs are excellent when performed live), "Reptile" and "Going Home" don't do it for me...but if this is the music that makes him happy, that's ok, because he's made plenty of music that made me happy in the previous forty-plus years.

"Unplugged" is a brilliant disc.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

The people that gripe about the fact that Eric Clapton "changed" are the same ones that gripe that Carlos Santana hasn't.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

You know it was MTV who came to Clapton and asked him to do this? And you know he had to be talked into releasing it as a record? That even at the Grammy show he still was thinking it was a bad idea?

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Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.-Khalil Gibran

It was a bad idea IMO. I would have liked Eric to do a 100% solo acoustic show, now that would have been great. I've seen him do old blues songs solo so he can do it. The acoustic band watered down approach just seemed like a cop out and made vital blues music into cocktail music. That acoustic version of Layla was embarrassing.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.