TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/070191/0701441.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 3.5 KB | 78 lines

                                                                                MUSIC, Page 79

Look, Ma -- No Amps!


MTV's Unplugged gets high-powered rockers to loosen up and go
acoustic, but the results are still electrifying


    Elvis Costello is only 30 seconds into his set before a small
audience in a Los Angeles TV studio when -- boing! -- a broken
guitar string brings the music to a halt. During rehearsals,
Costello has already groused about the lighting and the sound,
so the tension in the wings is palpable. But the mercurial
rocker calmly accepts a new guitar and starts again, launching
into an acoustic rendition of Deep Dark Truthful Mirror. When
Costello leaves the stage nine songs and an hour later, the
audience is clamoring for more.

    For the creators of Unplugged, MTV's hit program featuring
all acoustic perform ances, such unstrung moments are part of
the fun. "Everything's last-minute, and that's the way we like
it," producer Alex Coletti says of the Costello segment, which
will air next week. "It gives the show the loose feel we want."

    Unplugged's easygoing atmosphere attracts stars. Elton
John, Paul McCartney and Sting are among the names who have
strummed or banged out their hits without the help -- or
hindrance -- of amplifiers and electric guitars. Performing
without high wattage, muses Sting, makes it necessary "to
rethink the music in terms of the arrangement, dynamics and
presentation. You are forced to excavate the structure of a song
from under layers of synthesizers and overdubbed voices."

    Performers are also drawn by the opportunity to play for
150 or so fans in a relatively intimate, informal setting.
McCartney found the experience "a bit like going back to the old
days, playing small clubs, so you get a pretty good idea of how
your set is going down." The ex-Beatle's set went down so well
that he has released a limited-edition, 500,000-copy recording
of the session, which debuted last week at No. 14 on
Billboard's chart of Top Pop Albums.

    When Unplugged was launched in January 1990, it started
out by presenting such offbeat performers as Sinead O'Connor,
Neil Young and Squeeze. Then an appearance by ex-Eagle Don
Henley "upped the ante," according to MTV creative director Judy
McGrath. Now the show regularly ranks as one of the network's
best-performing programs. In April it scored a coup by snagging
R.E.M. for one of only two concerts the band performed in the
U.S. to promote its No. 1 album, Out of Time. Last month
Unplugged broke musical ground by offering an acoustic jam
headlined by rappers L.L. Cool J and De La Soul that exposed the
R.-and-B. roots of the rap sound. "It sounded like something
that would never work," says McGrath.

    For that matter, doesn't Unplugged, with its absence of
flashy imagery and souped-up electronics, run against the whole
idea of MTV? "In some ways it sounds like it would be
anathema," McGrath concedes. "But there's something about
Unplugged that's very simple and very clear. You can appreciate
that there's somebody out there playing it one time, with no
chance to mix it or fix it."

    McGrath hopes to continue expanding Unplugged's appeal by
signing up more women and trying provocative experiments like,
say, a collaboration between Panamanian singer Ruben Blades and
New York City rocker Lou Reed. Meanwhile, Unplugged has proved
that MTV doesn't need electricity to keep its audiences wired.

    By Guy Garcia. With reporting by Dan Cray/Los Angeles