Unplugged (Bryan Adams album)

Unplugged
Live album by Bryan Adams
Released	December 9, 1997
Recorded	September 26, 1997
Venue	Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, New York
Genre	Rock, acoustic rock
Length	52:26
Label	A&M
Producer	Bryan Adams, Patrick Leonard
Bryan Adams chronology
18 til I Die (1996) Unplugged (1997) On a Day Like Today (1998)
Singles from Unplugged
"Back to You" Released: December 8, 1997 "I'm Ready" Released: 1998

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	B[2]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[3]
Los Angeles Times	[4]
Uncut	[5]

Unplugged is an acoustic live album by Canadian musician Bryan Adams. The album was recorded completely on September 26, 1997, at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Recorded by David Hewitt and Bob Clearmountain on the Remote Recording Silver Truck. Adams was joined by Irish piper Davy Spillane and Michael Kamen who wrote orchestrations for many of the songs and brought students from the Juilliard School to play them. Three new songs were included; "Back To You", "When You Love Someone", and "A Little Love". The song "If Ya Wanna Be Bad - Ya Gotta Be Good" makes its debut on an album, originally appearing on the B-side of "Let's Make a Night to Remember" - to which it is paired on the Unplugged album. Absent from both the CD and DVD is "Hey Elvis", which is available on the single of "Back To You". A second single was released in early 1998, an acoustic reworking of the hard rock song, "I'm Ready".

The album included only thirteen of the songs recorded at the show. The MTV Unplugged DVD included a few different songs and the song order is also different from on the CD.

The record sold over 2,500,000 units worldwide.^[6]

CD track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Summer of '69"	Adams, Vallance	4:02
2.	"Back to You"	Adams, Kennedy	4:30
3.	"Cuts Like a Knife"	Adams, Vallance	5:04
4.	"I'm Ready"	Adams, Vallance	4:29
5.	"Fits Ya Good"	Adams, Vallance	3:02
6.	"When You Love Someone"	Adams, Kamen, Peters	3:41
7.	"18 til I Die"	Adams, Lange	3:31
8.	"I Think About You"	Adams, Peters	2:36
9.	"If Ya Wanna Be Bad - Ya Gotta Be Good/Let's Make a Night to Remember"	Adams, Peters/Adams, Lange	4:35
10.	"The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You"	Adams, Lange	4:34
11.	"A Little Love"	Adams, Kennedy, Peters	3:23
12.	"Heaven"	Adams, Vallance	4:31
13.	"I'll Always Be Right There"	Adams, Lange	4:28

Japan 2012 SHM-CD Bonus Tracks^[7]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
14.	"Back To You (Original Demo Version)" (From "I'm Ready" Single)	Adams, Kennedy	5:06
15.	"(I Wanna Be) Your Underwear" (Unplugged)	Adams, Lange	1:31

DVD track listing^[8]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Summer of '69"	Adams, Vallance	4:23
2.	"Cuts Like a Knife"	Adams, Vallance	5:15
3.	"I'm Ready"	Adams, Vallance	4:39
4.	"Back to You"	Adams, Kennedy	4:28
5.	"Fits Ya Good"	Adams, Vallance	3:02
6.	"When You Love Someone"	Adams, Kamen, Peters	3:41
7.	"18 til I Die"	Adams, Lange	3:41
8.	"I Think About You"	Adams, Peters	2:36
9.	"If Ya Wanna Be Bad - Ya Gotta Be Good"	Adams, Peters	2:19
10.	"Let's Make a Night to Remember"	Adams, Lange	2:11
11.	"(I Wanna Be) Your Underwear"	Adams, Lange	1:24
12.	"A Little Love"	Adams, Kennedy, Peters	3:25
13.	"Can't Stop This Thing We Started"	Adams, Vallance	3:17
14.	"It Ain't A Party...If You Can't Come Round"	Adams, Lange	1:19
15.	"Heaven"	Adams, Vallance	4:39
16.	"I'll Always Be Right There"	Adams, Kamen, Lange	4:35

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.^[9]

Musicians

• Bryan Adams – lead vocals, guitar, dobro, harmonica
• Patrick Leonard – acoustic piano, organ
• Tommy Mandel – acoustic piano, organ, accordion
• Keith Scott – guitar, mandolin, dobro, slide guitar, harmony vocals
• Dave Taylor – bass, harmony vocals
• Mickey Curry – drums, harmony vocals
• Danny Cummings – percussion, harmony vocals
• Davy Spillane – Uilleann pipes, low whistles

Strings

• Michael Kamen – arrangements and conductor
• Tom Nazelli, Douglas Quint and Scott Starrett – additional arrangements
• Jesse Levy – coordinator
• Students of the Juilliard School of Music:
  • Darrett Adkins, Maria Ahn, Raphael Bell and Nina Lee – cello
  • Pete Donovan – double bass
  • Ed Malave, Tania Halko and Alejandra Mahave – viola
  • Angella Ahn, Cornelius Dufallo, Ani Gregorian, Ara Gregorian, Lyris Hung, Amy Kauffman, Jennifer Newell and James Tsao – violin

Production

• Bryan Adams – producer, arrangements
• Patrick Leonard – producer, arrangements
• Bob Clearmountain – engineer, mixing
• Dave Hewitt – engineer
• Phil Gitomer – assistant engineer
• Dean Maher – mix assistant
• Chris Potter – mix assistant
• Olle Romo – mix assistant
• Phil Western – mix assistant
• Glen Collette – monitor mixing
• Joey Perpick – live sound mix engineer
• Ron Vermeulen – technical assistant
• Bob Ludwig – mastering at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine)
• Val Dauksts – production manager
• Don "Toe" Prodaehl – tour manager
• Tom O'Quinn – art direction, design
• Glen Ross – art direction, design
• Sandy Brummels – art direction, design
• Danny Clinch – photography
• Bruce Allen – management
• Chris Chappel – tour management

Technicians

• Dennis Fitzmartin (keyboards)
• Lance Stadnyk (Bryan Adams' guitars)
• Rick Salazar (Keith Scott's guitars)
• Lorne Wheaton (drums)

MTV Credits

• Milton Lage – director
• Alex Coletti – producer
• Jac Benson – co-producer

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1997–1998) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[10] 28 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11] 7 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[12] 2 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[13] 37 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[14] 10 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[15] 15 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[16] 19 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17] 8 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[18] 16 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[19] 22 Scottish Albums (OCC)[20] 46 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[21] 54 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[22] 3 UK Albums (OCC)[23] 19 US Billboard 200[24] 88

Year-end charts Chart (1997) Position Australian Albums (ARIA)[25] 92 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[26] 16 Chart (1998) Position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[27] 47 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[28] 47 Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[29] 33 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[30] 51 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[31] 42 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[32] 23

Certifications

Album Region Certification Certified units/sales Argentina (CAPIF)[33] Gold 30,000^^ Australia (ARIA)[34] Gold 35,000^^ Austria (IFPI Austria)[35] Gold 25,000^* Belgium (BEA)[36] Gold 25,000^* Germany (BVMI)[37] Gold 250,000^^ Japan (RIAJ)[38] Gold 100,000^^ New Zealand (RMNZ)[39] Gold 7,500^^ Spain (PROMUSICAE)[40] Gold 50,000^^ Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[41] Platinum 50,000^^ United Kingdom (BPI)[42] Platinum 300,000^^ United States — 275,000[6] Summaries Europe (IFPI)[43] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^* Worldwide — 2,500,000[6] ^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. DVD Region Certification Certified units/sales United Kingdom (BPI)[44] Gold 25,000^^ ^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "MTV Unplugged - Bryan Adams | AllMusic". AllMusic. 29 May 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-05-29. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
2. "Entertainment Weekly review". Ew.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
3. Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 6. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
4. "Los Angeles Times review". Ew.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
5. Williamson, Nigel (March 1998). "Bryan Adams: Unplugged". Uncut. No. 10. p. 77.
6. LeBlanc, Larry (October 24, 1998). "Adams Strong On Int't Front". Billboard. Toronto.
7. "Bryan Adams = ブライアン・アダムス – Unplugged = MTVアンプラグド (2012, Paper Sleeve, SHM-CD, CD)". Discogs.com. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
8. "Bryan Adams – Unplugged (2002, CD)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
9. Unplugged (booklet). A&M. 1997.
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29. "RPM's Top 100 CDs of 1998" (PDF). RPM. Vol. 68, no. 12. December 14, 1998. p. 11. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
30. "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1998". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
31. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
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33. "Discos de oro y platino" (in Spanish). Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
34. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1997 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
35. "Austrian album certifications – Bryan Adams – Unplugged" (in German). IFPI Austria. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
36. "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – albums 1998". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
37. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Bryan Adams; 'Unplugged')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
38. "Japanese album certifications – Bryan Adams – Unplugged" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved October 13, 2019. Select 1997年12月 on the drop-down menu
39. "New Zealand album certifications – Bryan Adams – Unplugged". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
40. Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (PDF) (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. p. 946. ISBN 84-8048-639-2. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
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