Mtv Unplugged Best of

As one of the most highly acclaimed series in the history of MTV, Unplugged afforded the opportunity for some of commercial music's most praised entertainers (as well as those musicians with a bit more artistic merit) to spotlight their hit songs in a different context. The show was met with surprisingly high acclaim and viewership, and everyone and their brother signed up for an "acoustic" session. Very Best of MTV Unplugged compiles some of the series most lauded moments, most notably Eric Clapton's smash performance of "Tears in Heaven."…

At the height of her decade-long rise to fame, Julieta Venegas released her first live album, MTV Unplugged, a star-studded and meticulously arranged performance recorded before 450 adoring fans in Mexico City. She performs her greatest hits, of course, but she also adds to her set list relatively obscure songs – most delightfully "Esta Vez," a ballad from her debut album, Aquí (1998) – and several new songs, including the international chart-topping lead single, "El Presente." As with many MTV Unplugged albums, guest stars are featured throughout; most noteworthy among them here are Spanish rapper Mala Rodríguez, who performs in the place of Chilean rapper Anita Tijoux on "Eres Para Mí," and Brazilian superstar Marisa Monte, who duets in Portuguese on "Ilusión" (a new song written by Venegas, Monte, and Arnaldo Antunes). Guest star or not, the performances are each interesting in their arrangements, which are generally quite different from their studio original counterparts.

Rocker Peter Maffay was the best-selling German pop star of his generation, wielding his celebrity to become a powerful advocate for antiwar efforts and an outspoken critic of domestic abuse. Born Peter Alexander Makkay on August 30, 1949, in Brasov, Romania, he was 14 when his family relocated to his parents' native Germany. Soon after, he founded his first rock band, the Dukes…

In the grand tradition of MTV's Unplugged series, MTV Unplugged in Athens features German hard rock stalwarts Scorpions putting on an all-acoustic set for the good people of Greece. Rather than the intimate studio performances that put the series on the map in the '90s, however, the set was recorded at the Lycabettus Theatre in Athens, a setting that feels appropriately grand given the band's arena-rocking tendencies…

The German industrial/gothic rock band Unheilig (which in German means "Unholy") formed in 1999 and quickly released their first single, "Sage Ja!," that same year. Initially signed to the Bloodline label, the group – including Grant Stevens, José Alvarez-Brill, and Der Graf – followed its debut club hit with a full-length offering in 2001 titled Phosphor. The success of the single and the album helped land Unheilig slots on their genre's festival circuit, including Zillo Open Air and the Doomsday Festival, but the trio members would soon find themselves back at work on new studio material, which resulted in 2002's Christmas album Frohes Fest and 2003's Das 2. Gebot. Unheilig built on their momentum by releasing another EP in 2003, as well as taking their sound to the audiences of Europe, which led to remixing projects and appearances on video game soundtracks.

In the grand tradition of MTV's Unplugged series, MTV Unplugged in Athens features German hard rock stalwarts Scorpions putting on an all-acoustic set for the good people of Greece…