Her attraction has always been the ethereal realness she emanates, not her vocal range, and this sense of closeness is only amplified in this setting. These 14 songs hold up well in an acoustic format, and it's nice to get some of the intimacy that comes from a live recording, especially with Natalie Merchant. The problem with this CD, like most of the other MTV Unplugged performances, is that it is pretty good: As much as a self-respecting music lover would like to scorn this new trend, it's hard with the music that's coming out of the MTV studios. Now, we can add 10,000 Maniacs to the list. and Arrested Development and Eric Clapton have all done it, and all have made some big bucks off the albums that were born from these quiet evenings with friends (save R.E.M., who haven't released their Unplugged sessions). It's an easy way to gain some artistic respectability and seem down to earth all at the same time: go on TV and perform in an intimate setting, quietly strumming your aged and weathered guitar. Now, MTV Unplugged has become a '90s rite of rock 'n' roll passage. ![]() The only problem was, when Jim Burns and Robert Small, the inventors of MTV Unplugged, woke up the next morning, they forgot they were joking. "Why," he stammered, "we could even do a show that was all acoustic and people would watch it." One of them, in an alcoholic fog, chortled as he suggested that MTV could do nothing wrong. ![]() A couple of years ago, two guys were sitting in the MTV offices in downtown Manhattan, throwing down some Bloody Maries and toasting the success they've been having with Downtown Julie Brown.
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