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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Closest We've Gotten to 'Lo-Fi' Mariah, September 3, 2005
Well, maybe not lo-fi, but this is definitely stripped down to the most basic sound that we have heard Ms. Carey in her career. Not that we can blame her, though; a singer/songwriter she may be, penning all her original tunes, but she is definitely more obvious a pop chanteuse with a sprawling vocal range that has always benefited from the well-produced, glossy sheen of her albums.
However, due to the fact that her vocals are just as strong in this live setting and that the arrangments are bare bones, save for the soulful backup singers (who only make her sound better), and allow her all the proper space to be at the forefront, "Unplugged" serves as a fine document of Carey's raw talent. Many uneducated individuals who still dismiss her as all style and no substance still clearly need to give this disc a listen.
She first kicks off with the title track from her then most recent release, 1991's "Emotions," which is very similar in arrangement to the C&C Club Mix edit, known better as the "Special Motion Edit" of the song that appears as the final track on the impressive "Make It Happen" CD Remix Maxi Single. She then charges into "If It's Over," also from "Emotions" which is extremely more impressive live. Her vocals are far more impassioned; and the live setting allows the song a lot more room to breathe.
"Someday" comes next, which takes itself a lot less seriously than the #1 hit studio version from her eponymous 1990 debut LP. Still, Carey clearly is having the time of her life, and the backup singers only add to this festive mix. Then comes her first single, "Vision of Love," which Carey humorously introduces as "my first single...ever" and laughs. She blows the song away, and establishes the first recorded time of dragging out the final notes of her career-making song, which she now infamously does every time she sings it.
The semi-autobiographical "Make It Happen" is swashbuckling fun and Carey sings with the kind of passion indicative of a true sense of coming full circle. This version also outshines the impressive but overproduced LP version very easily.
Then comes "I'll Be There" featuring her long-time friend and musical confidant Trey Lorenz. Soon to be one of the biggest hits of her career, when it was casually launched to radio around the time "Unplugged" aired, it originally was not at all intended to become a single. Not only did it soon become all but NECESSARY to release the track as an official single, which would go on to hit #1 easily, but the success of the track is the only reason that cleared the way for the special to get pressed on CD. You can thank Carey and Lorenz for their spine-tinglingly spectacular performance of the song, which will surely still be heard on radio for generations to come.
The disc closes with "Can't Let Go," which is presented by Carey as an encore she was completely unsure of as to whether it would be performed or not. An understated, low-key reading of the 1991 #2 hit, the performance is not quite on par with the extremely high standard set by the rest of the disc, but is nevertheless a fine closing number to the performance, which is still unfortunately only available on VHS, not DVD. Hopefully the only increasing success of her latest album, "The Emancipation of Mimi" will clear the way for all of Carey's old home videos to be re-released on DVD.
All in all, "Unplugged" is a novelty item in Carey's catalogue that is truly remarkable. It completely and utterly justifies why she shot to such an incredible height of fame at so young an age in her still only-budding career. Nothing but sheer, pure talent is showcased, while the release also reminds the listener, all these years later, just how far Carey has come in revitalizing her music in the time since then. Indeed, this is what she evolved from, and what an interesting story it is that began.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
She can sing, she really can sing...., January 10, 2005
This Mariah's 3rd album, a live album so the public can see that she is really the one singing in her albums and to justify why until that moment she hasn't had a national tour, she hits every can on known note and the public respond very weel to them.
The album has only 7 songs: 2 from the Album Mariah Carey, 4 from her Emotions album and 1 extra, a cover from the Jackson 5 hit, I'll be there which she sinhs with her back up singer Troy Lorenz.
1. Emotions.- Great vocal, sounds great live. 10/10
2. If it's over.- Not a single but one of her favorite songs, great voice. 9/10
3. Someday.- Great use of her back up vocals, the rap sound very nice, very fun song. 10/10
4. Vision of love.- Her trade mark song, she demostrates here the power of her voice, she reaches very high notes and the song sounds incredible. 10/10
5. Make it happen.- Her latter single up to that date, lot of back up vocals. 9/10
6. I'll be there.- The "new song" in this set, a remake from the Jackson 5 song, this one sounds so good, her voice has a melancholic tone that I really like, perfect. 10/10
7. Can't let go.- Nice ballad, nice performance. 9/10
Boy, she can really sing....
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
End of an era, the only chance to hear Carey go for broke., April 25, 2000
Starting with the MTV Unplugged EP critics started being kinder to Carey's releases. A strange phenomenon, perhaps, but this EP did tap into many good things in Carey's artistic makeup that she would eventually lose over subsequent years.First, her gospel influence. With backup singers (most notable being duet partner Trey Lorenz) who match her vocal prowess note for note, Carey manages to evoke much more of a communal spirit on this EP than on other albums, where hers is often the only voice heard on a song. Second, spontaneity. Carey's studio albums (especially since Music Box) are so crammed with studio polish that it's good to hear her in a live setting for once, intimate and relaxed instead of overblown and bombastic. Finally, the song selection and arrangements. This EP is like many others in the Unplugged series in reducing certain formulas to basics and thus enhancing an artist's sound through elegant simplicity. Piano and live drums, live backup singers and bass...a nicely spare accompaniment to Carey's singing, which is more facile and expressive here than on any other release. And the song selection is nice, with beautifully voiced Jackson 5 cover "I'll Be There" being the flagship hit. The Carole King collaboration "If It's Over" sounds perfectly at home in this small setting, and this EP/unplugged version of "Make It Happen" beats the studio version on Emotions by a mile, sounding joyful and spontaneous instead of asthmatic and timid as on the original. And then "Can't Let Go" acquires a closeness that eludes the original and makes the song sound more emotional, like sitting in the living room of the broken-hearted one listening to her sobbing. The lyrics may remain the high-school ramblings that Carey never outgrew, but the feeling is vastly more authentic. An essential addition to a Carey collection because, looking over her entire catalogue, it's the only time she took a step back and discovered something wonderful in minimalism and spontaneity. After this and 1993's Music Box, it's all calculated reinventions.
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is one of Mariah Carey's 
