This is the cd version of the MTV Plugged show Bruce did back in 1992 with the band he assembled to tour with him on his Human Touch/Lucky Town tour. Unfortunately, the shows from this tour are always compared to those with the E Street Band and they, of course, fall short. That being said, there are some good performances on this disk. Bruce knew what were the best songs from those two disks were and they appear here. The performances of "Lucky Town", "Living Proof", "I Wish I Were Blind" & "Better Days" are all solid and among his older songs "Atlantic City" stands out. The performance of "Light Of Day" has a tremendous amount of energy and there is some excellent guitar interplay on it. All in all, it's not the pinnacle of Bruce's career, but still fun to listen to.

I'm a big fan of "The Boss", but for the life of me, can't fathom why he is unable to follow the lead of larger acts, and actually "unplug" for MTV Unplugged. This CD offers no new material that can't be found elsewhere, and is basically nothing more than a "live in concert" CD that just so happened to be filmed by MTV.

This concert took place in 1992, and you know it's pretty bad when you have bands ribbing you three years later about going on MTV UNPlugged, and then having to go and plug in. It's not like Bruce doesn't know how to play acoustic guitar, because he does. I'm a big acoustic guitar fan, and for someone of Bruce's talent level, to not be able to write songs that can be played acoustically only serves to bring down the level of respect I have for his talent.

Not what I would consider an essential recording, and not recommended, unless you are such a die-hard "Boss" fan that you have to own every album he puts out. Otherwise, save your money.

I can't help but wonder why MTV allowed Bruce Springsteen to play a regular electric "club date" instead of actually playing unplugged. There are hours of live Springsteen available, but only a few acoustic songs, and it would have been a lot more interesting to hear him recast some of his songs in an acoustic format.

On "MTV (Un)plugged", Springsteen opens with an acoustic solo performance, the dirty but good-natured "Red Headed Woman", after which he completely abandons the unplugged format, playing a regular (if slightly subdued) electric concert featuring mainly songs from his then-current albums "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town". And while it's a shame that he took the easy way and played a predictable electric set instead of an acoustic show, this is actually a really good little concert album.

This is from Springsteen's non-E Street Band period, but the most immediately recognizable part of his "sound", keyboardist Roy Bittan, is onboard, and the five-piece band plays well, although without a whole lot of personality.
The track list includes a couple of old war horses ("Thunder Road", "Atlantic City", "Darkness On The Edge Of Town"), but the vast majority of these thirteen songs are from the 90s, and Springsteen fortunately plays almost all the best songs from "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town", most of which actually sound better in this live setting than on the original studio recordings.

The pleasant trifle "Man's Job", which features harmony vocals by 70s soul crooner Bobby King, is really good, as is a slightly subdued by quite moving version of "I Wish I Were Blind".
"Human Touch" is better in the original rendition, but "Lucky Town" really benefits from the tough live arrangement and a great lead vocal by Springsteen. And the band lays down an extremely hard-rocking 8-minute version of "Light Of Day", a low-key Bob Dylan-like "Should I Fall Behind", and a nice, swinging "Better Days".

A folkish "Thunder Road" is disappointing compared to the definitive version on "Live 1975-1985", but "Atlantic City" and "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" in particular are good.
The final couple of songs are minor ones, but "MTV (Un)Plugged" generally holds up very well, and while it is not really a necessary purchase for casual Springsteen fans, it is a nice collection of small pleasures. I have had it since it came out, and I continue to play it now and then.
3 3/4 stars.

I've been listening to Bruce for 25 years an enjoy just about all of his music. It is CD's like this that keep me listening. It doesn't matter if you've heard it before--he always delivers a different slant. How many Thunder Road versions are out there? This one is beautiful. Far and away the best of the slow songs here is "I Wish I Were Blind".

First of all, I was going to give this 1 star, but to be fair I have to figure that Bruce can never really put out anything so dismal as to rate 1 star. So I gave it the equivalent of a 1 star for Bruce.......which is 2 stars. I am sorry, but this is the worst of all of Bruce's recorded output. This is the half-hearted peformance that he and his 1992-93 band of studio hacks put together. Save for Roy Bittan (the only E Streeter with this band), these musicians couldn't carry a tune in a briefcase. Bruce should have gone solo on this MTV outing; instead, he pulled a last minute switch, and the joke was on him.

This period in Bruce's career, his "experimental period" as he termed it, produced some pretty good songs, but lackluster performances, both live and on record. Is anyone surprised that he reunited the E Street Band for the 1999-2000 tour (and obviously, for good)? If you ever wondered why, just listen to the sorry versions of older Bruce tunes like "Darkness..." and "Thunder Road", then compare to the E Street Band versions. No comparison. It was like hearing Sinatra re-record his Capitol years recordings some years later on Reprise. Not the same. The only song I'd recommend here is his take on the "Lucky Town" tune, "If I Should Fall Behind". Other than that, it's a dud throughout. Lifeless performance, a band that can't hit its mark, uninspired arrangements. And watching this on MTV was just as painful; you had to wonder just what he thought he was doing. Proof that he needs the E Street Band and they need him. Thankfully, we got our wish some years later!

Don't waste your money on this one. Any of his other live collections, either "Live '75-'85" or "Live in New York City" far outshine this set. I'd also suggest you put your money on a bootleg of one of his live shows before this one. This one should have stayed in the vaults. Considering how many great songs and performances that Bruce still has in his vaults, why he ever chose to put this one out is a mystery.

Well, I guess we can give him points for being willing to fail in public.