Neil Young was unplugged before the MTV show become a phenomenon, so it was only natural that he make an appearance on the show. As usual, Mr. Young mixes up his set, playing new songs like "From Hank To Hendrix" and the sweet "Harvest Moon" to old chestnuts like the Buffalo Springfield's "Mr. Soul" and "The Old Laughing Lady" from his first solo album. While many of the songs like "The Needle & The Damage Done" & the brilliant "Pocahontas" were acoustic to begin with, there are songs that go under some radical transformations. "Like A Hurricane" was a fuzz guitar heavy, sonic blast, but here it is propelled by only Mr. Young's voice and an eerie pump organ. The results are outstanding. "Transformer Man" is from his electronic album, Trans, and the vocals were distorted by a vocoder. In it's acoustic form, it takes on a weird perspective with its futuristic lyrics. "Helpless" is absolutely gorgeous with lush harmonies led by old Crazy Horse member and current E Streeter, Nils Lofgren. Unplugged is one of the better album taken from the show and shows Neil Young's chameleon like ability to transform songs into different styles.

Given Neil Young's huge catalog and its inclusion of so much acoustic material, you might think that 'unplugging' him would just amount to his doing a show of his acoustic songs. Well, that certainly would have been the easy way. But if Neil took the easy way, he wouldn't be the Neil we've come to know and love.

In fact, although there is a generous helping of material on this CD that was originally released in 'acoustic' form, there are also a number of surprises. For this show, Neil took several highly non-'acoustic' songs and converted them.

One of my favorites is his bluesy, wailing version of 'Mr. Soul'. Originally a Buffalo Springfield tune, this time it's just Neil with his guitar and harmonica. I also like the stripped-down, countryfolkified performances of 'Old Laughing Lady' and 'World on a String'.

And wait until you hear what he's done with 'Transformer Man'. Even if you didn't like it before, you may like it now.

There's also 'Like a Hurricane', a blistering rocker originally released on _American Stars 'n' Bars_ (which, incidentally, is now available on CD at last!). Here Neil performs it solo, accompanying himself on pump organ.

This show took place not long after the release of the magnificent _Harvest Moon_, so there are a couple of selections from that album. And the rest is what you'd expect -- a set of solid performances of old and new favorites, some well-known and some obscure, from all stages of Neil's long career. 'The Needle and the Damage Done', 'Look Out for My Love', 'Long May You Run' -- this stuff is never going to wear out its welcome.

One last highlight: Neil also does a fine tune called 'Stringman' (which I suspect is about Stephen Stills); I don't believe I'd ever heard it, or even heard _of_ it, before this release.

Neil Young has long been famous both as a master of the acoustic set and as a chameleon who has dipped into just about every other musical style you can name. In this set, he includes some tunes that were already pretty non-electric, but he also transforms some of his previous material radically. The electronic "Transformer Man" is nearly unrecognizable here, but--for my money anyway--superior to the studio version. The only problem with this collection is that it wasn't a two-disk set. Nevertheless, Neil puts together an interesting sampling of his long career, including such well-known numbers as "Like a Hurricane," "Pocahontas," and "Helpless," but also lesser-known gems like "Stringman" and the aforementioned "Transformer Man."

Casting aside a small number of albums released in the 80's, the decade that inevitably sabotaged every good musicians career at the time, Neil Young rarely, if ever, disappoints. Unplugged is no exception, being a release in a series of many by MTV highlighting mostly grunge bands unplugging their distortion-filled hits such as Alice In Chains and Nirvana, although Eric Clapton also did a similar performance. The show is well rounded, delivering a number of hits and fan favorites, some of which stay true to their original acoustic form as well as a few nice surprises thrown into the mix for good measure. Helpless, Long May You Run, and Pocahontas stay along the same lines as their original forms: acoustic, soulful ballads, none the least of which is the deceivingly soft The Needle And The Damage Done.

As far as curveballs go, Young takes the originally brooding and distorted World On A String from his extremely dark Tonight's The Night album and turns it into a slow, bluesy number which stands out far more than the original version, while Like A Hurricane loses its screeching feedback and crunchy guitars in favor of a soft pump-organ. Other highlights of the show are The Old Laughing Lady, which opens the show wonderfully, Mr. Soul which I need say nothing about, the nostalgic Harvest Moon, and Transformer Man.

There's not much else to be said except that this is a solid live performance, much of it with Neil accompanied only by his guitar/piano and a harmonica, the band slowly starting to work their way into the performance after the halfway point of the show has been crossed. I've always believed Young has written some of his best numbers with just an acoustic guitar in hand, and this album demonstrates the ability to transfer that talent to the live arena, right alongside the epic Rust Never Sleeps album, which in my opinion is Young's best. There will always be cynics and other ignorant folk more than content to bash a good record for this reason or that, but if you know how dependable and talented a man like Neil is, you already know this album won't let you down.

Although Neil Young is almost universally considered one of the finest rock songwriters, he has an almost perversely huge back catalog (several of which have never been released on CD), more than a few uneven albums, and a self-imposed lack of anthologies. Young, who has always alternated between blistering, grunge-inciting guitar noise riots and gentle, acousitc folk in his own music, was a natural choice - indeed, you might even say a forebearer - for MTV's Unplugged program. Unlike many other veteran rockers (say, Dylan) who chose to offer up a "Greatest Hits" sort of set when their turn on Unplugged came, Neil's selections veer across his entire career, seeming almost arbitrary at times. Although there are some of his more prominent acoustic numbers here (The Needle And The Damage Done, Pocahontas) as well as several numbers from his most recent album at the time, Harvest Moon, there are also tracks dating back to his Buffalo Springfield days and his first solo album, as well as some definitely obscure numbers (Transformer Man, which was completely remade in this acoustic setting; the previously unreleased Stringman, and others.) It is a neat deal and quite a treat for the Young fan to see him perform such a wide cross section of material. Several songs are completely remade in this acoustic context (Mr. Soul, Transformer Man), and many others have already mentioned the standout pump organ/harmonica-led version of Like A Hurricane. This is an essential purchase for the Neil Young fan, and, in point of fact, not a bad early pick for the neophyte.