The Beatles - Unplugged [Full Album]

Just when you thought that everything that could be said that was new,
fresh, or unusual about the Beatles}' later history was already out
there, along comes The Beatles: Unplugged, a bootleg CD so good that the
folks at Apple and EMI ought to be kicking themselves for not thinking
of it first. This disc (which is sort-of subtitled "The
Kinfaun-Session," referring to George Harrison's Esher home) pulls
together the 23 songs that Harrison, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney
recorded as works-in-progress at Harrison's home in May of 1968. Most of
what's here was eventually heard either on The Beatles [White Album
surfacing with new lyrics as &"A Jealous Guy," etc.) or B-sides
(&"What's the New Mary Jane"), and on various bootlegs. What makes
this presentation better than most is that it's part of that "digipak"
bootleg series that's been coming out of Europe since late 2000 and
generally knocking listeners out with its quality. The production here
is a match for any legitimate release, not just in sound quality but
also the care that went into the selection, order, and editing of the
tapes; there's some hiss here and there, to be sure, and a few tracks
are close to overload on the sound, but there's nothing here that will
make you jump to lower the volume or skip to the next cut -- in fact,
chances are most of the songs here will get repeated more than once.
It's a lot like listening to an "unplugged" version of The Beatles (even
re-creating The Beatles [White Album on this disc -- just to cite one
example -- is as good as the released one, only brighter, and, if you
will, bouncier, as the trio has unbridled fun with the lyric, the beat,
and the rhymes without the need to pump up the wattage or the
seriousness of it all; if the finished song is {John Lennon's message to
the world about politics, hate, and manipulation of the Beatles, this
is his handwritten draft of that message, with all of his momentary
digressions and mental edits left in. McCartney and Harrison's songs are
just as well represented, and the only thing missing is a contribution
by Ringo Starr, who didn't participate in these recordings. The curious
element is that it's the hard-rocking songs -- &"Yer Blues" and
&"Back in the USSR" -- that come off the best, even though they're
the most different from the finished versions; the demo of
&"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is just as entertaining, as the trio plunges
headfirst into reggae armed with just their guitars and some good
intentions. As the notes point out, whatever stresses the group may have
been experiencing as a formal entity, the three guitarists had some
productive and harmonious sessions and they still sounded as cool,
creative, and cutting edge as they ever did. As bonus cuts, the makers
have added &"Helter Skelter" from a studio run-through, and thrown
on &"Spiritual Regeneration," the Beatles/Beach Boys ode to the
Maharishi (which segues into the Beatles' birthday greeting to Mike
Love) and a somewhat less-entertaining, informal, acoustic medley of
traditional songs, all tracks recorded in India. Bruce Eder, Rovi

0:00 Intro
0:15 Cry Baby Cry
2:42 Child of Nature (Jealous Guy)
5:25 The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
8:15 I'm So Tired
11:24 Yer Blues
15:00 Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
18:00 What's the New Mary Jane
20:39 Revolution
24:49 While My Guitar Gently Weeps
27:29 Circles
29:47 Sour Milk Sea
33:22 Not Guilty
36:36 Piggies
38:42 Julia
42:47 Blackbird
45:02 Rocky Raccoon
47:49 Back in the U.S.S.R
50:50 Honey Pie
52:54 Mother Nature's Son
55:09 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
58:05 Junk
1:00:46 Dear Prudence
1:05:27 Sexy Sadie
1:07:52 Spiritual Regeneration
1:10:22 Spiritual Christmas