Duck/Reprise 45024
Producer: Russ Titelman
Track listing: Signe / Before You Accuse Me / Hey Hey / Tears in Heaven / Lonely Stranger Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out / Layla / Running on Faith / Walkin’ Blues / Alberta / San Francisco Bay Blues / Malted Milk / Old Love / Rollin’ & Tumblin’
March 13, 1993
3 weeks
Before Eric Clapton agreed to perform on MTV’s Unplugged acoustic showcase, such heavyweights as Don Henley, Elton John, and R.E.M. had been featured on the program. Paul McCartney even allowed Capitol Records to release an album of his performance. Yet Clapton wasn’t so sure the acoustic setting was right for him. After all, as a solo artist and a former member of the Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek & the Dominos, Clapton was known for his virtuosity on electric guitar.
“It had been talked about for some time,” recalls producer Russ Titelman, “but Eric was kind of reluctant. He didn’t want to do it at first.” After some coaxing from record company and MTV executives, Clapton agreed to do the show. On January 16, 1992, Clapton, backed by bassist Nathan East, guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low, percussionist Ray Cooper, drummer Steve Ferrone, keyboardist Chuck Leavell, and vocalists Katie Kissoon and Tessa Niles, gathered at Bray Studios in Windsor, England, to tape Unplugged. The one-hour program premiered on MTV on March 11.
“It was never thought of as an album,” says Titelman, who mixed the audio portion of the show for broadcast in a weekend. “Eric really didn’t want to put the record out, because if he had intended it to be a record, he would have done things differently.”
Yet once again, Clapton’s label and associates attempted to persuade him. “There was a huge response to it and everyone put their two cents in,” says Titelman. “I called him and said, ‘Look, I understand how you feel, but it was a great show with some beautiful performances.'”
Clapton’s show was so popular that it garnered MTV’s highest Unplugged ratings since the acoustic series’ January 1990 debut. An estimated 1.3 million viewing households tuned in. For the program, Clapton culled various songs from his 25-year career, including the first live recording of the Derek & the Dominos classic “Layla,” which was given a dramatic reworking, and a cover of Bo Diddley’s “Before You Accuse Me,” one of the first records Clapton had ever heard. Yet the emotional high point of the set was “Tears in Heaven,” written following the death of Clapton’s son Conor, who accidentally fell to his death from a 53-floor Manhattan apartment in 1991. A studio version of the track, featured on the Rush soundtrack, had become a number two hit for Clapton in March 1992, setting the stage for Unplugged.
Yet it took a Grammy triumph to help Unplugged temporarily knock The Bodyguard from the top of The Billboard 200, much in the same way that Bonnie Raitt’s 1990 Grammy sweep helped push Nick of Time to the top.
On February 24, 1993, at the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, the version of “Tears of Heaven” from Rush was named record of the year and earned Clapton the male pop vocal award, while Unplugged took the honors for album of the year and male rock vocal performance. In addition, “Layla,” from Unplugged, took the award for rock song of the year, even though it was originally recorded by Derek & the Dominos in 1970.
In the evening’s most emotional moment, Clapton made his final trip to the podium to accept his sixth award of the night. “I want to thank a lot of people, but the one person I want to thank is my son, for the love he gave me and the song he gave me,” Clapton said.
The following week, Unplugged jumped from number five to the pole position, giving Clapton his first Number One album in nearly two decades.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of March 13, 1993
1. Unplugged, Eric Clapton
2. The Bodyguard, Soundtrack
3. 19 Naughty II, Naughty By Nature
4. Breathless, Kenny G
5. Live: Right Here, Right Now, Van Halen