Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
![UR010: Nathan East (Eric Clapton Unplugged, Phil Collins Unplugged, Babyface Unplugged) [1992, 1994, 1997] image](https://media.zencastr.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=54,quality=85/image-files/66ea0b235fcf51d2c9a0b7cd/43cbefc3-777c-4d93-9915-92abd82876d2.jpg)
UR010: Nathan East (Eric Clapton Unplugged, Phil Collins Unplugged, Babyface Unplugged) [1992, 1994, 1997]
94 Plays2 months ago
Renowned bass genius Nathan East (“Footloose,” “Easy Lover,” “Saving All My Love for You,” “Tears in Heaven,” “Change the World,” “Get Lucky”) joins the show to reminisce about playing on three separate episodes of MTV Unplugged: Eric Clapton (1992), Phil Collins (1994), and Babyface (1997). Along with playing on over 2000 albums since the 1970s, East can also be heard (and seen) on the new Eric Clapton Unplugged… Over 30 Years Later expanded 90-minute special currently streaming on Paramount+.
If you dig the show, want to share your own Unplugged memories, ask a question, request a show topic, or connect with the pod for any reason, there are a couple ways you can get in touch:
- You can email me at unpluggedrevisited@gmail.com,
- You can reach out on Bluesky at @willhodge.bsky.social,
- You can leave a voicemail (that’ll maybe get played on the show) by dialing 234-REVISIT (234-738-4748)
Recommended![UR014: Mark Bryan (Hootie and the Blowfish) [1996 MTV Unplugged] image](https://media.zencastr.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=112,quality=85/image-files/66ea0b235fcf51d2c9a0b7cd/43cbefc3-777c-4d93-9915-92abd82876d2.jpg)
Transcript
Introduction to Unplugged Revisited Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Unplugged. Unplugged. Unplugged.
00:00:14
Speaker
Greetings and salutations. Welcome back to Unplugged Revisited, the podcast that celebrates, critiques, and dives deep into the last three and a half decades of MTV Unplugged. I'm your host, music journalist, pop culture anthropologist, and unplugged obsessive, Will
Episode Teasers and Announcements
00:00:28
Speaker
Hodge.
00:00:28
Speaker
Friends, I am wildly stoked for today's episode. It feels sort of packed to the point of spilling over with all sorts of Unplugged goodness. I've got a trio of really cool announcements, a quasi-mini-review of the new Eric Clapton Unplugged Over 30 Years Later special, and my interview with the incomparably talented Nathan East, whose name you may remember from my MTV Unplugged Two-Timers Club episode a few weeks back.
00:00:53
Speaker
East is not only one of the most widely revered and recorded bass players of the last 50 years, but he's also appeared on three separate MTV Unplugged episodes, which all occurred during the show's culture-dominating 90s run.
00:01:06
Speaker
Those were Eric Clapton's episode in Collins episode for MTV Europe in 94,
00:01:32
Speaker
and the Babyface and Friends episode in 97. We belong together.
Introduction to Nathan East
00:01:44
Speaker
And even if you're not explicitly familiar with the name Nathan East, I guarantee you've heard his impeccably signature bass work at some point. He got his start in the early 70s playing for Barry White at only 16 years old, mind you.
00:01:56
Speaker
By the early to mid 80s, he was co-writing and playing on massive number one hits and performing at Live Aid with Kenny Loggins. He's toured the world extensively with acts like Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Toto, and others.
00:02:09
Speaker
he absolutely rocked the twenty fourteen grammys with daft punk stevie wonder niall rogers and farrell and in the midst of all of that has managed to play on more than two thousand albums including a staggering amount of chart topping multi platinum selling grammy winning and at times even decade defining smash hits It would be a fool's errand to try to encapsulate his massive musical resume in just a bullet point recap, but here's at least a barely-scratching-the-surface audio primer on some of his most popular and beloved bass lines from the last 50 years of working with artists like Kenny Loggins,
00:02:51
Speaker
Philip Bailey and Phil
00:02:59
Speaker
Donna Summer
00:03:08
Speaker
Eric Clapton Whitney Houston
00:03:57
Speaker
rhythmics and aretha franklin
00:04:19
Speaker
And of course, the multiple Grammy-winning global number one hit Get Lucky by Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, and Nile
00:04:35
Speaker
And just in case you're curious, my personal favorite under-the-radar gem of a Nathan East bassline can be found on the song Don't Look Any Further by former Temptations frontman Dennis Edwards.
00:04:46
Speaker
Nathan's deceptively simple but deliciously slick groove sounds like this on the 1984 original.
00:05:03
Speaker
But my personal fondness for it has a lot to do with it being flawlessly sampled in Eric B. and Rakim's legendary Paid in Full. And later on in Tupac's incendiary Biggie diss track hit him up.
00:05:14
Speaker
Now it's all about Versace, you copy my style. Five shots couldn't drop me, I took it in smell, now I'm about to say. and later on in tupac's incendiary biggie disc track hit
00:05:33
Speaker
Plus, I've also got a CD single of TLC's 99 chart-topping radio hit Unpretty that has a killer remix on the B-side that's anchored around his Don't Look Any Further bass line as well.
Focus on Unplugged Experiences with Clapton, Collins, and Babyface
00:05:56
Speaker
But for the purposes of our show today, my interview with Nathan is going to focus exclusively on his three unplugged appearances with Clapton, Collins, and Babyface. But before we get into all that, let me quickly take care of a trio of unouncements.
00:06:10
Speaker
Announcement 1. Stop the presses and pop the champagne, folks. Or maybe a Zima would be more era appropriate here. After my pleading into the ether on more than a few episodes, MTV has finally uploaded most of the 90s unplugged archive onto Paramount+. plus It's not the entire archive from the last 35 years.
00:06:30
Speaker
In fact, it's not even the complete ninety s run. But it is an amazingly huge move and a graciously appreciated one. Yes, it's missing some episodes, annoyingly most of the hip-hop and R&B ones. And yes, some of the episodes are even sitting in the wrong season category.
00:06:47
Speaker
For example, if you click on season 1, you'll correctly have some episodes from 1990 and then curiously some from 91. 92, 93, 94, 99, 2005, and even 2017. So just make sure to click around a bit if you're searching for something specific.
00:07:05
Speaker
And if you're looking for any recommendations from what's currently available, I can't stress enough how great the criminally underrated episodes by Sting, Sheryl Crow, Tori Amos, Arrested Development, Annie Lennox, Stone Temple Pilots, Live, and the Uptown Unplugged ones truly are.
00:07:22
Speaker
We love
00:07:33
Speaker
you know, they've also got a lot of the really stellar, popular ones like Mariah, Alanis, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alicia Keys, Alice in Chains, just all the greats. And to the flood again Same old trippy white band
00:07:52
Speaker
If I didn't already have Paramount+, plus this would certainly be enough to get me to sign up. Even more so since they also uploaded most of the VH1 Storytellers archive on the same day as well.
00:08:04
Speaker
Phenomenal stuff. Great work MTV and deepest thanks from the bottom of my jaded oh well whatever never mind Gen X heart. But seriously, not to be ungrateful, but let's get Fiona Apple.
00:08:15
Speaker
Yo! Unplugged, Boyz II Men, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Maxwell, and all three spoken word episodes uploaded as soon as possible. Pretty please? Announcement 2 There's a pretty cool Unplugged adjacent tribute album that came out this month that I'd like to make sure is on everybody's radar.
00:08:32
Speaker
It's called A Tribute to Nirvana, the songs of MTV Unplugged in New York, and it's being released by Kudos Records. It's one thing when a band gets a tribute album devoted to them, but it says a whole lot when a project like this is actually anchored around just a single album this one doesn't cover every song on nirvana's legendary unplugged in new york record but it's still a valiant effort to pay homage to such a deeply impactful live album At only seven tracks and an under 30 minutes runtime, it unfolds more like an EP than a full record.
00:09:03
Speaker
But the lo-fi indie rock through line does create a charming tip-of-the-hat veneer to the cherished acoustic originals that we've all blissed out to a million times. The song choices are pretty interesting too. Like, it only has five Nirvana originals, and while there's zero Lead Belly, Bowie, or Meat Puppets covers, there are two separate versions of the Vaseline's Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam.
00:09:26
Speaker
Overall, though, it's a pretty cool little tribute release to a legendary television episode and live record, and I recommend giving it a listen to see if anything strikes you. My personal favorite track on this new tribute record is the Neo Shoegaze version of Sunbeam by the LA trio Casino Hearts.
00:09:42
Speaker
Here's a little bit of that.
Review of Eric Clapton's Unplugged Special
00:09:53
Speaker
Announcement 3. On the heels of the Eric Clapton Unplugged over 30 years later 90 minute video special that's currently available to stream on Paramount+, plus it was also announced that Clapton would be releasing a newly remixed, remastered, extended, and enhanced reissue of his $26 million selling Unplugged album that will feature the day of interview segments interspliced between the songs.
00:10:17
Speaker
as well as a handful of bonus performances that weren't aired in the original broadcasts nor included in the original album release. The expanded 17-track collection will be released in double CD and triple vinyl versions on May 9th, and they're currently available for pre-orders right now.
00:10:35
Speaker
And that segues nicely into my brief quasi-mini-review of the new Eric Clapton Unplugged Over 30 Years Later special. I was initially thinking about devoting a whole episode to a full track-by-track breakdown of this release, but for a few different reasons, I ultimately decided against going that route.
00:10:54
Speaker
First and foremost, it's far more interesting to hear Nathan East talk about his experience of actually playing on this pop culture moment-grabbing monumental gig that still resonates with so many listeners. And don't worry, we'll get into our chat in just a little bit here.
00:11:08
Speaker
But also, ah know Clapton isn't exactly everybody's cup of tea. He is both widely celebrated as an undeniable rock god and also complexly controversial as a public figure.
00:11:20
Speaker
And truth in advertising for me, when I have my objective music critic hat on, I can talk about his unquestionably rich, decades upon decades impact and legacy across rock, blues, and pop all day long.
00:11:32
Speaker
As a devoted radio listener and MTV consumer throughout the 80s and 90s, Clapton was pretty inescapable, and you could probably stand me up at a surprise Clapton-only karaoke night and watch me get 20-30 songs deep before stumbling over anything.
00:11:46
Speaker
But as just a music fan, I actually only own one Clapton album, his Unplugged, and that's been the only record of his I've ever intentionally reached for to listen to. Personally, I'm far more interested in him from a pop culture anthropological perspective than anything else.
00:12:02
Speaker
He's one of the most revered, studied, awarded, and best-selling musical artists of all time. He sold over 100 million albums of just his solo catalog alone, not even counting his releases with bands like Cream, The Yardbirds, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominoes, and a few others.
00:12:20
Speaker
His Unplugged record, which, again, i remind you, was recorded for a television show, is still the best-selling live album of all time. He's the only three-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and again, even not being an avid purchaser of his albums, there are easily three dozen or more of his songs that I could sing you word for word simply because of his gigantically ubiquitous footprint across more than a half-century of U.S. and U.K. pop culture.
00:12:48
Speaker
So all that preamble to say, all the nice things I'm about to mention about his new special, isn't coming from a hyperbolic, hagiographic, Clapton is God place. You absolutely do not have to be a Clapton superfan to get something new out of it.
00:13:02
Speaker
I genuinely enjoyed and appreciated this new extended reframing of his landmark unplugged outing, and here's a couple reasons why. First, one of the biggest draws for this new repackaging of Clapton's Unplugged are the interview segments that were recorded on the day of the filming session just prior to Clapton and his band hitting the stage.
00:13:21
Speaker
Not only is it interesting to hear him talk so casually about the impending performance, having no idea that it would become such a huge cultural moment and such an impactful milestone in his career,
00:13:31
Speaker
But it's also extremely cool to hear him open up about the blues artist he would be covering that night and how they impacted his musical taste and performing style at such a young age. Nobody knows you when you're down and out.
00:13:43
Speaker
I first heard it by Bessie Smith and it is one of the early songs that I played when I was around the pubs when I was about 15, 16. And I played it unaccompanied and and it was one of the first songs that I felt I could sing because it's a melodramatic song and I could, you know, I could put all this angst into it, you know.
00:14:01
Speaker
It came back when I had Derrick and the Dominoes, we did a version of it. But this is the way i originally used to do it, with the with the acoustic guitar. You know, as has been analyzed and elucidated by smarter and far more eloquent music journalists than myself, it's no secret that the history of the music business is the history of exploitation. And this is especially true in the case of blues-based rock music, where the original originators and progenitors of these blues folk gospel and country songs that inherently make up the musical gumbo that became known as rock and roll rarely if ever get the shine and the credit they so rightfully deserve while their inspired interpreters went on to become successful renowned superstars
00:14:41
Speaker
When Clapton's Unplugged was first released back in 92, so many of the storylines were about how unique and special this batch of acoustic blues songs were in Clapton's hands. But not all of the journalists and reviewers took the time to do much in the way of explicitly pointing out the original artists that Clapton was channeling.
00:14:59
Speaker
This new special really enriches Clapton's well-known Unplugged setlist by using many of these day-of interview segments as song introductions, and it's enlightening to hear Clapton not only call out the artist and albums by name, but also speak openly about how they impacted him as a young teenager and developing guitar player.
00:15:18
Speaker
It really adds a whole new depth to Clapton's playing and song choices during the show. Second, speaking of those song choices, these interview segments also help underscore the deeply thoughtful and emotional set list that he crafted for this one-off performance.
00:15:33
Speaker
the biggest chunk of his unplugged set list was devoted to a great collection of blues songs that had taken root inside of him as a young kid and that were still shaping him musically and personally clapton then beautifully augmented that larger batch of individually personalized cover songs with a smaller selection of deeply emotional originals that explored his experiences as both a wounded son that never met his own father on the song my father's eyes and also a grieving father who had recently suffered the tragic loss of his own four-year-old son connor on the songs tears in heaven and circus
00:16:09
Speaker
Of course, Tears in Heaven was one of the most famous moments coming out of Clapton's Unplugged. You'll remember that between the original studio version for the film Rush and his Unplugged album, Clapton took home six Grammys out of nine nominations at the 93 awards.
00:16:24
Speaker
But it's also cool that this special adds back in Circus and My Father's Eyes, which were both absent from the original broadcast and album release. Third, I really appreciated the attention to contextualization.
00:16:36
Speaker
The special kicks off with a sort of quasi-documentary opening narration about Clapton's career, which was written by the amazing MTV mainstay Kurt Loder and voiced by Gervais Weeks.
00:16:47
Speaker
so anyone can hop into the special and get brought up to speed pretty quickly regardless of their previous clapton knowledge or lack thereof and again the individualized contextualization before almost all of the songs just adds a really rich and insightful layer to the whole performance fourth i really like how even though unplugged only had two seasons under its belt at the time and the surprisingly explosive success of the clapton unplugged was kind of seen as the show's arrival moment you can actually connect some of the dots to place this specific unplugged as more of an escalating continuation than an outright anomaly
00:17:22
Speaker
I feel like some of the echoes from the previous two seasons are, Clapton's uniquely personalized setlist reminds me of both Paul McCartney's Unplugged, because they both picked special cover songs that inspired and informed them as kids, and the Aerosmith Unplugged, because they both were so heavy with blues covers.
00:17:39
Speaker
And more specifically, Clapton's Unplugged version of Jesse Fuller's San Francisco Bay Blues is a double dinger for me. Because not only did McCartney play the exact same song during his unplugged, but also Clapton and his band all playing kazoos during the song, of course makes me think of The Cure playing kazoos and even handing them out to the audience for their song The Wall during their unplugged taping.
00:18:01
Speaker
And I know we're talking about Clapton right now, but let's digress for just a quick moment and hear a little bit of The Cure and their unplugged audience absolutely nailing their synthesizer by way of kazoo lines perfectly.
00:18:25
Speaker
And finally, I'll just say, overall, this new Clapton Unplugged Special looks and sounds amazing. Even if you were around in 92 and think every note and image from the show and album is already seared into your memory, not only will you get the new interview segments and the additional batch of bonus songs, but also the whole package has been sonically and visually gussied up to the point that side-by-side experiments with my CD and DVD originals show a marked improvement.
00:18:52
Speaker
Okay, I think that adequately covers my high-level mini-review. Long story short, it's totally worth your 90 minutes, no matter your level of connection to Clapton going in.
Interview with Nathan East Begins
00:19:02
Speaker
There's a reason this Unplugged really cemented the show into the pop-cultural consciousness, has sold almost 30 million albums, and continues to be relevant and celebrated this many decades later.
00:19:13
Speaker
Plus, you know, it becoming the go-to cultural reference point for evoking Unplugged means that it's also responsible for some amazing 90s-era parodies from the likes of Wayne and Garth.
00:19:36
Speaker
Weird Al, and many others.
00:19:51
Speaker
Let's get into my interview with iconic bassist and esteemed member of the MTV Unplugged Three-Timers Club, Nathan East. This musical genius has played and recorded with just about everybody you can think of, and if you've been tuned into popular music at any point over the last 40 to 50 years, there's no doubt you've heard his unassuming yet signature playing style at least once or twice.
00:20:13
Speaker
More likely in the hundreds or thousands, though. I've said many times that what bassist James Jamerson did to help define the Motown sound, Nathan East has done for the last half century of rock, R&B, and pop music.
00:20:26
Speaker
Plus, along with being insanely talented, he's just an incredibly kind dude with down-to-earth insights, a charmingly infectious laugh, and a genuinely uplifting megawatt perma-smile.
00:20:37
Speaker
So let's jump on in. Here's my Unplugged Revisited chat with bassist Nathan East to hear all about his experiences filming MTV Unplugged episodes with Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, and Babyface.
00:20:49
Speaker
I'm extremely stoked to be sitting here today with renowned bass genius Nathan East, one of the most revered instrumental architects of the last half century of rock, R&B, and pop music, and esteemed member of the MTV Unplugged Three-Timers Club. My immense thanks to you for joining the show today, Nathan.
00:21:06
Speaker
Well, thanks so much, Will. It's great to be here. Right off the top, I wanted to ask the question that I'm sure is on everybody's mind. Was Eric Clapton's Unplugged the only time you've played a kazoo in concert, and will we ever see you rock one again?
00:21:21
Speaker
Yes, it was the only time. And there's a good chance that we won't be rocking the kazoo again. However, um i always leave room for the possibility. There you go. Okay. You never know. and And I think it would be fun at some point later down the line that that we did that song with Eric. You know, i think it'd be fun.
00:21:42
Speaker
Right. Exactly. Yeah. Well, if you ever if you ever pull out the kazoo again, I'll be the first one in the front row with my hands raised, ready to go. ah Fantastic. Awesome. So, okay, as as I said up top, you've actually played bass on three separate Unplugged episodes, um Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, and Babyface.
00:22:00
Speaker
So I've got questions about all three, but we'll just get started with Eric's Unplugged from 92. First off, you've played on so many hugely popular records, but what exactly does it feel like, or how do you even conceptualize knowing that you played on literally the best-selling live album of all time?
00:22:20
Speaker
You know, you don't know when you're making it that it's going to just blow up like that, you know? And so it's just one of those things where it was another day that another concept doing something, okay, unplugged, you know, so I'm going play Upright. And Eric was really adamant about it being unplugged. You know, he wasn't trying to say, oh, this is unplugged album, but we're plugged in.
00:22:41
Speaker
You know, it was legitimately unplugged and two and a half hours in the afternoon out in the, uh, at Bray Studios outside of London. And you just could never imagine to realize that this is going to sell 30 million albums or something incredible like that.
00:22:57
Speaker
and And here beyond 30 years later, still be something that's ah very relevant. Yeah. And especially for it being a television show, that always blows my mind. Sometimes when we hear the word live album, we always just sort of think of, you know, big arena gigs or like things like Live Aid, which, you know, you played as well. But it's kind of amazing that this happened for a television show first and foremost. And it kind of started that whole unplugged as albums phenomenon that kicked off. Right.
00:23:22
Speaker
Right. and And, you know, MTV Unplugged, that was something that was years before any social media or or even the iPhone, you know, yeah yeah or any of the kind of the way we get our music delivered today, you know. So to reach that many people in an analog sense is pretty remarkable.
00:23:41
Speaker
Absolutely. Such a good point. For you personally, when you're talking to someone who brings up Eric's Unplugged, what are some of your own individualized snapshot memories of that experience that usually sort of pop up into your mind whenever you hear Eric Clapton Unplugged?
00:23:56
Speaker
Yeah, well, the the first thing is just the intimate setting, couple hundred people, you know, it's almost like a living room, you know, and lot of those people were friends, it invited to just see this event taking place. So it it just gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling about just making music with your friends, for your friends. And it's so I think that added to the the natural feeling of it, you know, where it wasn't the pressure of a big concert at an arena and lights, camera actions. You know, this was this very intimate and that made for a very authentic and unique feel in the music.
00:24:31
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You know, one of one of the stories that I think is kind of funny, um I'm friends with Alex Coletti, the producer of all these incredible unplugs. And he told me a story that he remembered from that day, um that when you guys had the upright bass shipped over, you know, you kind of got in place, mic'd it up. It was sounding kind of muddy. And it turns out there were a bunch of packing peanuts that had gotten into the F holes of the bass.
00:24:54
Speaker
And he remembers you and him having to like each grab an end and shake out the packing. team shake out the play Yeah. Yeah. That was funny. I mean, never had to do that. But yeah, we we had a bass that was shipped. And ah yeah, that's I had forgotten about that. But um yeah, that was good fun trying to get those out of there.
00:25:10
Speaker
and So they make that thing sing a little more. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Well, speaking of upright bass and just acoustic basses in general, what was your relationship or frequency of playing acoustic and upright prior to this unplugged taping?
00:25:25
Speaker
Well, having studied with Bert Turetsky at UC San Diego and playing a lot of classical music there, and and I was in one of the orchestras in San Diego. So I i had been playing the upright since my days in high school, actually.
00:25:39
Speaker
And so it was it was a very comfortable transition. My first instrument was cello. so Oh, nice. That got me into reading the bass clef and very comfortable to to be able to switch to the upright from the electric.
00:25:54
Speaker
Oh, that's incredible. I'll ah nerd out with you for just one second. i um When I was going into middle school, I wanted to learn how to play guitar, but my family couldn't really afford to get me a guitar. But if you signed up for music classes, you got to rent an instrument for free. And so to be able, my long-term plan was to learn guitar, but to be able to do that, I was taught cello for three years of middle school.
00:26:16
Speaker
um So that was actually my first instrument as well was cello. Oh, fantastic. i didn't I didn't know we had that connection. but and And that's my exact same story. Actually, I was asking if I could learn piano, you know, because I was listening to Charlie Brown and those Vince Giraldi specials. And I said, I want to play that. So they didn't have a piano available, but they had all the stringed instruments available. And I chose cello.
00:26:39
Speaker
Again, you know, I got to take it home. and and then And then I kind of was starting to use it as a bass kind of going along with some jazz records. And it was a It was definitely better because I was a little guy. So size wise, it worked out pretty, pretty cool, too.
00:26:55
Speaker
That's awesome. um And I'm jealous you got to take yours home. We had to leave ours because there was, you know, a handful of us using the same instrument, but um ah sharing it. Yeah. Being a stereotypical Gen X slacker kid in the nineties, also liked it because I got to sit down the whole time. Like every once in a while, the violins and violas had to stand up and play and with cello, it's like, oh no, you can just hang out the whole time. yeah Automatically seated. Yeah.
00:27:18
Speaker
And it's a beautiful, beautiful instrument. I love it. It's still, I still think it's one of the, You know really, really great range in the orchestra and where it sits and everything in the music. Yeah, nice. All right. Well, we'll be keeping our eye out for the Nathan East cello album that'll hopefully be somewhere in the future with at least one song that has Kazoo on it.
00:27:38
Speaker
ah Exactly. Well, ah going going back to, you know, just thinking back to early 92 at this point when you're playing with Eric, you had been playing with him for, i think, you know, roughly eight to nine years at
Nathan East on Clapton's Unplugged Preparation
00:27:49
Speaker
that point. And Unplugged itself was still a fairly new show with only two seasons under its belt.
00:27:54
Speaker
So what are your memories of those first few sort of creative discussions between Eric and the band about filming an episode of Unplugged? How did he tell you guys that he wanted to approach it?
00:28:06
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much ah it came through. And then those were the days when MTV was pretty popular. And so we got the word that MTV wanted to do a film and unplugged. And again, his first ah inclination was it has to be truly unplugged. And while you're at it, maybe re reinvent some of the arrangements of some of the songs, you know? Yeah.
00:28:27
Speaker
And so with that in mind, you know, re-imagining Layla was like, first of all, I love that because he completely flipped it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Even his singing range that he's in, it's complete reinvention.
00:28:42
Speaker
Yeah. and And, you know, I had the opportunity to watch the unplugged on the big screen ah about a month ago. And it was really fun to see, but, and his singing is amazing in it on there. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:56
Speaker
And playing, you know, but I just thought it was really fun to just sit there and and see what took place all those years ago and just remember how much fun it was to make that.
00:29:08
Speaker
Tell us a little bit about what you remember from that week long rehearsal. Like, was that a bit out of the ordinary to prep that much for a single gig? and And how was the band gelling together around all these, ah you know, new blues covers that you guys didn't play every night?
00:29:23
Speaker
Now, actually, Bray Studios, the great studio, and then they have production rooms and and as big or as small as you like. And so we're very familiar with that those rooms from rehearsing for the tours anyway, in general. and And the tour rehearsals are normally at least two weeks, you know, two to three, sometimes four weeks.
00:29:43
Speaker
So to schedule a week in there to rehearse for this, you know, that that seemed actually relatively short. Oh, OK. What we had been doing. And it was fun because you take songs that you know and you're playing that are already existing arrangements, but then start you know doing the what if but what if we did this. you know yeah And obviously one of the, I think, songs that resonated most with people around the world was Tears in Heaven, and which had already, we had recorded the soundtrack of that for a film called Rush.
00:30:19
Speaker
But then to do it in the unplugged fashion was really, really special. Yeah, I think that's one of the things that impresses me so much about the set list that Eric crafted for this show is that most people kind of talk about the big chunk of blues covers. But I feel like he really opened himself up with those really personal songs. My Father's Eyes, Circus and Tears in Heaven, like you're saying.
00:30:40
Speaker
Tell us how you approach crafting your bass lines for such deeply personal songs, especially what you created. I think you did two different bass parts for the studio version of Tears in Heaven. Is that right? Right. Right. Absolutely.
00:30:52
Speaker
Hey, you did some homework. I try. I try. know Yeah, that was a, I would say, you know, that the song played me. it It was like, I was just holding the bass, but these notes were coming through and and definitely the emotional part of, of what happened and,
00:31:09
Speaker
and knowing young Connor and, and just ah the whole experience really, really made for, like I say, I sat there and held the base and these notes sort of just came out, you know, based on a ah flood of emotions.
00:31:23
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, that's beautiful. So beautiful. You know, also thinking about the other side of that set list with those blues covers, having played with him for so long, how do you think, his deep connection to those songs and especially those specific performers that he talks about loving so much since he was a teenager.
00:31:42
Speaker
How do you think all that sort of shaped his performance on Unplugged? Because like I said, a lot of these songs were not ones that he had been playing in concert for 30 years. Some of these were, this is the first time people had heard him playing them.
00:31:53
Speaker
Right. Well, I think it was, you know, smart of him to pull out songs that could possibly be obscure that people hadn't heard. And again, his artistry said, okay, I'm, I'm doing a whole new format and what it why don't I do songs that are not necessarily familiar to the audience, you know?
00:32:13
Speaker
And, a lovely fine collection of songs as well, you know? And, and I think it was really all of that, that made it such a groundbreaking project.
00:32:24
Speaker
Yeah. All of those things coming together. And, and again, ah credit to his artistry to play these songs. And I love the fact that, you know, he studied so much amazing music and the blues and that was, that was, that was like his university.
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. ah He definitely, definitely got the PhD on that. That's for sure. Exactly. I was also kind of curious, like, consequently, because he seemed to be having such a great time being able to play these songs in this format. Did his enjoyment in playing those songs sort of shape your playing in any special way? Because there's a couple times during the video, especially I think of the song Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out, where the camera catches you and your like signature megawatt smile is just on full display. So it seemed to kind of be impacting the way you were playing as well.
00:33:13
Speaker
Absolutely. i mean, again, rewatching the ah film the other day, I just was noticing how much joy and love everybody had, you know, and and there's Eric, you know, with these big smiles. And and it was a it was a fun thing because we're we were doing something that we hadn't really done. And and again, it was such an intimate audience. And you looked out and there there were definitely friends and family out there.
00:33:37
Speaker
that just made for the the joy of the moment. And that's the thing about recording that you're capturing, you know? and And so it's not just something like that cannot be recreated in your bedroom with your laptop. You know what I'm saying? Right?
00:33:53
Speaker
Absolutely. that That would never... It would never go down like that. You know, it has to be every one of those elements of of joy where you there's people in the audience giving it back to you, but it's a small, intimate situation like a living room almost.
00:34:09
Speaker
And then the the band is having such a good time and you're doing something fresh and new. All of those things combined, I think, made for made for the success of that particular performance.
00:34:20
Speaker
Very cool. And, and of course I can't get out of a discussion of Eric's Unplugged with, without asking you about Layla, which you've already mentioned. Tell us about when you first heard that new Unplugged arrangement, like when he kind of showed it to you guys. And then also what was it like to play it in front of an audience for the first time? Because I'm i'm sure that just had to be mind blowing for everybody in the room.
00:34:39
Speaker
Well, it was, and you can hear as soon as they work out what it is, you know, you can hear it. the the applause and and the the joy in in saying, okay, what is this? We have a new, very slinky version, bluesy version of Layla. i mean I mean, and the fact that, again, a song lends itself to two different, completely different versions.
00:35:01
Speaker
And I have to say there's a couple of times when we've played, it hasn't happened a lot, but we've played both versions in a show. Really? Wow. Yeah. That's amazing. We played we played the unplugged version kind of in the middle of the set during the acoustic set. And then, you know, as we came to the end, the either the encore or last song was the electric version.
00:35:21
Speaker
And people would went crazy. Yeah. That's such a unique musical talent to be able to not only write, An amazing song that that grabs the pop cultural consciousness, but then also be able to go back into it and completely rewire it from the foundation and recreate the success of it. It's incredible. Yeah.
00:35:40
Speaker
That's one of the things I love about working with Eric and ah just being friends over all these years. I love his approach to situations like that, where he's really like an open book, you know, and, and, and the way his mind thinks it's, it seems to be open architecture all times. yeah And, and that makes, I think it, it makes the gigs fun, you know, and he's never expecting you to play it like the record or the same every time, you know, which,
00:36:07
Speaker
Yeah. which' for For me, which is what music is all about. Yeah. That's got to be such a freeing experience to just, yeah, have that trust and be able to take it where you want to take it. Yeah. Nice. All right. Well, ah moving on to your second Unplugged appearance, two years later, 94 with Phil Collins.
Insights into Phil Collins' Unplugged Session
00:36:23
Speaker
Tell us how you first started playing with Phil and also about the connection between him being the first one that actually introduced you to Eric as well. Right. Well, obviously, like everybody else, a big, big fan of Phil.
00:36:34
Speaker
We first worked together on Philip Bailey's Chinese wall album. I think that was like 1983 or 84, something like that. And that was in London. And Philip Bailey introduced me to Phil Collins on that project.
00:36:48
Speaker
And first of all, it was love at first sight when when we played together because his yeah it's drumming, if he's one of my favorite drummers to play with and we we got on great. But then, you know, to get the right together and and hang out and again like I said, he went out and introduced me to Eric Clapton out in the countryside.
00:37:09
Speaker
I met Eric at a pub out there. It just felt felt very, it felt like a storybook to me, you know, first time in London. And I'm looking at this beautiful countryside and meeting Clapton and playing with Phil. And it was just like, really? Right. I love my life.
00:37:27
Speaker
Right. You know, and, and we had played in the, what we call the heaven band with Phil, Eric, Greg Fillinghaze and myself, you know, and we said, we toured of that configuration,
00:37:39
Speaker
eric's sort of Eric and Phil, they're like mates, you know. and yeah So a lot of a lot of the things they do and did together, you know, were kind of like just, oh, you did an unplug? Oh, that I think I'll do an unplug. Yeah. Nice.
00:37:55
Speaker
There we go. That's cool. And for any listeners that may not be familiar with the story, um not only do you have ah co-writing credit on Easy Lover, which is the great hit that came out of that record, but also we have you to thank for it even being a duet, because it's my understanding that that was your suggestion is to get Phil to sing on it with Phil. Is that right? Or to get Collins to sing on it with Bailey. they were good yeah Exactly. yeah yeah Phil sang with Phil.
00:38:19
Speaker
There you go. Yeah, no, when, when ah Phil Collins wrote the lyrics and he came back and he was singing them, you know, it's like, You sounded so great. And it's like the light bulb went off in my head just immediately. OK, come on, guys.
00:38:32
Speaker
Do it. Right. I'm just glad that Phil Collins was was up for it. Awesome. Very cool. OK, well, um so for Phil's Unplugged, the show itself, MTV Unplugged, was certainly in a different place than where it was going into Eric's Unplugged, because now it had this reputation for potentially generating, you know, radio hits and platinum selling albums and Grammy wins and all that that came with the Clapton record.
00:38:56
Speaker
So what do you remember about the sort of the creative discussions about how Phil wanted to handle his unplugged moment now that it was kind of in a different place? First of all, having the opportunity to work with two amazing artists that are so influential.
00:39:12
Speaker
It's just, it's a study basically for me. Right. and And they both are so honest and sincere with what they deliver to their audiences. And when Phil Collins went to do an Unplugged, he was in the same frame of mind, you know, what's the best this can be, you know, and now how can we tweak these songs and really make it. And and of course, having having the EC Unplugged as sort of as a model of yeah of how they go, you know, it really gives you a good idea of
00:39:44
Speaker
of of how an artist looks at a project like that. So looking over Phil's set list, which was pretty big, i think there were only eight songs that might've been on the television broadcast, but you guys ended up doing like 25 or so songs that night.
00:39:58
Speaker
Let's start talking like at the beginning about his sort of rearranged originals. What do you remember about those unplugged versions of like that jazzy piano take that he did on I Don't Care Anymore?
00:40:10
Speaker
or the re-grooved in the air tonight that's missing the iconic drum fill. Yeah. and And it's funny because I, over the years, you know, 30 years later, i had forgotten a lot of the process of him just going for the blues. And and I think he was, I think he was again influenced by Eric's sort of bluesy approach to a big pop rock hit.
00:40:33
Speaker
you know Yeah. Yeah. it's It's just great to see how these things come out and turn out. And then, and again, You know, Phil, his catalog is just so vast to have so many songs to choose from to to revamp and do. its It just makes it a lot of fun just to try to, for the challenge of of reinventing those songs.
00:40:51
Speaker
that That's why I love, i'm I'm, you know, admittedly kind of an unplugged obsessive and there's not really any that I would point to as saying that, you know, they're bad or whatever, but there there are definitely some artists that kind of approach their unplugged as just sort of another promotional opportunity. Maybe they had a new album or something like that. But then you have these ones like not only Eric Clapton, but also Phil Collins, who really sort of saw it as a unique moment to get in and and rework their material and also to, you know, have some fun with some songs they may have not done. done before, thinking of the the cover songs that Phil did.
00:41:22
Speaker
there There were a couple that that were included in the broadcast. And I was curious, is that the first time that y'all had used the Beatles' Lady Madonna as sort of an intro to Susudio? I think so.
00:41:34
Speaker
i think that i think that was one of the first times. And and um again, Phil, he's one of those artists. I mean, I remember he went through also not a phase, but he he he ah wanted to be like a big band drummer, Buddy Rich. Yeah.
00:41:48
Speaker
stuff So he again reinvented a lot of those songs for some shows that we did in Montrose, Switzerland and and ah around Europe that he just went back and sat on the drums and played played the hits, you know Quincy Jones conducting.
00:42:03
Speaker
oh and it was just, ah ah again, another version of Phil Collins, another showcase of his amazing talent. Yeah, he's so good. I think he actually ah plays bongos in the in the middle of that, in the transition between Lady Madonna into Susudio, which you really, man, you really like turned up the funk to like, you went past 11 to like a thousand on that one. You you sounded amazing on that unplugged version of Susudio. I love much. Thank you. I'll have to go back and and check that out again. I had forgotten about a lot of those and um it's just a so fortunate to work with such amazing artists, you know
00:42:38
Speaker
A couple more of the covers that he did for Unplugged. He of course did ah You Can't Hurry Love, which had been a number one hit for him in the early 80s. um But he kind of did it for the Unplugged show as sort of in a trio with also doing My Girl and and People Get Ready.
00:42:52
Speaker
How do you approach sort of, for lack of a better word, Nathanizing a cover song that originally featured bass players in the realm of, you know, James Jamerson and Paul McCartney in these last two cases?
00:43:05
Speaker
You know, the funny thing too is, is ah by the way, My Girl, great Smokey Robinson composition, you know, Temptations. But but that's that's a baseline that a lot of times when I'm plugged in and I'm so sort of warming up, I just hit that baseline.
00:43:19
Speaker
And regardless of where I am around the world, people start singing. I've got sunshine on a cloudy day, you know? And so what I ah did was when we were in one of the Phil Collins rehearsals, is I started fooling around with the baseline.
00:43:33
Speaker
Next thing know, there he is singing it, you know. And then that was kind of how it ended up getting into the show. Oh, nice. Okay. we Just literally just fooling around playing it at soundcheck or something that he jumps in there and and all of a sudden it's like come on, let's do this. Yeah. Yeah. There we go. Oh, it sounded amazing. It sounded like y'all had been playing it for years. So yeah and and he he's, he's a big fan of, of Motown and earth, wind and fire and, you know, R and B and you can tell it in his, his music, he has the earth, wind and fire horns and.
00:44:05
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Songs like Susudio were just so funky, you know, so it's a joy to play with somebody who gets it like that, you know. and Yeah. Ricky Lawson on drums, who's from Detroit, big part of that that sound and and the music.
00:44:21
Speaker
And, you know, those songs were in our neighborhoods growing up. So it's just fun to see the hybrid. of the the British guys adopting that music and and so lovingly.
00:44:32
Speaker
Right, right. Yeah. Reverence. Yeah. He also seemed, you know, I thought to use his unplugged moment to sort of try out some pretty rare live tracks for him that that he hadn't really played that much over the years. Like you guys did a cover of Elton John's Burn Down the Mission. And he also pulled out like a really rare B-side curiosity called Don't Call Me Ashley.
00:44:52
Speaker
Yeah. Do you have any memories of of prepping or rehearsing those rarities or or why he may have wanted to pull those out since it seemed to be a very unique unplugged moment to kind of go for those two? Yeah, I think because of the obscurity and just the opportunity to, hey, we get to try anything, you know. and Yeah, yeah.
00:45:11
Speaker
And the thing I love about Phil, again, like a lot of lot of those great artists, Elton John, I mean they're such fans of music. Elton's always you know got ah got an armful of, back in the day, CDs you know this and and handing them out. I remember our first 4Play CD, Elton, ah he bought like a stack and was giving them to his and his band members. Oh, that's awesome.
00:45:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's amazing. And when I when i went to give him our second CD, he says, oh, no, that nobody I already have one for every house. Right. And, and, and Phil the same way, you know, he he had so much music in his, in his heart that yeah yeah this was an opportunity.
00:45:51
Speaker
It's kind of like, Oh, MTV unplugged. This is where you get to try anything you want that you've always wanted to try out or yeah different versions and variations. So that was a, That was something that, again, a a great opportunity to not just go up and play the hits like you normally do, but just go and and really showcase a different side of our playing and personalities.
00:46:13
Speaker
And I love hearing, like you're talking about, musicians who really not only enjoy enjoy the job of being a musician, but are really music fans themselves. i ah I was born and raised in Atlanta, and I can't tell you how many stories were always going around about people that may or may not have seen Elton John at the record store, because that was apparently every time someone went, they saw Elton John. But all the stories were the same as it.
00:46:36
Speaker
You know, it's not like he went in for five minutes to pick up a CD. Like, I mean, he's coming out with like stacks and stacks. Right. And and he lived right there on, a up in Pete, on Pete Street. Yeah. On Pete Street. Right. Yeah. Which is not hard to do in Atlanta. There's like a thousand of them. So it's very easy to, yeah. But it it was always funny because I was like, well, at least if there's a hundred stories, at least 20 of them were probably true. But they all had that same, that that same thing. it's just like, yeah, he was always buying So um I've heard unofficially that the reason that Phil never released his Unplugged as an album was just that, you know, he was kind of in a weird place in his personal life and didn't feel like that he performed especially well that night, which is surprising to me. I think he killed it.
00:47:19
Speaker
But do you remember any conversations from that time about maybe why that specific unplugged never got released? And 30 years later, do you think he'll ever release the whole thing?
00:47:30
Speaker
I would love to see that come out. You know, but a funny story too. I mean, when Eric finished his, I remember his manager telling me, oh, he didn't want to release it. He didn't think it was good and enough.
00:47:42
Speaker
Oh my goodness. Yeah. ah So, I mean, wouldn't that have been a tragedy, but but i'm glad I'm glad he made the decision to release it. But yeah, ah think he you know was unplugged and he said, ah I don't know if this is really good enough to to release.
00:47:57
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I know. That's so crazy. I think I've been able to capture, Phil put a couple of the unplugged tracks on a B-side to a single back in the 90s. And then I know um on last year's reissue, he added...
00:48:11
Speaker
ah couple of the unplugged tracks as, as bonus ones, but I'm like, oh man, yeah, he's just, he's spoon feeding. i I want the whole thing. I want him to release the whole thing. Right. I think that'd be a great, great thing to do. And, and again, who knows, but that's up to every artist about whether they feel they did, it yeah you know, but can you imagine how high your standards are? You know, when you're right. Yeah, you exactly.
00:48:35
Speaker
Look at that and say, oh I don't think it's good enough. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm glad Eric had a change of heart and we can just keep our fingers and toes crossed that Phil will one day as well. I think it'd be amazing. Yeah. Yeah.
Babyface's Unplugged Performance Discussion
00:48:47
Speaker
Okay. Well, finally, um your third unplugged appearance, 97, this time with Babyface. Tell us how you first hooked up with Babyface and and got to work on so many of those classic 90s R&B records, which just to give a slight list for listeners, we're talking Whitney Houston, TLC, Boys to Men, Tony Braxton, Mary J. Blige, Karen White, the Soul Food soundtrack, the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack.
00:49:10
Speaker
And this is just working with Babyface. so Unbelievable. Tell us, tell us how you got that gig and how you became one of his sort of steady go-tos. Yeah. And changed the world. I mean, that's right. Yeah.
00:49:22
Speaker
Baby face has that Midas magic touch. and And again, it's, it's because he's such a fantastic musician. And I think we first started working together. might've been waiting to exhale days, but throughout the nineties, you know, he was, he was hitting it out of the park.
00:49:39
Speaker
I'll never forget, you know, one of the first sessions get to work with him and, and He liked Ricky Lawson as a drummer. He loved great feeling gains. So he kind of adopted us as his rhythm section. so First of all, he can play everything, you know, so he didn't really need us, but he would make these incredible demos and we'd just go over there and just try to do the best we could.
00:50:00
Speaker
and And we even, i don't know if you've heard his Christmas album, but it's packed with a lot of fun songs and we're playing sounds like ah kids in ah in a candy store, you know, just having a good time.
00:50:12
Speaker
Yeah, that one came out the year after Unplugged, right? It was like 98? I think so, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's such a great Christmas album. Yeah. And so, you know, we would just get the call and all throughout, you know, the 90s. And it was just great to, you know, get the call and go over there.
00:50:27
Speaker
He built a studio that that sounded amazing called Brandon Sway, named after his son. And um it just was, again, exciting to know that you're going in to make ah music that's going to be heard.
00:50:41
Speaker
Definitely going to be heard by a lot of people. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's so great. And, and since you mentioned change the world, is it true that you showed up to record on the session that day and didn't know that it was for Eric? You thought you were just doing another baby face session? Another baby face call. Yeah.
00:50:56
Speaker
You're like, oh, well I happened to actually know the artist this time. Well, it's funny because you'd you'd be in there and and and it's just, oh, who we doing today? Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston. I mean, it was just across the board. And and I was ah was really um happy that Eric was feeling Baby's Face's music enough to ask him to you know to produce that.
00:51:18
Speaker
Nice. Okay. Well, for for Babyface's Unplugged, I think it's so smart. He cleverly chose to sort of um split his set list between his own artist catalog and then also songs that he had written and produced for other acts, which made for a really cool sonic journey for his Unplugged. I was curious how you would describe his creative direction style, especially in contrast with like Babyface being a producer, Eric being a guitarist, Phil being a drummer, kind of what were their similarities and and what were their differences in how they directed you and the rest of the band on these?
00:51:51
Speaker
I think their artistry and the interesting thing about all three of those guys is they, their musicianship and what they play is equally as strong as their voice, their singing voice.
00:52:04
Speaker
And, you know, you think of Eric, you know, some people think of him as a guitar player. Some people think think of him as a singer. I mean, that's one of the most recognizable singing voices. Phil Collins, one of the greatest singers, but one of the greatest drummers ever, you know, babyface guitarist, left handed and his and he plays, you know, keys on his and and has his own like his keyboard sound like babyface you know and and then great singer So I think they just came to the table, each one of those guys with with their arsenal of gifts and talent and said, you know, how how can we spread this out? One of the things I love about these guys, mean, they've never once told me what to play.
00:52:48
Speaker
It's just like, wow, they just call you in and say, okay, yeah they want you to to to bring what you have to the to the music, you know? Oh, that's so cool to hear. Yeah. I think I've heard on so many musical documentaries, even thinking, you know, most recently of the Beatles get back when that came out a couple of years ago, like that, that seems to be just an immediate killer of a studio vibe is, you know, one musician telling another musician exactly what they need to be playing. So that's cool know. They're not like that.
00:53:16
Speaker
Yeah. never Never put the handcuffs on, you know, so yeah. I always kind of free to bring you. So, and and I think that's what they, if you listen to that set list, It lets you know that he trusts everybody to to bring what they're going to bring. And ah think when people hear it, they they still love hearing all those great songs, boys to man and.
00:53:38
Speaker
yeah So I believe he still does that in his own show. you know, he does, he does his set, but then he does the the hits that he's produced with other people. Ah, that's so smart and such just a cool musical flex too. Cause he's like, Oh yeah. And also this and also into the road and also breathe again. yeah You know, that's awesome. Amazing. Yeah. And, uh, nothing, nothing but respect for these guys.
00:54:02
Speaker
Well, he he also had for his Unplugged quite the guest list, including many acts who had already appeared on Unplugged before, like Shawnice, Casey and JoJo, and of course, Eric. um But tell me about the opportunity about getting to play those two songs with Stevie Wonder. What was what was that experience like? the Again, amazing.
00:54:23
Speaker
You know, having recorded the the original records. And then, you know, of course, baby face had to ask, okay, Stevie, you want to wouldn join us on unplug. And, and I just thought that's what our music community and and this exclusive club that we're in is all about.
00:54:42
Speaker
Um, yeah. Camaraderie and being able to pick up the phone and say, Hey, we're making an unplug today. You want to come join us? There we go. Yeah. Was that the actual first time you had played with him? With Stevie Wonder?
00:54:54
Speaker
No, we had done some recording before. okay. Yeah. And um he, what what did I do? might have been it might have been one of the first time, but there's there's a lot of shows we do where, you know, multiple artists.
00:55:09
Speaker
And so you end up playing one song with a person. And so it's not okay it's not not like you you worked with them. all the way Right, right. yeah these yeah So we we end up doing a lot of those. We did the Sammy Davis Jr. 60th birthday celebration and it was televised, but it was Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald. I mean, it was like, oh goodness. youwhile One night, you know, your resume is packed.
00:55:38
Speaker
But, uh, so those kinds of things, you know, end up working with Stevie on and, uh, and the the most exciting thing about this, this all for me is that all of these guys have just become dear friends.
00:55:50
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, I can't imagine that. That's so great when it goes beyond the performance. And and of course, for, ah anyone else who may want to see Nathan and Stevie playing together, we also got to mention the 2014 Grammys when, when you guys, uh, both played with Daft Punk and they, they brought Stevie out too. That was.
00:56:06
Speaker
Another fantastic live performance. Oh, man. too much Too much fun. And Stevie played harmonica on my first album when I did that version of Overjoyed. Okay. There we go. There we go. Right. Nice. Okay. Amazing. Very special. Yeah. I love it. Okay. Well, one of the last questions about the Babyface Unplugged is um one of the unquestionably standout moments, of course, is ah Babyface and Eric duetting on Change the World.
00:56:32
Speaker
um which at that point was already a huge global top 10 radio hit and had won three Grammys earlier that same year. However, I was curious, was there any back and forth discussion about Eric playing electric guitar for his Babyface Unplugged guest spot? Or, you know, was everybody on board? It's Eric Clapton.
00:56:50
Speaker
He can play whatever guitar he wants to. Right. You know, at that point it was just, um, hear something with six strings, regardless of whether there was electric or acoustic. And the cool thing again, is those guys were like two gentlemen, just like opening the door for each other. No, no, you go, no, you, after you, after you, I mean, polite, uh, very respectful. And it's just great to see two iconic legends like that, just being so reverent ah towards each other.
00:57:20
Speaker
And by the way, we rehearsed for that. Now that ah particular concert, we rehearsed for a month. and What? Wow. In LA. Oh my goodness.
00:57:31
Speaker
So you can imagine, I mean, these are some of the top musicians. And by by the second week, it was dial. I mean, it was really dialed in. And then every day we just played those songs. on it So by the time we actually filmed the the concert, I mean, we could play those backwards, upside down in our sleep. Oh.
00:57:50
Speaker
And, and, but it really came off, you know, cause there's a lot of little intricate, uh, things in the arrangements with little movements that, that, uh, that we added though. So those were really, really tight and it was, it it paid dividends once we got to the, to the actual performance.
00:58:07
Speaker
Oh, that that's so true. And now that you say that, I absolutely think of there's like three or four, uh, outros of the songs that are just like absolute gospelized, beautiful church numbers. And you're like, how are they hitting all the exact same beats at the same time? Like, I mean, that sounds super dumb to say that way, but you know what I mean? Like it was these very sort of intricate poly rhythms and chord changes and stuff where you're just like, man, they are like locked into each other. That's great. yeah Yeah, it changed the world. It has like about nine endings. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. It's like a seven minute, eight minute version. Yeah. Goes into this huge gospel. It's fantastic.
00:58:43
Speaker
ah That's beautiful. Nathan, again, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show today and for sharing so many memories of your trio of unplugged appearances. I really, really appreciate it. well Well, thank you for having me. And this this is a ah fun trip down memory lane of some of the most exciting moments, too. So thank you.
Episode Conclusion
00:59:02
Speaker
Man, what a gift to spend a little time talking Unplugged with one of the greatest bass players and nicest dudes of all time. Thanks again to Nathan for joining the show and reminiscing a bit about his phenomenal Unplugged three-peat.
00:59:14
Speaker
And that'll do it for today's show. As a reminder, if you've already got Paramount Plus or are considering signing up for it, don't forget to check out the new expanded special, Eric Clapton Unplugged over 30 years later, as well as the rest of the Unplugged archive that's currently being uploaded.
00:59:29
Speaker
Many of you have reached out to let me know which episodes you're revisiting or checking out for the first time, and I love knowing all those amazing unplugged episodes are getting some new attention. Here's hoping MTV finishes uploading all of the episodes someday soon, and maybe even gifts us some more specials. Or, dare I get greedy, some brand new episodes.
00:59:49
Speaker
If you want to connect with the show for any questions, corrections, or anything else, you can email me, unpluggedrevisited at gmail.com, or leave a voicemail by calling 234-REVISIT, or reach out on social media.
01:00:01
Speaker
And as always, please take a moment to follow the pod on your platform of choice so that it'll automatically pop into your feed when it goes live. I'll be back in two weeks with some more Unplugged shenanigans from me to you.
01:00:12
Speaker
Until then, my friends, be kind to yourself and look out for each other. Unplugged Revisited is a Son of a Butch production. The show is written and hosted by me, Will Hodge.
01:00:22
Speaker
The show is edited by Amanda Hodge and myself.
01:00:31
Speaker
That's J-O-R-D-A-N-U-L-L-O-M.design. And that is the beauty of Unplugged.