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MTV Unplugged

For about seven months in 1997 I shared an apartment in Rome with a fellow ex-pat, an Englishman with a taste for the acid jazz and neo-soul music of the day, and it was through him that I first heard the likes of Erykah Badu, D'Angelo and Maxwell. For all its merits, it was a style I couldn't seem to get a proper grip on at the time, and indeed, it was only really during the recent pandemic that I gave these artists another hearing, at last developing more of an appreciation for them.

About this time last year I spotted a few Maxwell CDs in a box at the local charity shop & thought the MTV Unplugged EP might provide a digestible introduction to his work. So it proved - it's a record I very much enjoy. At over 34 minutes I'd say it's more a short album than an EP. On the strength of this disc I also acquired a copy of Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite but I found that a bit too much Maxwell for me in a single sitting, succumbing as it did to a common late-'90s pitfall where albums bloated out to fill (most of) a whole CD.

These are smooth & richly-textured songs, expertly delivered by the artist aided by a trio of backing singers and something like an eleven-piece band including harp, brass & string quartet. Highlights for me include 'The Lady Suite', an affectionate cover of Kate Bush's 'This Woman's Work' and 'Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)'. This UK version of the EP closes with a version of '...Til the Cops Come Knockin' included at the expense of abbreviating the 7+ minute mash-up of 'Gotta Get: Closer' to 4½ minutes.

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