Rod Stewart

More than two decades after mop-topped rocker Rod Stewart sang his way to solo superstardom, he took the stage at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, CA for an intimate acoustic concert that was recorded and filmed for MTV's Unplugged series in February 1993. The momentous performance resulted in the hit album UNPLUGGED...AND SEATED, which climbed to #2 on Billboard's pop albums chart. Warner Bros.' new two-disc, CD+DVD COLLECTOR'S EDITION presents a remastered and expanded version of the original album, plus the DVD debut of the soulful performance, which was broadcast on MTV but has never been released in any format until now.

UNPLUGGED... and unforgettable, the CD features two bonus tracks that were not on the original album-the previously unissued "Forever Young" and "Gasoline Alley," the B-side of the single version of "Have I Told You Lately." The double-disc collection, which also boasts new liner notes by Bud Scoppa, encompasses many of Stewart's best loved songs-on the CD and DVD-including "Maggie May,' "Every Picture Tells A Story," "Tonight's The Night," Handbags And Gladrags" and "Hot Legs."

For the performance, Stewart sat perched on a stool surrounded by nine stellar core musicians, three male backing vocalists and a full string section. The intimate setting zeroed in on Stewart's extraordinary gift at fully inhabiting a song, and beautifully showcased a number of compositions that had come to define him, from ones he'd written himself-"Mandolin Wind"-to those he'd made his own-Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately." An exuberant homecoming with longtime friend Ron Wood for a rousing version of the Faces' rave-up "Stay With Me" had Stewart jumping off his seat, and the concert then closed on an emotional high note: "He ties a ribbon around the performance," writes Bud Scoppa in the package's notes, "with a joyous workup of Sam Cooke's 'Having A Party,' which is exactly what the show proceeds to turn into."