Welcome to a special Sunday feature of The Weekend Stream, which takes a look at one of MTV's great live music programs thanks to a recent reissue of one of its best-known episodes. We're running a five-part deep-dive on every episode of MTV Unplugged that's currently streaming on the station's parent streaming network Paramount+! (Parts 1, 2 and 3 can be read here, here and here.)

The seventh and eighth seasons of MTV Unplugged aired in 1996 and 1997, which were sort of its last years as a regular program. By then, the show locked into a comfortable groove, promoting whatever new artists had released albums and recorded mostly at small-to-mid-sized venues around New York (including the Majestic Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan). Unplugged albums were fewer, focused on sure-thing "event" performances that would represent something bigger or unexpected in an artist's discography. And then there was Oasis, whose eternal feuding led to a happily unpredictable episode.

SEASON 7

Chris Isaak (rec. at Sony Music Studios, New York, NY - 6/9/1995; aired 11/23/1995)

Sort of an odd choice, as Unplugged artists go: Isaak was several years removed from his unlikely Top 10 hit "Wicked Game," and was fresh off his newest album, Forever Blue, which featured his only other chart hit, the almost Top 40 "Somebody's Crying." But it's far from a bad time hearing that quavering voice in any context.

Availability: "Wicked Game" and "Blue Hotel" appeared on the second and third volume of The Very Best of MTV Unplugged series released between 2002 and 2004. The performances of "Wicked Game" and "Somebody's Cryin'" were respectively featured on a pair of video releases: 1997's MTV Unplugged Finest Moments Volume 1 and 1999's MTV Unplugged Ballads.

Seal (rec. at the Majestic Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY - 4/9/1996; aired 6/4/1996)

With producer Trevor Horn offering grandiosity and electronic rhythm on Seal's first two albums, the British crooner got a fine chance to show that his songs ("Crazy," "Prayer for the Dying," "Kiss from a Rose") were great with or without them - and his choice in covers wasn't bad either, with takes on unexpected tunes by Jimi Hendrix ("Stone Free") and David Bowie ("Quicksand").

Availability: The first two Very Best of MTV Unplugged CDs included "Kiss from a Rose" and "Crazy," while "Prayer for the Dying" ended up on the Finest Moments Volume 1 video.

Alice in Chains (rec. at the Majestic Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY - 4/10/1996; aired 5/28/1996)

Though perhaps not as effective as Nirvana's episode, Alice in Chains' appearance on MTV Unplugged followed a similar trajectory in some ways, serving as one of the band's final performances before frontman Layne Staley's drug dependency forced the group into an unannounced hiatus. (He died of an overdose in 2002.) However, theirs was heavy on radio hits, drawn about equally from 1992's Dirt ("Rooster," "Would?") and 1995's self-titled LP ("Heaven Beside You," "Over Now"). There were also some humorous onstage digs at the members of Metallica, who were in attendance. (Bassist Mike Inez scrawled "Friends Don't Let Friends Get Friends Haircuts" on his instrument - a reference to the metal masters' Load-era makeovers.)

Availability: One of the few in this period to get a full court press release, the album featured three songs not in the broadcast: "Angry Chair," "Frogs" and "Killer is Me." The episode was also released on video, and CD/DVD releases in 2007 included unused footage from the taping and a 5.1 surround mix.

Tori Amos (rec. at the Majestic Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY - 4/11/1996; aired 6/25/1996)

A typically strong set from the acclaimed singer-songwriter, featuring herself at the piano and longtime sideman Steve Caton on acoustic guitar. Features versions of the signature songs "Cornflake Girl" and "Silent All These Years" plus a take on The Wizard of Oz's "Over the Rainbow."

Availability: "Cornflake Girl" was included on both The Very Best of MTV Unplugged and a 1998 videotape, MTV Unplugged Ladies' Night Volume 5.

Hootie & The Blowfish (rec. at The Horseshoe, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC - 4/19/1996; aired 4/22/1996)

Much hay has been made about Hootie's collapse in momentum after 1996's Fairweather Johnson failed to match the dizzying heights of breakthrough debut Cracked Rear View (1994). Indeed, less than half the songs from this homecoming gig - taped on the University of South Carolina campus, where frontman Darius Rucker and guitarist Mark Bryan first met - are even from that album, and almost none of them were singles. Luckily, Cracked Rear View's massive hits, including "Hold My Hand," "Let Her Cry" and "Time," were still popular enough to keep the performance lively, as were covers of Vic Chesnutt ("Gravity of the Situation") and Tom Waits ("I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You").

Availability: "Hold My Hand" made it onto The Very Best of MTV Unplugged 3 and a 2000 video, MTV Unplugged Superstars. "Let Her Cry" made it to another Unplugged tape that same year, focusing on the show's ballad performances.

Oasis (rec. at Royal Festival Hall, London, England - 8/23/1996; aired 10/16/1996)

Leave it to the notoriously contentious Gallagher brothers to inject some life into the MTV Unplugged formula. Singer Liam Gallagher begged off the performance, citing a sore throat following the band's historic back-to-back concerts at Knebworth earlier in the month. His brother, guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher, decided to press on with vocal duties himself - only to find Liam parked in a balcony during the set, swigging beer, smoking cigarettes and heckling him. We can only imagine how that reunion tour is gonna go next month!

Availability: "Don't Look Back in Anger" made it to The Very Best of MTV Unplugged, and "Listen Up" appeared on the Finest Moments Volume 2 video. Elsewhere, their performance of non-LP B-side "Round Are Way" was included on a deluxe edition of (What's the Story) Morning Glory? released for the album's 20th anniversary in 2014.

SEASON 8

The Wallflowers (rec. at the Majestic Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY - 5/5/1997; aired 7/1/1997)

A decidedly simple affair to promote breakthrough LP Bringing Down the Horse, this short set from Jakob Dylan and crew contained five songs from that album including signature tune "One Headlight." (What must it be like to be Bob Dylan's son but have your best-known tune confused for Bruce Springsteen, I wonder?)

Availability: None of this performance has ever been officially released.

Jewel (rec. at the Majestic Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY - 5/7/1997; aired 8/10/1997)

While Jewel Kilcher's hits from 1995's Pieces of You were already pretty stripped down, part of the set features just her and her guitar, which rarely happened even with the solo performers on the show. She performed "Who Will Save Your Soul," "You Were Meant for Me," "Foolish Games" and a cover of Cole Porter's "Too Darn Hot."

Availability: Only "Who Will Save Your Soul" made it to the MTV Unplugged Ladies Night Volume 5 video tape.

Babyface & Friends (rec. at the Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY - 9/25/1997; aired 11/21/1997)

Probably the best episode of this bunch, it put a spotlight on Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, known primarily as a master songwriter/producer but just starting to crest as a performer as well, with 1996's The Day becoming his first Top 10 album. Appropriately, it balanced his own tracks with favorites he penned for others like Boyz II Men ("End of the Road," "I'll Make Love to You"), Toni Braxton ("Breathe Again"), Whitney Houston ("Exhale (Shoop Shoop)"). Guests include Eric Clapton returning to Unplugged to perform the Top 5 "Change the World," which Face produced (shattering the rules with an electric guitar!), and Stevie Wonder on The Day duet "How Come, How Long."

Availability: Happily, this one got a dedicated release! MTV Unplugged NYC 1997 was released on CD and VHS, with a DVD release a few years later.

Bryan Adams (rec. at the Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY - 9/26/1997; aired 11/28/1997)

Surprisingly, Adams - the one on this list with a track record of hits going back to MTV's breakthrough years - didn't do an Unplugged until a year after releasing his seventh album, 1996's 18 Til I Die. He made up for it, though: longtime collaborator Michael Kamen, who co-wrote the smash "Everything I Do (I Do It for You)" with Adams and Mutt Lange, leads students of the Juilliard School on orchestral arrangements of most of the songs. And the set balanced material from 18 Til I Die ("The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me is You," "I'll Always Be Right Here") with some of those big MTV hits ("Summer of 69," "Heaven," "Cuts Like a Knife"), early deep cuts ("Fits Ya Good," "I'm Ready") and even some new songs ("Back to You," "When You Love Someone").

 Availability​: As you might be able to guess with that much variety and the novelty of Kamen's assist, Adams' Unplugged was released as an album and video, which featured extra songs. (The CD singles to "Back to You" and "I'm Ready" featured some of those songs on the video like "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" and "(I Wanna Be) Your Underwear," along with the rarity "Hey Elvis," a Japanese bonus track on 18 Till I Die that was also part of the set.) The "I'm Ready" CD single also featured a demo of "Back to You."