Unplugged in the U.S.S.R. [Box]

Performer: John Denver
Engineer: Roger "The Immortal" Nichols
Producer: Ron Deutschendorf; Roger "The Immortal" Nichols
Distributor: n/a

Notes: This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Audio Mixer: Roger "The Immortal" Nichols. Liner Note Author: Roger "The Immortal" Nichols. In 1985, John Denver became the first Western artist to tour the U.S.S.R. in a decade, an indication of the impending era of glasnost in Russia. These historic recordings have been repackaged a few times but never in the complete form that they are here in this 2009 triple-disc set, which contains the entirety of a 28-song concert. These are indeed unplugged recordings, with Denver performing only with a guitar or piano, and to a certain extent there almost doesn't seem to be an audience; so polite are his patrons that when they begin to clap on "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" it comes as a shock. This does give the performance a slight feeling of being a showcase, which it surely is -- Denver was certainly on display on this tour but he was in strong voice, playing a generous set with feeling, as glad to be there as the audience was to have him.

As John Denver, the former John Henry Deutschendorf was a ubiquitous icon of the 1970s. Although he had been a musician and songwriter in the 1960s, penning "Leaving on a Jet Plane" for Peter, Paul & Mary, Denver hit his stride in the '70s with earnest folk songs celebrating the glories of the natural world and life's simple pleasures. Although he was sometimes savaged by critics for his overarching earnestness, his songs speak for themselves, and his records still sell in large numbers. In the wake of his premature death in a 1997 plane crash, a number of contemporary artists have recorded Denver's songs, without any hint of irony.

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