Personnel: Maxwell (vocals); G/Mo (guitar); Gloria Agostini (harp); Gerald Tarack, Matthew Raimondi, Veronica Salas (violin); Susan Poliacik (cello); Andre Roberson (saxophone); Russell Gunn (trumpet); Darrell Smith (Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hammond B-3 organ); Michael Neal (bass); Kerry Griffin (drums); Angel Luis Figueroa (percussion); Michael Dickerson, La Tina Webb, Khaliq (background vocals).

Recorded live at The Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Brooklyn, New York on May 7, 1997.

"Whenever Whenever Whenever" was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

Personnel: Maxwell (vocals); G-Mo, G (guitar); Gloria Agostini (harp); Gerald Tarack, Matthew Raimondi (violin); Veronica Salas (viola); Susan Poliacik (cello); Andre Roberson (saxophone); Russell Gunn (trumpet); Darrell Smith (Fender Rhodes piano); Kerry Griffin (drums); Angel Luis Figueroa (percussion); Latina Webb, Mike Dickerson, Khaliq (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Mike Pela.

Recording information: Brooklyn Academy Of Music (05/07/1997).

Director: Milt Lage.

Photographers: Eric Johnson ; Frank Micelotta.

Unknown Contributor Role: G.

Arrangers: David Blumberg; Andre Roberson; Musze.

The very fact that Maxwell performed on MTV Unplugged indicates that he is more ambitious than the average urban soulster, and that suspicion is confirmed by his covers of Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" and Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" on the program. Both songs, as well as a selection of songs from his debut, Urban Hang Suite, are showcased on the EP MTV Unplugged, which illustrates that he is a skilled, subtle vocalist capable of more nuance than the majority of his contemporaries. As a result, MTV Unplugged, with its soaring vocalists and sexy, sinewy rhythms, only whets the appetite for his second full-length album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Riding the wave of young turks delving into old-school soul that includes D'Angelo, Eryka Badu and Adriana Evans, Maxwell's URBAN HANG SUITE heralded the arrival of a balladeer who combined Al Green's seductiveness with Prince's sensuality. MTV UNPLUGGED shows off the live side of this young free spirit whose musical roots reach through the Quiet Storm into some pretty unlikely places. Throughout this EP, the arrangements are lush, the horns caress every groove and Maxwell's creamy falsetto ducks and feints through his own "Whenever Wherever Whatever" and "The Lady Suite." He also takes time to give props to Kate Bush with a crystalline reading of "This Woman's Work." Showing off a knack for the unorthodox, Maxwell closes out the festivities with a completely transformed cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" that moves from a jazz/funk workout to a gospel feel.