SCORPIONS' new offering, MTV Unplugged, is out now in Europe on 2CD, DVD, Blu-ray and in various other digital and physical configurations. The release is due out in Canada via Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc. on January 21st. A US release date is pending.

Greece's Rockpages.gr recently conducted an interview with singer Klaus Meine in the wake of the release. An excerpt follows:

Q: What were the criteria you chose the songs you played with?

A: "When this MTV offer came in, since we made Acoustica in 2001, we didn’t want to repeat ourselves, we wanted to come up with a whole new set of music, and our intention was not to rely on the big hits, the big classics. If it was for us we wouldn’t even have played them! Later on, our label of course insisted that 'Still Loving You', 'Wind Of Change', '(Rock You Like A) Hurricane', all those songs were going to be part of that show, but our intention was to hopefully put out a whole new show up on stage with songs we never performed live... At least a lot of them. Songs with different arrangements, and some new songs. That was the intention.

We made a list of songs that we discussed it with our producers, and our Swedish friends, Martin Hansen, and Mikael Nord Andersson, and Matthias (Jabbs) went up to Stockholm and they picked together songs out of the list we recommended. And then he came back with eight or nine songs, they came to Germany played them to us, we listened to the arrangements and we liked, or we didn’t like it, and we changed it... so, this way over the time of six months we built up the whole show... the whole set. I think we had in total thirty, or forty songs, but in the end we picked those 24-25-26 songs. It was three sessions, where together with another Swedish musician, Hans Gardemar, who came in heavily with the new songs’ arrangements, and when we listened back, it was part of going back into the Scorpions history, going back all the way to the ‘70s... and the intention was to put up on stage songs that we’ve never performed, like 'Born To Touch Your Feelings', 'When You Came Into My Life', 'Passion Rules The Game'... we found so many tracks that we never played live, and that the attraction.

And we knew that our Greek fans have a big heart for our early material and for those songs that are not so very well known outside our loyal fan base. I think we were right there because we picked so many songs for this kind of show and it worked out fantastic. 'Where The River Flows' is another one we never played live, and on this show we played it with harmonica. 'Born To Touch Your Feelings' with accordion came out so beautiful... even 'Hit Between The Eyes' or 'Rock You Like A Hurricane' with a mandolin... it has inherited almost a Greek touch. 'Rock You Like A Hurricane' feels now like a Greek song! And it’s like a whole new dimension... and it was such a huge challenge for MTV to become part of this very special family of artists, that have been in MTV Unplugged over the years. It’s a great honor to be a part of that very illustrious MTV Unplugged family."

Read the full interview here.

Check out the official EPK (electronic press kit) for MTV Unplugged:

On September 11th and 12th, 2013 and as part of their massive 38-date Farewell World Tour, Klaus Meine (vocals, guitars), Rudolf Schenker (guitars, vocals), Matthias Jabs (guitars), Pawel Maciwoda (bass) and James Kottak (drums) played two fantastic acoustic sets in the Lycabettus Theatre, Athens and made history in the process; it is the first ever open-air show in the history of MTV Unplugged.

Throughout its two-and-a-half hours, the show features an impressive range of brand new songs and classic tracks. As vocalist Klaus Meine recalls; “We played here many years ago. It is a beautiful place. I can remember that even back then the fans climbed onto the surrounding rocks. Of course we played some of the greatest classics this time, but we also performed a few new songs as well as material that we had never played live up to then. Those are songs which are very popular with the fans but which somehow never made it onto the set lists.”

The Scorpions evidently enjoyed this musical rollercoaster ride through their own history. It is equally obvious that both rock songs and power ballads display their class and style even when rendered as acoustic versions. The melodies maintain their timeless compositional appeal and the quality of the performance showcases the band at their very best.

The show opens with ‘Sting In The Tail’, arranged in a Cajun style. This song, taken from the eponymous album of 2010, bears witness to how deeply the Scorpions are rooted in rock 'n' roll and blues. The same applies to the set of classics that follow, such as ‘Pictured Life’, ‘Speedy's Coming’ or the hymnal ‘Born To Touch Your Feelings’ There are even more nuggets from the sheer endless stock of hits such as ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’ ‘Still Loving You’ ‘Big City Nights’, ‘No One Like You’ ‘When The Smoke Is Going Down’ and ‘Wind Of Change’– as well as a few welcome surprises to dazzle the connoisseur. ‘When You Came Into My Life’, where Rudolf Schenker plays a sitar, is one of those tracks which the Scorpions had never before played live, as are ‘Where The River Flows’ and ‘Passion Rules The Game’. They also perform ‘Love Is The Answer’ a ballad for which Rudolf Schenker took over as lead vocalist – a feat that does not happen very often. And immediately after this, Klaus Meine surprises us with the world premiere of ‘Follow Your Heart’ in this exceptional set of two dozen songs.

Tracklisting:

Disc 1

'Sting In The Tail'

'Can't Live Without You'

'Pictured Life'

'Speedy's Coming'

'Born To Touch Your Feeling'

'The Best Is Yet To Come'

'Dancing With The Moonlight'

'In Trance'

'When You Came Into My Live'

'Delicate Dance' (Matthias Solo)

'Love Is The Answer' (Rudolf Solo)

'Follow Your Heart' (Klaus Solo)

Disc 2

'Send Me An Angel'

'Where the River Flows'

'Passion Rules The Game'

'Rock You Like A Hurricane'

'Hit Between The Eyes'

'Rock 'N' Roll Band'

'Blackout'

'Still Loving You'

'Big City Nights'

'Wind Of Change'

'No One Like You'

'When The Smoke Is Going Down'

Check out the trailer for MTV Unplugged below:

'In Trance':

'Dancing With The Moonlight':