Jimmy Page & Robert Plant - No Quarter (1994)

"No Quarter" is a live album by Page and Plant, both formerly of English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released by Atlantic Records on 14 October 1994. The long awaited reunion between Jimmy Page and Robert Plant occurred on a 90 minute "UnLedded" MTV project, recorded in Morocco, Wales, and London, which rated highly on network television. It was not a reunion of Led Zeppelin, however, as former bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones was not present. In fact, Jones was not even told about the reunion by his former band mates. He later commented that he was unhappy about Plant and Page naming the album after "No Quarter", a Led Zeppelin song which was largely his work. In addition to acoustic numbers, the album features a reworking of Led Zeppelin classics, along with four Middle-Eastern and Moroccan-influenced songs: "City Don't Cry", "Yallah", (or "The Truth Explodes") "Wonderful One", and "Wah Wah". This might not be what some diehards were expecting from a reunion, but it was a gutsy move from Page & Plant, and the ensuing album, No Quarter, has aged remarkably well. That's not to say that it's timeless music, or a latter-day comeback on the level of Bob Dylan's Love and Theft, but this is ambitiously atmospheric, restless music by musicians not content to rest on their laurels. They do draw heavily from their past, but these new versions of classic Led Zeppelin songs sound reinvigorated in these new arrangements. At times, this means that the songs are given rather drastic reinterpretations  "Nobody's Fault but Mine" brings the brooding undercurrent of the original to the surface, "Four Sticks" sounds livelier in this spare setting while other tunes sound similar to the recorded versions but are given spirited readings ("That's the Way," "The Battle of Evermore," "Gallows Pole"). Between these revived Zeppelin numbers are a few new songs, all ambitious and solid, fitting right into the vibe of the album; even if they don't match the older tunes, they're respectable and gain strength upon repeated listens.

01.  "Nobody's Fault but Mine"  (Page, Plant)  – 4:06

02.  "Thank You"  (Page, Plant)  – 5:47

03.  "No Quarter"  (Jones, Page, Plant)  – 3:45

04.  "Friends"  (Page, Plant)  – 4:37

05.  "Yallah"  (Page, Plant)  – 4:59

06.  "City Don't Cry"  (Page, Plant)  – 6:08

07.  "Since I've Been Loving You"  (Jones, Page, Plant)  – 7:29

08.  "The Battle of Evermore"  (Page, Plant)  – 6:41

09.  "Wonderful One"  (Page, Plant)  – 4:57

10.  "That's the Way"  (Page, Plant)  – 5:35

11.  "Gallows Pole"  (Page, Plant)  – 4:09

12.  "Four Sticks"  (Page, Plant)  – 4:52

13.  "Kashmir"  (Page, Plant, Bonham)  – 12:27

Released:  November 8, 1994

Genre:  Rock

Length:  79:32

Label:  Atlantic/Fontana

Producer:  Jimmy Page, Robert Plant

Personnel

Jimmy Page - Guitars, mandolin, vocals

Robert Plant - Vocals

Charlie Jones - Bass guitar, percussion

Michael Lee - Drums, percussion

Ed Shearmur - Keyboards, organ, piano

Porl Thompson - Guitars, banjo

Nigel Eaton - Hurdy gurdy

Jim Sutherland - Mandolin, bodhrán

Waeil Abu Bakr - Violin soloist

Abdel Salam Kheir - Oud

Ibrahim Abdel Khaliq - Percussion

Hossam Ramzy - Percussion

Farouk El Safi - Daf, bendir

Najma Akhtar - Backing vocals

Amin Abdelazeem, Bashir Abdel Al Nay - Strings

Ian Humphries, David Juritz, Elizabeth Layton, Pauline Lowbury, Rita Manning, Mark Berrow, Ed Coxon, Harriet Davies, Rosemary Furness, Perry Montague-Mason, David Ogden - Violin

Janet Atkins, Andrew Brown, Rusen Gunes, Bill Hawkes - Viola

Caroline Dale, Ben Chappell, Cathy Giles, Stephen Milne - Cello

Sandy Lawson, Storme Watson - Didjeridu