Jimmy Page & Robert Plant: No Quarter – Unledded

Elly Roberts reviews

Jimmy Page & Robert Plant: No Quarter – UnleddedDistributed by
Warner Music Vision

• Cert:
• Cat.no: 0349 70324 2
• Running time: 115 minutes
• Year: 1994
• Pressing: 2004
• Region(s): 2/3/4/5/6, PAL
• Sound: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English / German / Dutch / French / Italian / Spanish / Portuguese (Interview only)
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £17.99
• Rating: 6/10
• Extras:Interview with Page and Plant, Black Dog (filmed for American Music Awards),Video: Most High Track listing :
  1.No Quarter
  2.Thank You
  3.What Is And What Should Never Be
  4.The Battle Of Evermore
  5.Gallows Pole
  6.Nobody’s Fault But Mine
  7.City Don’t Cry
  8.The Truth Explodes
  9.Wah Wah
  10.When The Levee Breaks
  11.Wonderful One
  12.Since I’ve Been Loving You
  13.The Rain Song
  14.That’s The Way
  15.Four Sticks
  16.Friends
  17.Kashmir

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Led Zeppelin’s creative power house finally release the 1994 video of No Quarter – Unledded on DVD.

Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have been Rock Gods since they broke on the scenein the late 60’s with Led Zep. The band will always remain my all time favouritegroup. I have everything they have ever released, including a rare (yes, only100 in the world) of their promo DVD for last year’s eagerly waited title -Led Zeppelin ‘DVD’.I even caught them live at Earls Court London, in the greatest concert I’vewitnessed, in May 1976.

This release is a totally different ball game. Two words must have been atthe forefront of their minds as they formulated their ideas for this package -juxtaposition and surrealism. Bringing new light through and old window isthe best way of describing it, or as Page described it, “a new frame on anold picture.”

The old picture as such, is a phenomenal collection of progressive materialwhich included the Blues, Folk, Heavy Rock, ballads – all laid down in ahugely successful 12-year period as they put their contemporaries to shameand embarrassment. No other rock group could match them – not even the RollingStones.

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Due to the death of their drummer John ‘ Bonzo ‘ Bonham in 1980, the remainingmembers, Plant, Page and bassist John Paul Jones closed the book on theirincredible career as a mark of respect for their colleague. Then in 1994,Page and Plant were invited to reunite, the first time in many years, forMTV’s ‘Unplugged ‘series. It’s the three‘s’s, as the whole affair is conductedin Snowdonia, studio and sand.

Reworking material, and retaining its original sensibilities is essential fromthe outset, with the introductory track No Quarter never achieving thoseingredients. Surreal, yes as the pair lip-sync in the Welsh hillside – and it’sa flop.

Further excursions to the Principality fail to impress with disastrousresults, as they destroy Nobody’s Fault But Mine as P & P and bandmembers uncomfortably perform with a huge backdrop of slate (rememberjuxtaposition and surrealism earlier?) The sand is actually Morocco, as theywrite and perform new songs and oldies with four local musicians. They’d beenpromised a highly respected orchestra, but as per usual in that region, theymeticulous planning fell apart.

This segment is possibly the worst, as all concerned look rather uncomfortableand uncertain of the outcome.

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Back in the studio, thankfully, which makes the bulk of the DVD, things take aturn for the better, and the music really takes off. Seven amazing songs (tracks 11-17), complete with Egyptian Ensemble and the London MetropolitanOrchestra, it makes a stunning musical spectacle as strings compliment theband on some of their highly acclaimed compositions, like, the Blues-ladenSince I’ve Been Loving You and the delicate and lush strummings on theRain Song.

In a final crescendo – as surreal as you ever saw – the Egyptian Ensemble completewith tuxedos playing side of the band (juxtaposed) they launch into analmighty and subtle onslaught – the awesome Eastern-flavoured Kashmir. This issimply jaw – dropping stuff, possibly the greatest musical moment of all time.

Bare chests and spray-on trousers have disappeared, but the ‘fiftysomethings’ still manage to strut and pout. The cultural juxtaposition isfascinating, as East meets West, with a breathtaking violin solo by WaelAbu Bakr putting the icing well and truly on the cake. You can see theexcitement from both parties as this piece originally recorded in 1975 takes ona whole new meaning.

This DVD is worth buying just for that once in a lifetime never to berepeated experience.

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