National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" aired an interview
with Anthony DeCurtis on November 6, 1994.

Introduction: 
Led Zepplin's reunion album, "Unledded -- No Quarter," brings
together music from the Middle East and Western rock and roll. 
This is the band's first album together in 14 years. 
 

   Jacki Lyden, Host: From Marrakech in Morocco to Snowdonia in
Wales, from London to Arabia - that's how far you can travel in a
reunion production by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, the core
performers in Led Zepplin.  They haven't recorded together in 14
years, and though it seems that the reunion of rock giants for
another very bankable production is becoming almost commonplace,
this album Unledded - No Quarter is panoramic, bringing together an
Egyptian orchestra, Moroccan percussionists, and recorded live in
some locations with arrangements designed for more acoustic, less
electric presentation.  Critic Anthony DeCurtis says Robert Plant
and Jimmy Page, now both 50ish, are galvanizing. 
  
[tape clip from 'Unledded - No Quarter'] 
  
Anthony DeCurtis, Editor and Critic, _Rolling Stone_: I think Led
Zepplin, you know, just because of having a rather abrupt breakup
and, you know, sort of slightly aborted career- 
  
Lyden: Over the death of their drummer.    
  
DeCurtis: Yeah, exactly, and, you know, they've really kind of
lingered in people's mind and turned out to be fairly influential
in a variety of ways.  For example, in a way not typically thought
of is, rappers have used, you know, Led Zepplin stuff quite a bit
for samples.  But also, you know, a million metal bands, and
they're even looking a bit prescient, you know, given the kind of 
current interest in, you know, world music and, you know, sounds
from other parts of the other parts of the world that they got
interested in fairly early on, so that's maintained a fair amount
of interest in them. 

[tape clip from 'Unledded - No Quarter'] 
  
Lyden: I think it's a dazzling record.  To me it fuses everything
you might hear in Middle Eastern music, which, if you have to
listen to it for a long time in a hot taxi, can really drive you
crazy, and beautiful, you know, Western rock and roll with all of
its gutsiness.  And to make those two things, they're both so 
aggressive, harmonize and work is an incredible challenge.  I was
astonished.   
  
DeCurtis: Yeah, they really- they really stepped up, you know.  I
think on a track like 'The Battle of Evermore,' which was, you
know, a pretty interesting track when they originally did it.  You
know, they're working with- along with a, you know, fairly standard
Western rock band, they're working with an ensemble of Egyptian
musicians including this truly astonishing vocalist named Nadjma 
Aktar [sp]. [tape clip from 'Unledded - No Quarter'] Every time she
opens her mouth, raises the energy level of the performance by a
million degrees.  I mean, it's just a staggering show of both
artistic strength and emotional daring, and it really- you know, I
mean, that's characteristic of what they managed to do on 
this. 
  
[tape clip from 'Unledded - No Quarter'] 
  
Lyden: When you think about this Led Zepplin album, No Quarter - I
guess they're calling it Unledded - No Quarter - do you think of
this group as having redefined themselves? 
  
DeCurtis: I think essentially what they've done is taken a
situation that they just could have walked through - and walked
directly to the bank, for that matter - and turned it into an
opportunity to foreground some- an aspect of their music that's
been overlooked.  I mean, I think in a lot of people's minds, 
you know, Led Zepplin is the origin of heavy metal and nothing
more.  But, in fact, the kind of degree to which they introduced,
you know, North African and Indian and, you know, other kind of-
and folk elements into their music is all what they go after on
this record, so to that degree they've kind of redefined a 
part of their own past.   
  
Lyden: What's the step beyond unplugged?  What's next? 
  
DeCurtis: [laughs] That's right, MTV acappella is the suggestion
here. 
  
Lyden: MTV acappella.  I like that.  Thanks very much for talking
with us.   
  
DeCurtis: Always a pleasure. 
  
Lyden: Anthony De Curtis is an editor and critic at Rolling Stone
magazine. 
  
[tape clip from 'Unledded - No Quarter']