The _Commercial Appeal_ ran a review of by Larry Nager on November
12, 1994.
Jimmy Page & Robert Plant
Atlantic
Three 1/2 stars
Having refueled the careers of Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart,
MTV's Unplugged continues to bring back veteran rockers with this month's
releases of Page & Plant's ''No Quarter'' and the Eagles' ''Hell Freezes
Over,'' both of which first appeared on the music video channel. And if the
Eagles' show revealed how good the reunion band sounds, ''No Quarter'' goes
that one better, expanding Led Zeppelin's blues, folk and world music
leanings into a completely contemporary sound.
If any rocker of 25 years ago seemed an unlikely candidate for
aging gracefully it was the blond, barechested banshee fronting Led
Zeppelin. But Plant, against all odds, not only still sounds great singing the
old stuff, his music has improved with age. ''No Quarter'' features obscure
Led Zep gems, such as the band's remakes of Blind Willie Johnson's holy
blues Nobody's Fault But Mine or the British folk song Gallows Pole along
with the originals Since I've Been Loving You (featuring some of Page's most
lyrical blues guitar on disc), Kashmir and The Battle of Evermore. The
latter is an especially effective performance, graced by the hauntingly
beautiful voice of Najma Akhtar in place of the late Sandy Denny.
They crank it up a bit for Thank You and the title track. But
with a band augmented by Egyptian and Moroccan musicians as well as the
London Metropolitan Orchestra, the disc's overall mood may be a bit too
laidback for the metal crowd. Still, it was always the quirks that made Led
Zeppelin the great band it was, and those quirks are well in evidence on
''No Quarter,'' a welcome addition to the Led Zep legacy. Best of all,
the word is that Page and Plant will tour in 1995, with a Pyramid date
likely.
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