SHANE’S MUSIC CHALLENGE: JIMMY PAGE & ROBERT PLANT – 1994 – No Quarter

SHANE’S MUSIC CHALLENGE: JIMMY PAGE & ROBERT PLANT – 1994 – No Quarter
8.5/10

I always wondered why Page & Plant didn’t invite fellow Led Zeppelin alumni John Paul Jones to be a part of this excellent reclaiming of their former band’s legacy. It can’t have been to avoid accusations of rehashing the Zep name – the album is even subtitled “Unledded”, cringingly. The music effectively reinvents many of their greatest moments, as seen through a middle eastern and subcontinental lens, indulging Plant’s love of world music to bring fresh colours to the Zeppelin palette. Whatever the reason, JPJ ain’t here.

Mostly culled from an MTV Unplugged special and featuring a host of exotic instruments and backing vocalists from India and Morocco, it extrapolates the intentions of mid period Zeppelin – a band who, lest we forget, visited Marakesh and Bombay to make demos with local musicians, only a tiny trickle of whose influences made it onto official Zep releases during the band’s lifetime.

Whilst the new original tracks Yallah, City Don’t Cry and Wah Wah are more circular chants than legitimate songs in their own rights, it’s the reinterpretation of classics Thankyou, That’s The Way and Gallow’s Pole that really stand out, and the 12-and-a-half minute long Kashmir is just stunning.

 

Category: Shane's Rock Challenge