No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded

No Quarter is a live album by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, both formerly of English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released by Atlantic Records on 31 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.

The reunion event notably lacked the presence of bassist and keyboardist, John Paul Jones, thus deviating from a comprehensive band reunion. Jones remained uninformed of this reunion by his former bandmates. Subsequently, Jones conveyed his discontent regarding the decision of Plant and Page to christen the album after "No Quarter", a track predominantly attributed to his compositional prowess.

In addition to acoustic renditions, the album features a reworking of Led Zeppelin songs featuring a Moroccan string band and Egyptian orchestra supplementing a core group of rock and roll musicians, along with four Middle-Eastern and Moroccan-influenced songs: "City Don't Cry", "Yallah" (or "The Truth Explodes"), "Wonderful One", and "Wah Wah".

Several years later, Plant reflected on the collaboration very positively:

"The will and the eagerness with Unledded were fantastic and [Page] was really creative. Jimmy and I went in a room and it was back. His riffs were spectacular. To take it as far as we did, and the tour we did – it's one of the most ambitious and mind-altering experiences."

Legacy
In July 2014, Guitar World placed No Quarter on their "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.

Track listing
For the tenth anniversary, the album was re-released with a different cover and altered track listing. "Thank You" was cut, "City Don't Cry" and "Wonderful One" appeared in substantially edited versions, and "The Rain Song" and "Wah Wah" were added. In addition, "Yallah" was retitled, and several other tracks had minor alterations to their running times. The new running order was as follows:

"Gallows Pole" and "Wonderful One" were released as singles.

All songs recorded in London except "City Don't Cry", "Wah Wah" and "Yallah" recorded in Morocco; "No Quarter", "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" and "When the Levee Breaks" recorded in Wales.

DVD release
The tenth anniversary of the recording of the Unledded concerts was commemorated by a DVD release of additional songs, a bonus interview, a montage of images from Morocco, the band's performance of "Black Dog" for Dick Clark's American Music Awards and the music video for "Most High" from the Walking into Clarksdale album. The songs included on the DVD release not included on either CD release were "What Is and What Should Never Be" and "When the Levee Breaks". To compensate for their absence from the Live Aid DVD release, Plant and Page donated a portion of their proceeds to the Band Aid Trust.

DVD track listing

 * 1) "No Quarter" (Jones/Page/Plant)
 * 2) "Thank You"
 * 3) "What Is And What Should Never Be"
 * 4) "The Battle of Evermore"
 * 5) "Gallows Pole" (Traditional arr. Page/Plant)
 * 6) "Nobody's Fault but Mine"
 * 7) "City Don't Cry"
 * 8) "The Truth Explodes" (formerly known as "Yallah") (Page/Plant)
 * 9) "Wah Wah"
 * 10) "When the Levee Breaks"
 * 11) "Wonderful One"
 * 12) "Since I've Been Loving You" (Jones/Page/Plant)
 * 13) "The Rain Song"
 * 14) "That's the Way"
 * 15) "Four Sticks"
 * 16) "Friends"
 * 17) "Kashmir" (Page/Plant/Bonham)

Bonus material
 * "Black Dog" (performed at the ABC American Music Awards)
 * Moroccan Montage
 * "Most High" music video
 * Interview

Personnel
The songs were recorded in Marrakech, Morocco (spring 1994), on top of a waste tip at Aberllefenni quarries (17 August 1994), in a forest in Wales and in front of an invited audience at London Weekend Television studios over two nights in August, 1994.


 * Robert Plant – vocals
 * Jimmy Page – acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin

Musicians in Marrakech (except on "Yallah")


 * Brahim El Balkani


 * Hassan El Arfaoui
 * El Mahjoub El Mathoun
 * Abdelkah Eddahmane

London and Wales band (except on "No Quarter", "Wonderful One')


 * Charlie Jones – bass guitar, percussion
 * Michael Lee – drums, percussion
 * Porl Thompson – guitar, banjo
 * Jim Sutherland – mandolin, bodhrán
 * Nigel Eaton – Hurdy-gurdy


 * Ed Shearmur – Hammond organ, orchestral arrangements for English and Egyptian Ensemble (London only)
 * Najma Akhtar – vocals (London only)

Egyptian Ensemble (London)

Percussion
 * Hossam Ramzy – doholla, musical director for Egyptian Ensemble
 * Ali Abdel Salem – duf, bendir
 * Farid Khashab – bendir, reque
 * Farouk El Safi – duf, bendir
 * Ibrahim Abdel Khaliq – bendir, mirwas, finger cymbals

Strings Also
 * Waeil Abu Bakr – soloist
 * Bahig Mikhaeel
 * Hanafi Soliman
 * Amin Abdel Azim
 * Bashir Abdel Aal – ney
 * Abdel Salam Kheir – oud

London Metropolitan Orchestra (London)

Violins
 * Rosemary Furniss
 * David Juritz
 * Rita Manning
 * Elizabeth Layton
 * Ian Humphries
 * Perry Montague-Mason
 * Mark Berrow
 * Pauline Lowbury
 * Clare Thompson
 * Jessica O'Leary
 * David Ogden
 * Peter Hanson
 * Jeremy Williams
 * Cathy Thompson
 * Ed Coxon
 * Anne Morlee
 * Harriet Davies

Violas
 * Andrew Brown
 * Rusen Gunes
 * Andrew Parker
 * Bill Hawkes
 * Nicholas Pendlebery
 * John Jezard
 * Janet Atkins

Celli
 * Caroline Dale
 * Cathy Giles
 * Stephen Milne
 * Ben Chappell
 * Jonathan Tunnel

Also
 * Sandy Lawson – didjeridu
 * Storme Watson – didjeridu

Production

 * Jimmy Page – producer
 * Robert Plant – producer
 * Mike Gregovich – engineer, mixing
 * Martin Meissonnier – percussion pre-production on "Yallah (The Truth Explodes)" and "Wonderful One"
 * Andy Earl – photography
 * Cally – design
 * Kevin Shirley – remixed stereo and surround sound for 2004 edition