Sinclair, David. The Times [London (UK)] 04 Nov 1994. JIMMY PAGE & ROBERT PLANT No Quarter (Fontana 526 362) IF THERE was one person you could have counted on to resist getting in on the old pals' act it was Robert Plant. Regal in his dismissal of "Led Zeppelin to re-form" rumours, his solo career has been as inspired as his former partner Jimmy Page's was half-hearted. But, as even the surviving Beatles have now discovered, there inevitably comes a moment when the time (and the cheque) is right, and a reunion does not seem such a bad idea after all. To their credit, Page and Plant have mustered four new songs for No Quarter, and they have attempted a radical overhaul of the various Zeppelin numbers disinterred initially for a live MTV recording, recently broadcast as Unledded. The Zeppelin tracks include "Thank You", "Since I've Been Loving You", "Gallows Pole", "Four Sticks" and a 12-minute version of "Kashmir" which finds Plant doing a pretty good imitation of a muezzin wail. All four of the new songs scrupulously eschew the traditional Zeppelin rock'n'roll thump in favour of exotic world folk arrangements, with the sound of Arabic instruments given particularly prominence. Best of these is "Yallah", a jabbering Arab-industrial hybrid, but "Wah Wah", with its low-tuned, acoustic guitar riff and massed Bedouin chanting may not be the only song to stretch the patience of the more conservative Zeppelin fan.

Gill, Andy. The Independent [London (UK)] 04 Nov 1994 No Quarter: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded (Fontana 526 362-2) For their entry in the MTV Unplugged series, Page & Plant have trawled through the Led Zeppelin back catalogue and picked the tracks which best lend themselves to a sort of Anglo-Arabic revision process, re- arranging them for an ensemble which includes musicians from Egypt and Morocco alongside a sizeable orchestral string section, the rhythm section from Plant's group, former Cure guitarist Porl Thompson, and a smattering of folk instruments from various locales. Unsurprisingly, Led Zeppelin III furnishes more tracks than their other albums, that being the record on which Zep realised that the tools of folk music could be changed to reflect "heavier" times; indeed, No Quarter reprises that album's dedication to their Welsh cottage Bron-Y-Aur, "for painting a somewhat forgotten picture of true completeness which acted as an incentive to some of the musical statements". If anything, however, these new versions demonstrate how premature such notions of completeness really are. Some tracks - "Kashmir", obviously, and "Gallows Pole" - lend themselves well to the Moorish influence, while others are more substantially altered. "Four Sticks" is subdued by comparison with the original, P & P letting the hypnotic patter of Gnawa hand percussion stand in for the song's big-riff dynamic, while "Friends" comes with a new overture played on Arabic strings and flute. "The Battle of Evermore" perhaps best demonstrates the fertile grey area between the Eastern and Western musical traditions, showing just how close Arabic string drones are to our own hurdy-gurdy and resonant mandolin.

A girl's best friend High camp meets deep bass as John Paul Jones and Diamanda Galas team up in London Smith, Rupert. The Guardian (pre-1997 Fulltext) [Manchester (UK)] 02 Nov 1994 THIS being the woman who hired out the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York to perform her mammoth Plague Mass, a mixture of howled Biblical texts and meditations on Aids, Diamanda Galas is unlikely to offer a fun night out. The Greek-American scream singer made her name with a handful of extreme albums and performances: at her last London show, at the Royal Festival Hall, she appeared stripped to the waist and dripping in gore. But in her latest incarnation, Galas has shed the more frightening performance art aspects of her work and teamed up with Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, who marries the singer's unearthly power and range to a solid rhythm section. The result was unleashed to the multi-pierced crowd at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on Hallowe'en. After an overture of snarling noises over an amplified heartbeat, Galas slunk on to the stage, a much smaller and frailer figure than her gothed-up image suggests. She took a deep breath and let rip with a voice that pitches itself between The Exorcist and Maria Callas. Most of the 80-minute set was taken from Galas and Jones's recent album The Sporting Life, a mixture of hellish blues-rock and danceable Greek curses carried off with a maniac sense of humour. For a few numbers, Galas took to the keyboards and accompanied herself. Only twice did she lose momentum, on the formless Devil's Rodeo and Last Man Down, where screams replaced songs. But all doubts were swept away when Galas, grabbing a mike in each hand, lifted the roof of the Empire with her last three songs (Hex, The Sporting Life, You're Mine) that boasted tunes, rhythm and extreme volume. Now that Diamanda Galas has diversified from her earlier Aids-related work, she's set her sights on a rock audience with a taste for off-the-rails passion. A brief and explosive encore of Led Zeppelin's Communication Breakdown pushed the point home.

Unledded emission Led Zeppelin veterans Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, the rock legends responsible for some of the heaviest riffs in history, are back together playing for the MTV generation Sweeting, Adam The Guardian (pre-1997 Fulltext) [Manchester (UK)] 17 Oct 1994 MTV's Unplugged has done it again. If the Unplugged performances of Eric Clapton and Nirvana are already established as career highlights for the artists concerned, the reunion of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant could prove the biggest crowd puller yet. Although Plant and Page are being careful not to trade under the Led Zeppelin brand name, and while questions about the non-presence of Zep bassist John Paul Jones are treated with evasive flippancy by Plant, many onlookers will inevitably regard it as the belated return of the seventies super band. Reformed rock dinosaurs are hardly a novelty, after all. True, the pair's long anticipated professional re-acquaintance has generated some new songs, but the core of the performance is a batch of trusty Zeppelin favourites, albeit with significant modifications. They insist they were keen not to be seen to be merely re-hashing their past. Page talks of treating the old material as "an old picture ready for a new frame," while Plant says: "It had to be new. We had to use our imaginations." Above all, they seem to have wanted to demonstrate that Led Zeppelin was never merely a blues band or a heavy rock band. A trawl through their remarkable back catalogue (recently re-mastered on to CD yet again) throws up folk and Celtic routes, Caribbean, Indian and Arabic sounds, plus lashings of the heaviest electric riffs known to man. How well No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded - to give it its full and rather confusing title - will come across on the average domestic TV set remains a moot point, but to make sure the European media got the full picture, a big screen showing of the film was laid on in Paris over the weekend. The whimsical rococo trappings of the Cirque d'Hiver, with its multi-coloured chandeliers circus ring and midget-sized seating, lent a suitably fantatic air to footage of Page and Plant strumming and wailing in the midst of a forest in Wales. Then we followed them into a chaotic live performance in the town square in Marrakesh with a full complement of Arab musicians, and got an earful of the performance they staged last August at the LWT studios in London. Calling this "Unplugged" is in flagrant breach of the Trades Descriptions Act since it runs the gamut from full-scale electric rock and blues, like Thankyou or Since I've Been Loving You to weird Arabicised versions of Battle of Evermore and Friends, before climaxing with a monumental version of Kashmir. Here, the mother of all riffs is treated to the full panoply of classical string orchestra plus Egyptian string and percussion ensembles. At a post-screening press conference, not much was revealed, except that they'll probably go on tour in February. Meanwhile, place your bets for how many millions the Unledded CD will sell. Plant and Page Unledded is aired on MTV at 8.30pm tonight and will be repeated in forthcoming weeks. Phonogram release the CD version on November 7

Plant and Page and why they're going Unledded Peter Howell TORONTO STAR. Toronto Star [Toronto, Ont] 13 Oct 1994 To hear Robert Plant and Jimmy Page talk, what they're doing with the ghost of Led Zeppelin actually seems to make sense. Not right away, though. There's an intriguing smell of burning incense in their posh hotel suite overlooking Central Park, making a visitor wonder if the pair have been smoking something that dulls their senses to the cash bonanza they've turned down. Singer Plant, 47, and guitarist Page, 50, have finally agreed, after 14 years of fighting the idea, to revisit their Zeppelin legacy together, with a 1995 tour (including a cross-Canada trek), album (or albums) and TV special (airing Nov. 7 on MuchMusic). But they refuse to do it as Led Zeppelin, the magical rock name guaranteed to fill stadiums and the wallets of everyone involved with the project. They've also decided, for the moment, at least, not to include Zep bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones in the reunion fun, and to set aside their hard rock anthems while they revisit the mystical songs of Zeppelin's folk and blues side, and also perform new Page- Plant compositions. The "why?" question is barely uttered before Page jumps. "Because we ain't Led Zeppelin!" he says, sipping black coffee yesterday morning, while seated at a table next to his blonde- maned musical partner. "We're Jimmy Page and Robert Plant." Plant finishes the thought: "And we haven't got Bonzo, and Bonzo hasn't been around for a long time." Drummer John "Bonzo" Bonham died of an alcohol overdose in September, 1980, on the eve of a Led Zeppelin U.S. tour. Loyal to the end, his bandmates almost immediately announced the break-up of the biggest band of the 1970s, although they've since reunited for one-off special charity and anniversary events. But Page and Plant say they have no desire to record or tour again as Led Zeppelin, although they've hugely enjoyed revisiting such classic Zep tunes as "Kashmir", "No Quarter", "Four Sticks" and "The Battle Of Evermore". Says Plant: "We're feeding on our past, and we're revitalizing it. We just need to do it on our own, like this." But not just on their own, although the two have rekindled the fire of just sitting around together, Page playing acoustic guitar while Plant freestyles on song lyrics. They wrote seven new songs in 12 days doing this. In the ornate style of the band that gave punk rockers something to rebel against, the awkwardly named first Led Zep redux project, a made-for-MTV special called No Quarter: Jimmy Page/Robert Plant (Unledded), was filmed this past summer in London, Wales and Morocco with dozens of guest musicians. The Morocco excursion was the most enjoyable for the two, who have long been fascinated by world beat music and the mysteries of the east. Unledded shows them jamming with local musicians on the street and at a Marrakesh market, performing rhythm-rich new songs "City Don't Cry" and "Yallah". "It's not returning to anything," says Plant of the eclectic musical mix . "We just wanted to use instruments and musicians who inspire us." Page and Plant joke about how the press last year depicted them at each other's throats, after Page teamed with Whitesnake singer David Coverdale in a Zeppelin-sounding project simply called Coverdale-Page. Quotes from the two at the time made it sound like a war was going on, but "it was only a joke," Plant says. Page chimes in: "I didn't take it seriously, so why should anybody else?" But the missing Zep player, John Paul Jones, doesn't seem to find it a joke that he wasn't asked to join Page and Plant this time out. He's been grumbling about it in the British press. "Well, he's wrong," Plant says firmly. "Think about it. Two people who have written so many songs, and all we've got to do is see whether we can do it again. "If you bring in the kitchen sink," Plant continues, "you have all the same old road crew back, all the same women, the same airplane pilot . . ." Adds Page: "And all the old grievances!"

Led Zeppelin vets plan Toronto show The Ottawa Citizen [Ottawa, Ont] 13 Oct 1994 Led Zeppelin bandmates Jimmy Page and Robert Plant are coming to Toronto, MCA Concerts says. Page and Plant, the guitarist and singer from the Seventies super group, recently joined forces for an MTV special titled No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (Unledded) . The show airs Nov. 7 on MuchMusic. The two plan to tour North America together starting in February. An Unledded album is due out next month. Jay Marciano, president of MCA Concerts, says promoters are looking at two possible Toronto dates, either mid-February or late May. Led Zeppelin folded 14 years ago after the death of drummer John Bonham. Guitarist Page, 50, and singer Plant, 47, continued with solo careers.

Peter Howell Toronto Star. Toronto Star [Toronto, Ont] 12 Oct 1994 It's been a long time since Robert Plant and Jimmy Page rock 'n' rolled together under the Led Zeppelin banner. Fourteen years, discounting anniversary and charity one-off gigs (Atlantic Records party '88, Live Aid '85) and a whimsical r & b project called the Honeydrippers that briefly followed the 1980 demise of Led Zep, the mother of all hard rock/metal bands. But last night singer Plant, 47, and guitarist Page, 50, were together on the big screen at New York's elegant Beacon Theatre, to officially announce what many people had long considered inevitable, but which reunion holdout Plant had insisted was impossible: the Zeppelin airship is flying again. In a manner of speaking, that is, because Plant is still half right. The two sometimes antagonists are working together again singing Zeppelin songs, writing new Page-Plant songs and planning a tour that will likely bring them to Toronto next spring. The two were here last night to introduce a 90-minute MTV special called Jimmy Page/Robert Plant (Unledded), taped in London, Wales and Morocco this past summer and airing tonight in the U.S. (Canadian fans without satellite access to MTV can see the show Nov. 7 on MuchMusic at noon and 8 p.m.) An album of the event, titled No Quarter: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant (Unledded), is scheduled for a Nov. 8 release, with the hint of an all-original-material album to follow early next year. But Page and Plant are doing it all under their own names, rather than the Led Zeppelin brand name that could guarantee sold-out sta- diums from Toronto to Timbuktu and ring up T-shirt sales rivalling Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones. The Zeppelin boys really meant it back in 1980, when they abruptly announced the end of the band, following the alcohol overdose death of drummer John Bonham. They said then they couldn't go on without "Bonzo" and his fiery drum sound, and with the exception of the two special events (when Phil Collins and Bonham's son Jason filled in behind the drumkit) they've kept their word. Call it fierce loyalty, but Led Zep bassist/key boardist John Paul Jones might have a different definition of the word. He's miffed at not being part of the Page-Plant reunion, a move intended to cut down the Led Zep reunion chatter. "Nobody bothered to call me . . . I thought it was a bit discourteous," Jones told Britain's Vox magazine. True to the nature of a band for which nothing was ever straight- forward, Page and Plant have also - for the moment, anyway - avoided reprising such Zeppelin classics as "Whole Lotta Love", "Black Dog", "Dazed And Confused", and that staple of FM rock radio the world over, "Stairway To Heaven". Instead, the two dug deep into the band's back catalogue, performing such interesting album cuts as "Thank You", "What Is And What Should Never Be", "The Battle Of Evermore", "Gallows Pole", "Four Sticks" and "Kashmir". Unledded introduces several new songs - "City Don't Cry", "Yallah" and "Wonderful One" - and it largely skips the classic hard rock thunder in favor of more acoustic treatments, trying out a variety of traditional instruments and such guest peformers as four Gnaoui musicians in Marrakesh and a group of women backing singers from a small Moroccan village. It may seem more like Unhinged than Unledded to diehard Zeppelin fans, but it's a sign of life from a band whose legend grows with each passing year.

The Gazette [Montreal, Que] 09 Oct 1994 MuchMusic will air the much-anticipated Jimmy Page-Robert Plant reunion special Nov. 7. The 90-minute show, No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded, gets its world premiere Wednesday on MTV in the U.S. A tour is slated for early next year. "They could have gone out as Led Zeppelin, and made three to four times the money," said Bill Elson, the New York talent agent who represents the Plant-Page tour. But, he said, "with the passage of time they have become their own people. They aren't Led Zeppelin." The Unledded CD will be in stores Nov. 8.

Slimmer Zep plans to hit the road again Wilker, Deborah. The Ottawa Citizen [Ottawa, Ont] 06 Oct 1994 In this banner year for rock reunions, one last major comeback is about to surface in record stores and arenas. After countless false starts, Led Zeppelin is finally on the way. Well, almost. Though not quite Zep, an upcoming album and road show will feature Led Zeppelin's core: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. They'll play together as part of the same band night after night for the first time in nearly 15 years. The record, which is scheduled for release Nov. 8, will follow an Oct. 12 MTV special called Unledded. Tour details are being worked out. Backing players will be longtime Plant associate Charlie Jones (bass) and drummer Michael Lee, plus various session folk. Zep's bass-and-keys-man John Paul Jones is not involved in the project. The late drummer John Bonham completed the original foursome. But Bonham's death was never really the sticking point in the Zep reunion that has been discussed for years. Bonham's son, Jason Bonham, and celebrity fill-in Phil Collins were among two of several able substitutes who jammed at "Zeppelin's" various charity appearances in the 1980s. As most fans know, the reluctance often came from Plant, who for years following the Zep breakup barely acknowledged he had been part of the history-making band. Then, as he and Page worked out the old demons, and even reunited briefly as The Honeydrippers at fund-raisers, on each others' solo albums and boxed sets, Plant warmed to the idea. Still, he has never been able to commit "as Zeppelin" to the kind of full-scale stadium blowout perfected by Pink Floyd, The Who and The Stones. He has been, understandably, the one most opposed to moving backward -- when his solo career was thriving. As recently as last year), Plant said that what he feared most about Zep was being an old man onstage singing teen-agers' songs. He gets around that concern now by touring as "Plant-Page" -- a show with considerably less hype than Zeppelin would attract. "They could have gone out as Led Zeppelin, and made three to four times the money," said Bill Elson, the New York talent agent who represents Plant and the Plant-Page tour. "They are two men who had a great deal of influence on music," said Elson. "They had a complex relationship, but they are both older now, and with the passage of time they have become their own people. They aren't Led Zeppelin." As for the disc, they've reworked "Kashmir," "When the Levee Breaks" and "The Battle of Evermore." They will also unveil several new collaborations, which are said to be very strong. But insiders say it will take a whole lotta luck for the album to hit No. 1 upon its debut. It bows in stores the same day as new releases from Pearl Jam, The Eagles and Aerosmith.

Announcement of Plant-Page reunion album sends fans to Zeppelin heaven Lepage, Mark. The Gazette [Montreal, Que] 01 Oct 1994 He'd never do it, vowed Robert Plant, words that now ring right up there with "the cheque is in the mail," because a Jimmy Page-Plant album is in the works. Though not a full -scale Led Zeppelin reunion (somewhat impossible, given John Bonham's current address), the No Quarter album, due in stores Nov. 8, marks the first full-length Page-Plant collaboration since the band's demise in 1980. The band is called Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, and they'll be everywhere in coming weeks. MTV will air their Unledded acoustic special on Oct. 12 in the U.S. (no firm Canadian broadcast date yet). There is talk of a tour in the spring. Page and Plant played two secret sets in England in August with bassist Charlie Jones and drummer Michael Lee. No, they did not play the Stairway. Meanwhile, former Zep bassist John Paul Jones has an album out with histrionic singer/composer/AIDS activist Diamanda Galas.

Put the boot in Bootleggers. The industry hates them we don't The Guardian (pre-1997 Fulltext) [Manchester (UK)] 30 Sep 1994 BLUEBERRY HILL - Led Zeppelin This 110 minutes of solid noise scrunched on to a double-album sent Zep manager Peter Grant scurrying around the States in a forlorn search for the perpetrators.

Jolly, Mark. The Independent [London (UK)] 22 Sep 1994 They don't sing, they don't dance, so what do they have to do to become the Roadie of the Year? Not a lot, as Mark Jolly discovered I organise rotten events that lose money," says Alan Wise, just before Britain's first Roadie of the Year competition begins. "My forte is crap ideas." The competition - part of Manchester's "In the City" music convention - is his latest brainchild, conceived with the help of James Young as a way of paying homage to the unsung heroes of rock'n'roll: the rude mechanicals whose thankless task includes the rigging of PAs and the lugging of heavy equipment. Some roadies - Rod Stewart, Sid Vicious and the Oasis singer Liam Gallagher among them - have moved to front of stage. But most are ordinary blokes (only two women entered the competition, and one of them was really a sound engineer) who spend endless hours setting up concerts and taking them down again. "It's not really a proper job, although they think it is," said Wise, the Mancunian manager of performance poet John Cooper Clark and the late Nico, who sang with the Velvet Underground. "Roadies work much harder than most. They get no sleep, they work long hours, they're very poorly paid, but they love it." Roadies live hard, too. According to legend (which is where you must file most anecdotes about roadies), they, and not their employers, are responsible for most of the hotel-wrecking chapters of the sex `n' drugs `n' rock `n' roll story. As Wise puts it, "They're the people you don't really want to meet when you go backstage." On Monday, the contestants were doing their best to live up to their reputation. The other female contestant, who roadies for New Order, left 10 minutes before the start of the show because she was "pissed off with the whole thing". Three of the remaining nine participants, including a former roadie for Led Zeppelin, had already pulled out because they were too drunk to compete. (Some said they should have won on those grounds alone.) The whole thing was beginning to look like a bad joke. Not that roadie culture is without its comic potential: all those grown men loping around in Grateful Dead T-shirts; the deafening screech of feedback; those hard-drinking, hell-raising heavies, their Wranglers fighting a losing battle to conceal some rear cleavage; the mike-testing mantra of the soundcheck, which requires a great deal of shouting for "more reverb on 10" or simply, "two-two". It was time to get the show on the road. After a lot of confusion and wandering about, the six remaininbefore a distinguished panel - Peter Grant (the legendary Led Zeppelin manager), g roadies were at last assembled the Radio 1 DJ Gary Davies, and the girlfriend of ex-Factory Records honcho Tony Wilson - in the Alexandra Suite of the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Hotel. These "top roadies" were to be challenged on their cerebral as well as their physical prowess. "Roadies, by nature, are shy, retiring creatures," explains Wise. "If you put them in the limelight they'll act unpredictably. I think we're going to see their sensitive side. They're really more interested in Proust and Heidegger." The compere told us to expect fun, frivolity and improvisation. But for nearly 90 minutes we sat and watched contestants perform such mind-numbing activities as replacing a guitar's G-string, and moving an amp stack from one side of the stage to the other, to the soundtrack of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades". When asked to recount his most bizarre professional experience - a test of his conversational charm - Ian White from Leeds responded with a five-second silence. Perhaps suspecting that he was doing himself no favours in the cerebral prowess category, he attempted to make up for lost marks by juggling three cans of beer. Things were not looking good for Ian. He dropped one of the cans, and it exploded all over me. Nigel Banks, who had worked with Nirvana, proved only slightly more congenial. He was asked how he found Kurt Cobain. "Alive," Banks said. "Flat Nose" John Truman was a little more forthcoming about his profession. Flat used to be a boxer and has been on the road for 18 years. He started off, he said, as a dogsbody roadie (surely a tautology) for three pints a night. Now he can earn up to pounds 3,000 in two days, as he did last summer at a gospel show in Sheffield. "It was the neatest thing I've ever done, daft as that sounds." You name it, Flat's done it. "You may get up at two in the afternoon and do a local band or you might go on a tour, drive a great big truck 200 miles, set up a monitor mix and do 20 hours a day and it kills you." He once fell off a flight of ladders because he forgot to tell someone to hold them. The high point of the evening was supposed to be the roadie chat-up line, as delivered to Sarah Parish, aka Vera, the girl in the Boddington's commercials. She must have upset her agent. First up was Flat Nose John. "You'll have to excuse my laryngitis," spluttered Flat, before mumbling something rude in Parish's ear and kissing her on the cheek. It was Dougie Marnoch who eventually established himself as the roadie's roadie. Last year he got married on his one day off and spent his honeymoon touring with Jethro Tull. Forty-five years old, Dougie was introduced as the oldest man in the business. He was also the coolest; he came on stage and directed an assistant to carry the amp instead of him, and suggested getting a new guitar instead of re-stringing the thing. He politely accepted the prize of a two-foot torch "with the contempt it was given", before making a plea to change next year's event into a managers' competition. Peter Grant, who has seen it all in a career that has seen him manage Little Richard, Gene Vincent and Jerry Lee Lewis as well as Led Zep, looked on with the eyes of a man who didn't want to see any more.

Reunion on an epic scale;Led Zeppelin Sandall, Robert. The Times [London (UK)] 04 Sep 1994 They didn't play Stairway To Heaven, but then it wasn't that sort of a reunion. Having sensibly resisted the temptation to call themselves Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were in no mood to treat their first joint venture in 14 years like a fan club outing for the faithful, or some elderly Headbangers' Ball. The long-awaited recoupling of the Plant Page partnership first announced in these pages back in January and finally accomplished in a London television studio last weekend was a resolutely un-nostalgic affair. MTV originally commissioned this event to wind up its popular Unplugged series of semi acoustic concerts; what it got was something as far removed from the standard mellow strumming of a famous back catalogue as it was from the Sturm und Drang of 1970s Led Zeppelin. If all but one of the songs played were familiar, the manner of their delivery made substantial, almost fulsome apologies for the fact. You could tell something grandiose was afoot from the 40ft web-weave tapestries hanging behind and around the stage. This La Scala-style makeover of Merlin's Cave was clearly built for more than the four-piece rock band Plant and Page plus the rhythm section Plant uses in his solo act that efficiently dispatched the first two numbers, Thank You and What Is And What Should Never Be. While the small invited audience responded with whoops of predictable reverence, Plant a distinguished opponent of the Past Glories school of career management did his best to lighten the tone. "Don't tell me, Dave Gilmour!" he exclaimed, pretending to recognise a fellow middle-aged superstar of conservative outlook and considerable width. "Oh no, it's a chair," he corrected himself, as Page sat down to play The Battle Of Evermore on a triple-necked acoustic guitar with built-in mandolin. From this point, the performance took off on extraordinary tangents. Soon to join the Plant Page band was a supporting cast of nearly 50 auxiliaries including, stage left, a full chamber orchestra and, stage right, an Egyptian ensemble of about 15 violinists, Ney flautists and hand drummers. Clustered around the centre were a wristy young man with a hurdy-gurdy, a shaven-headed banjo player, another exotic drum beater and the virtuoso Asian female vocalist Najma Akhtar. At times the sheer scale of this operation teetered on the brink of self-parody, putting you in mind of Spinal Tap on a world music jag. Mostly, though, the rococo rearrangements served their dual purpose well, and the myth that Led Zeppelin were, first and foremost, an overloud blues band was firmly put to rest. To this end, the material chosen carefully avoided anything with a big, repetitive riff. There was no Whole Lotta Love, no Black Dog, nothing from the first or last two Zeppelin albums. Aside from one new song a plangent, almost dirgeful Plant Page composition called Wonderful One the focus hovered around the five-year period when the pair went through their folk-rock phase. They played four tracks from their folkiest hour, Led Zeppelin III, the most successful of which was a skirling version of the death row lament Gallows Pole. There was only one clunker: an attempt to rework The Rain Song using a string-heavy orchestra that sounded as though it had got lost on the way to Radio 2. More than making up for that was a magnificently overwrought account of Kashmir, Zeppelin's great, late hippie nod to all things Eastern. From Plant's hoarse muezzin wail at the opening, to the inspired improvisations of the Egyptian contingent that brought it to a thunderous close 10 minutes later, this was thrillingly risky stuff. Perhaps progressive rock, as such epic theatrical meandering used to be called, isn't dead. When Plant and Page take their remarkable show on the road in the new year, we shall find out. Plant And Page Presents will be screened by MTV early next month. A concert album is released by Phonogram at the same time.

Two Zeps reunite to play, sing and unplug: Sakamoto, John. The Vancouver Sun [Vancouver, B.C] 01 Sep 1994 After years of rumors, speculation and wishful thinking, one of the most talked-about reunions in rock has finally become reality. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant -- the guitar and voice of '70s supergroup Led Zeppelin -- performed a pair of hush-hush concerts last week in London. Both shows were taped for MTV, which tentatively plans to air a special, titled Unledded, in mid-October. MuchMusic is pursuing the rights for Canada, but it's unlikely to air here until November or December, says representative Bill Bobek. The live shows at the London Television Centre lasted about 90 minutes each and Page and Plant stuck to pretty much the same set list each night, says Grant Burgess, who runs a Led Zep fanzine called The Only One out of Dundas, Ont. Burgess was part of the invitation-only audience of 200. Page and Plant led the British heavy-metal band, which existed from 1968 to 1980. The other members were bassist-keyboard player John Paul Jones and the late drummer John Bonham. The first show last Thursday opened with Thank You, while the following night kicked off with What Is And What Should Never Be, says Burgess. Other numbers included The Battle of Evermore, Gallows Pole, The Rain Song, Four Sticks, Friends, That's The Way, Since I've Been Loving You, Nobody's Fault But Mine and a rearranged version of Kashmir. The Friday show also featured one new song, an acoustic number called Wonderful One. Not played at either show: Stairway to Heaven. The concerts included both acoustic and electric performances, says Burgess. Page and Plant were backed by bassist Charlie Jones and drummer Michael Lee. Several numbers also featured an English orchestra consisting of about 20 pieces, and a smaller group of musicians from Egypt, possibly a holdover from Page and Plant's recording session in Morocco in early August. The duo also did some recording in Wales on Aug. 17 that, Plant said during the TV taping, was witnessed by ``six people and two sheep.'' Meanwhile, with an album scheduled for November, the latest tour rumors have Page and Plant kicking off an arena jaunt in North America in February.

RIP Sir Henry Cecil, Racehorse Trainer Legendary racehorse trainer Sir Henry Cecil has died at the age of 70, a statement posted on his website confirmed. He was one of Britain's most successful trainers. Responsible for 25 British Classic winners and crowned champion trainer 10 times, Sir Henry was also the leading handler by some way at Royal Ascot with a record 75 successes. "It is with great sadness that Warren Place Stables confirms the passing of Sir Henry Cecil earlier this morning," said the statement. "Following communication with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), a temporary licence will be allocated to Lady Cecil." Sir Henry, who was knighted by the Queen in 2011, had been battling stomach cancer for several years. Towards the end of a career that spanned four decades, he trained Frankel, the highest-rated racehorse ever. Frankel retired last year after winning all 14 of his races. BHA chief executive Paul Bittar paid tribute to Sir Henry, describing him as "one of the great characters and one of the great trainers in British racing". "It's tragically sad," Mr Bittar said after being told of Cecil's death. "Having said that, what a wonderful way to be able to finish his career with the greatest race horse (Frankel) that any of us will ever get to see." Sir Henry, from an aristocratic background, was born into racing and often said he would have been able to do nothing else. At 21, he started off as assistant to his stepfather, the Royal trainer Cecil Boyd-Rochfort, and took charge on his retirement in 1968. A year later he was celebrating his first major success as Wolver Hollow gained the Eclipse at Sandown. As the years went on, things got exponentially better, recording a first Classic in 1973 when Cloonagh took the Irish 1,000 Guineas, and three years later he was champion trainer for the first time. In 1987 when he trained a record number of winners - 180. Sir Henry married his one-time secretary Jane McKeown in 2008. He is survived by two children from his first marriage, Katie and Noel, and son Jake from his second marriage.

Thank you PP. I had never seen the Plaster Caster one before either - it's funny. As for the one about Robert's voice - some of the articles I post here are not very complimentary to LZ, or their individual members, but I feel I have to post them nevertheless and let the reader make up their mind.

Szreter, Adam. The Independent [London (UK)] 31 Aug 1994 Page and Plant got back together. Briefly. Adam Szreter witnessed the re-formation of Led Zeppelin It was intended to be Plant and Page Unplugged. Perhaps even Plant, Page and Paul Jones Unplugged. In the end MTV settled happily for Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, mostly plugged-in and playing together at the London Weekend Television studios. Since Led Zeppelin folded after the death of John Bonham nearly 15 years ago, neither has enjoyed the best of fortune, nor - in Page's case, at least - the best of health. For Led Zeppelin fans, the most fruitful song- writing partnership of the Seventies went their separate ways at a particularly cruel moment. Their last album, In Through the Out Door, was as innovative as any before it and the orchestral arrangement - on "All of My Love" in particular - suggested they were far from being a spent force. Talk of Led Zep re-forming, with Bonham's son Jason on drums, has been a popular fantasy ever since, but has so far failed to materialise. Here, for the first time, the reunion of the duo appeared to be something more than a nostalgic gimmick. Playing together at the end of last week, Page and Plant actually looked as though they meant business. An audience of 300 or so had gathered for the recording session. You could sense the crowd's eagerness to hear the old favourites, and with the odd, honourable exception in the 12-song set (such as the encore "Wonderful One", a romantic duet), they did not disappoint. They began with two spine- chillers from Led Zep II - "What Is and What Should Never Be" and "Thank You". There had been talk that Page had intended to include "Stairway to Heaven" in the set, and the well-rehearsed five-piece band was in good enough shape to wipe forever from the nation's memory Rolf Harris's spine-tingling cover version. But Plant, very much in charge on the night, was having none of it. What they did come up with - "Battle of Evermore", "Gallows Pole", "Rain Song" and especially "Since I've Been Loving You" - more than compensated, but the real fun began in the second half of the show. The band was joined by two mini- orchestras - one English, the other Moroccan. Centre stage, Page sat down on an enormous chair, picked up a triple-necked guitar and hunched over it, like a wizard about to concoct a demonic potion. The Moroccans conjured some mesmerising percussion and horns, giving "Four Sticks" and "Friends" a new dimension, while both orchestras were in full cry for the rousing finale - "Kashmir", from Physical Graffiti. There are, inevitably, rumours of a tour early next year. Plant and Page back on the road with a 50-piece orchestra? Plant looked relaxed enough, and was clearly enjoying the cabaret atmosphere. Page, musically speaking, was making all the right noises, but he has been in better shape: his eyelids looked as though they'd turned inside out. Who knows if they have the will or the stamina to go back on the road; they've been away a long time. But on this evidence, with or without John Paul Jones, another album - and one of real quality - is not beyond them. - `MTV UnLedded with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page' will be shown on MTV Europe on Monday 17 Oct at 9pm. MTV is also screening a Led Zeppelin weekend, from 22-23 Oct

Toop, David. The Times [London (UK)] 20 Aug 1994 DIAMANDA GALAS with JOHN PAUL JONES, "Do You Take This Man?",CD Mute 171 *** SINCE her appearance as a terrifyingly gifted (or simply terrifying) singer, San Diego's Diamanda Galas has been working towards mainstream acceptance as an unholy cross between Maria Callas and Screaming Jay Hawkins. This collaboration with ex-Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones may prove to be the perfect missile to propel her into the households of the uninitiated. Looking on the cover like an early 1960s dominatrix preparing to give the likes of Madonna a good trouncing, she snarls her way through a lyric that the "no more sex war" brigade should regard as a clear message to take cover. Industrial strength bass and drums give plenty of room for a blowtorch recitation of some hilarious lyrics. Brilliant, unique, though not something to give as a wedding present. BALLY SAGOO "Chura Liya", Columbia 660709 2 ** AFTER a long spell on Asian indie labels and a brief stint at Island, Birmingham's Bally Sagoo finally signs with a major label. Having mixed up any number of Asian musics with a kitchen sink full of ragga and hip-hop, Sagoo has turned to Bollywood film songs. The blend of ethereal Indian vocals, big screen strings and ragga bass and rap is as deft (and daft) as ever.

The Times [London (UK)] 18 Aug 1994 TWO heavy metal heroes, Led Zeppelin's co-founders Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, will be reunited for a television concert. Part of MTV's acclaimed Unplugged series, the programme, called Unledded, will be shown in America in October and feature slimmed-down arrangements of best-selling Zeppelin tunes, along with new songs. Zeppelin disbanded in 1980 after the death of drummer John Bonham.

Toronto Star [Toronto, Ont] 02 Aug 1994 LED ZEPS REUNITE: Two of the former members of the legendary rock group Led Zeppelin will reunite in a television program, the music television network MTV announced yesterday. The program, to air in October, will bring Robert Plant and Jimmy Page together. They will perform new arrangements of classic Led Zeppelin songs as well as newly written material never before performed. The program will be taped in London, two undisclosed locations in Wales and Rabat and Marrakesh in Morocco, MTV said.

WHOLE LOTTA ZEP?; New album, tour, film likely for Zeppelin fans Strauss, Neil. The Gazette [Montreal, Que] 26 June 1994 Led Zeppelin fans hoping for a reunion of singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page should get their fill of the legendary 1970s band by the end of next year. There is an album, a film, an all-star tribute album and a possible tour and MTV appearance i After nearly a year of speculation and rumors, Plant and Page are said to be in a London studio recording new material. The two teamed up last month to perform at a tribute concert to the late English bluesman Alexis Korner. Though a final decision has not been made, the pair will probably not release the album under the lucrative moniker of Led Zeppelin. John Paul Jones, the group's bassist, who has been producing an album by the avant-garde screamer Diamanda Galas, will not be involved in the project. Michael Lee, who has toured with Plant, will be the drummer, replacing the late John Bonham. Talk of a Robert Plant and Jimmy Page episode of MTV's acoustic Unplugged show could not be confirmed, but a spring tour is likely. Meanwhile, Atlantic will release a Led Zeppelin tribute album in the winter. Though a spokeswoman for the label would not discuss the project, the Rollins Band are said to perform a cover version of Four Sticks, and 4 Non Blondes play Misty Mountain Hop. Other musicians reportedly on the album are Sting, Stone Temple Pilots, Lenny Kravitz, Tool and Cracker. One project Plant and Page probably aren't too thrilled with is a planned film biography of Peter Grant, who used to be the band's manager. The movie, produced by the former Sex Pistols impresario Malcolm McLaren, is based on Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis, a book Grant and band members found exploitative and sensationalist when it was first published in 1985.

Zephead bash is a whole lotta grunge Beaumont, Peter . The Guardian (pre-1997 Fulltext) [Manchester (UK)] 22 May 1994 THE MUPPET-LIKE blob on the video screen, animated by random snatches of music, was thrashing his guitar with a violin bow. The jerky image came to a halt as abruptly as it had started and a fan clapped politely. In the packed, adjoining rooms snatches of half a dozen Led Zeppelin songs merged into a musical grunge as inaudible as the video was murky. The faithful throng of Zep-heads had come to pay homage to the 'world's greatest ever rock band', amid persistent rumours of an impending reunion. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and the late John Bonham - the band's legendary drummer, who died after a vodka drinking binge - continue to inspire almost fanatical devotion. Their song Stairway to Heaven holds the record for the most radio plays in the history of popular music. The song is regarded by the die-hards as something of a musical albatross. Yesterday, at the opening of the two-day 'Dancing Days' convention in London, memorabilia traders were warned that they would be 'fined' for charity every time they played it. It was a pretty blokeish affair. Apart from two enthusiastic female graphic illustrators, most of the women were there on sufferance. Among them was Jan Smith, girlfriend of 33-year-old convention organiser Andy Adams. 'Andy is not as bad as some,' she said, 'but there are a lot of sad people here, and sad people by their own admission.' Another fan, Carol Holt, had brought her 15-year-old daughter, Lorraine. Shouldn't Lorraine be following Take That? 'She grew up with it,' countered Carol. 'She was a crying baby, and Led Zeppelin was the only thing that would shut her up.' Did any of her friends at school know what Led Zeppelin was? Lorraine looked embarrassed. 'They've never heard of them. When I said they played Stairway to Heaven they thought I meant the Rolf Harris version.' A small group, clustered in a corner of the main room, suggested a celebrity had arrived - Jason Bonham, the 28-year-old son of John, who stood in for his father at the last reunion. Despite having inherited his father's legendary drumming skills, Jason says a reunion is out of the question. 'Robert and Jimmy are jamming together just to see how it feels, but there won't be a reunion. I could play on the drums like I did before, but it wouldn't be the same. It would be damn close, but it wouldn't be the same.'

Will Led Zeppelin get its act together again? Parsons, Tony. The Daily Telegraph [London (UK)] 05 May 1994 ABSTRACT NEVER mind all that empty chatter about a Beatles reunion - here comes Led Zeppelin. Or at least here come Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Naturally, a complete re-formation for Led Zeppelin remains unlikely for as long as their drummer John Bonham remains dead (to paraphrase George Harrison's remarks on a Fab Four reunion). But what seems certain is that, some time soon, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant will be working together again. So it is understandable that a possible collaboration between Page and Plant is provoking something approaching hysteria. For time has not withered the mighty heaviosity of Led Zeppelin. Last year the band released Boxed Set 2, containing all 31 tracks from Led Zeppelin's nine studio albums that were not included on their first boxed set. So, as my colleague Chris Heath pointed out, Boxed Set 2 was quite literally the worst of Led Zeppelin. But as these leftovers included tracks like Good Times Bad Times, Back Country Woman, The Rover and How Many More Times, it was conclusive proof that the worst of Led Zeppelin was superior to the best of almost any other band.

The Ottawa Citizen [Ottawa, Ont] 08 Apr 1994 Coming soon Zep Unplugged? Atlantic Records, longtime label for Led Zeppelin, is deep into "high-level negotiations with MTV for a project that would involve, at the least, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, a Toronto newspaper reported Thursday, quoting an unnamed source. The Un-Led-Ed special would feature the defunct heavy metal band's two principals, and possibly bassist John Paul Jones, regrouping for a segment of MTV's usually acoustic Unplugged show.

Page, Plant said to be going Unplugged on MTV: [FINAL Edition] The Gazette [Montreal, Que] 08 Apr 1994 Zep Unplugged could be coming soon to U.S. TV. Atlantic Records, longtime label for Led Zeppelin, is deep into "high-level negotiations with MTV for a project that would involve, at the least, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant," says the Toronto Sun, quoting an unnamed source. The project, said the source, has been pencilled into the fall schedule as Un-Led-Ed (also the title of an album by Dread Zeppelin). The special would feature the defunct heavy metal band's two principals, and possibly bassist John Paul Jones, regrouping for a segment of MTV's Unplugged. One British report suggests the band is pushing for the acoustic session of Led Zeppelin classics to be the final segment of the show before it signs off the air for good. Aside from occasional special appearances (Live Aid and Atlantic Records' 40th Anniversary bash), the surviving members of Led Zeppelin have not played together in public since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. Plant recently finished a lengthy world tour, while Page's collaboration with Plant sound-alike David Coverdale appears to have ended.