No Quarter

[LeedyGuy]

Anyone have this Page/Plant record? I just picked it up...anyone have any interesting facts about it? What spurned the Marrakesh Orchestra type thing? Were the studio cuts done live?

[ubertar]

I don't have the record, but saw them play the Gorge at George, Washington on their first tour. Great show. They had a string section and a section of Morrocan musicians. They also had a hurdy gurdy player who was amazing. A friend of mine was playing viola in the string section-- that's how I got my ticket. She got to meet Page and Plant and she passed a tape of my band at the time to Page. He probably never listened to it-- it was just some rough mixes (all I had at the time) but at least he had it in his hands at one point (please excuse the childhood hero worship). Anyway, it was a killer show, even if some guy was playing a lot of Page's solos for him.
Both those guys, especially Page have been into mid-eastern and Indian music for a long, long time. A friend gave me a bootleg that has a version of "Friends" from Zep III done in India in 73 with sarangi and tabla on it. Nice.

[pieter]

I saw that tour too in Denmark, and was pretty impressed. I really dug the way they attempted to keep developing as artists and stay vital, rather than just fall back on their legacy and stand up there and go through the greatest-hits motions. I remember the revised "Kashmir" being a pretty cool thing, and they also had a song with a video (I don't have the record so I don't know the name) that I thought was shockingly progressive and interesting for two guys who could have just as well pulled a Who or a Rolling Stones and kept on repeating themselves...to great financial effect!

What did you guys think of Plant's solo records after Zeppelin but before the collaboration? I liked them!

I haven't heard anything recently but a vocal coach was telling me that Plant's voice is completely shot now. That's a shame if it's true.

[hardLeft]

What did you guys think of Plant's solo records after Zeppelin but before the collaboration? I liked them!

I always liked Plant's stuff; I felt like the best one was his first one, and the quality went down with each new release, although I will say that his third one, Shaken and Stirred, is pretty incredible: very different and worth a listen. Lots of '80s synth weirdness, and I think the engineers were probably influenced by the guys behind The Power Station. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but is kinda works. The fourth one is where he started sampling Zep and shilling for Pepsi or whatever, so I pretty much checked out at that point, although I saw him twice on that tour and it was freakin great. Stevie Ray opened one of the shows.

Regarding his failing voice, I remember two years ago he had that single Darkness Darkness which was utterly unremarkable. But still....

[kdarr]

I haven't heard anything recently but a vocal coach was telling me that Plant's voice is completely shot now. That's a shame if it's true.

Seems pretty shot to me on the record. He goes for that high scream in "Since I've Been Lovin' You" and fails miserably. Pretty sad, but hey, the guy never really took care of his voice. Drugs, cigarettes, and poor technique (yes, he DOES have poor technique. that doesn't make him a bad singer) will take their toll eventually.

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[coniferouspine]

All I remember is that the track with the crazy loops (I don't have the CD in front of me) was recorded live in the Medina in Marrakesh, Morocco. Basically in the village square in the center of town. Supposedly they wanted to record more takes but they had to stop because of the authorities.

[vvv]

I believe that the other guitar player was Paul (Porl) Thompson from the Cure; I think Tracy Bonham (no relation) played violin on that record, also.

I saw Plant open for the Who last year and headline the year before, and while he tends to keep to a much lower register and be less vocally acrobatic, especially on his later solo stuff, he typically covers 3 to 5 Zep songs and pretty much hits every note, sometimes maybe surprising himself when he does it.

My ex girlfriend was a big fan and so I have a couple of bootlegs; Priory of Brian comes to mind as one, and he sings pretty well there, also, and definitely does a better job on the J. Colin Young song.

[DoubleDownSound]

"Big Log" RULES!!! plus it's soothing rythmns are just the thing when you need a hand dropping a big log...