Honestly, the mid-90s were a weird time for rock gods. Grunge had basically flattened the old guard, and if you were a classic rock icon, you were either "irrelevant" or headed for a cheesy Vegas residency. Then 1994 happened. MTV, which was still the center of the musical universe back then, wanted Robert Plant for an Unplugged special.
Plant wasn't having it. Not alone.
He called his old "frenemy" Jimmy Page. It was the first time they’d really done anything substantial together since the tragedy of 1980. But they didn't just walk onto a stage with two acoustic guitars to play "Stairway to Heaven." That would’ve been too easy. Boring, even. Instead, they gave us No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded, a project so ambitious it basically redefined what a "reunion" could look like. It wasn't just a nostalgia trip; it was a global sonic experiment that still feels vital today.
The Led Zeppelin Reunion That Wasn't (Technically)
Let’s get the elephant out of the room. John Paul Jones wasn't there.
That hurt. Honestly, it still bugs some fans. Jones found out about the project through the media, which is... cold. When reporters asked where the legendary bassist was during the press tour, Plant famously quipped, "He's parking the car." Ouch. While it felt like a snub, Plant later admitted they just weren't ready to handle the full weight of the "Led Zeppelin" brand. They wanted to explore something new, not just reanimate a corpse.
Instead of Jones, they brought in a killer backing band. Charlie Jones (Robert's son-in-law) took over bass duties, and Michael Lee—a guy who played with the intensity of a young Bonham—sat behind the kit. They even grabbed Porl Thompson from The Cure to add some eerie, textured guitar and banjo. It was a lineup built for experimentation, not just replicating the records.
👉 See also: Kate Moss Family Guy: What Most People Get Wrong About That Cutaway
Recording in the Mountains and Markets
The production of No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded was a logistical nightmare that turned into a masterpiece. They didn't just stick to a studio in London. They went to Marrakech. They went to the hills of Wales. They filmed in a slate quarry near Corris.
The Moroccan Sessions
In the middle of the Jemaa el-Fnaa market, surrounded by the smell of spices and the chaos of the city, Page and Plant jammed with local Gnawa musicians. You can hear it in "City Don't Cry." It’s raw. It’s dusty. It’s the sound of two guys who have already conquered the world trying to find something they haven't heard yet.
The Egyptian Ensemble
This is where the project really leveled up. They brought in Hossam Ramzy and his Egyptian Ensemble. We're talking about an entire orchestra of Arab strings and percussion. If you listen to the version of "Friends" or "Four Sticks" from this album, the polyrhythms are insane. It’s not just "rock with some violins." It’s a total fusion. Page’s obsession with North African scales finally had a professional vehicle to ride in.
Breaking Down the Setlist: Old Songs, New Souls
The title track, "No Quarter," is a perfect example of how they flipped the script. The original Houses of the Holy version is defined by John Paul Jones’s submerged, psychedelic electric piano. In the Unledded version, that’s gone. It’s replaced by a moody, acoustic-driven arrangement recorded outdoors in the Welsh woods. It’s spookier. More folk-horror than space-rock.
Then there’s "Kashmir."
✨ Don't miss: Blink-182 Mark Hoppus: What Most People Get Wrong About His 2026 Comeback
If "Kashmir" is Zeppelin's magnum opus, the Unledded version is the final boss. Backed by the London Metropolitan Orchestra and the Egyptian Ensemble, the song swells into this 12-minute behemoth. It’s huge. It’s terrifying. Jimmy Page, playing a Goldtop Les Paul equipped with a TransPerformance self-tuning system, looks like a wizard summoning a storm. It’s arguably the definitive version of the song because it finally captures the "Eastern" scale the band was always chasing in the 70s.
The New Tracks
They didn't just lean on the hits. They wrote four new songs:
- Yallah (The Truth Explodes): A heavy, industrial-leaning track with a mechanical beat that felt very 1994.
- Wonderful One: A beautiful, languid ballad that showed Page and Plant could still write "Light and Shade" without the Zep baggage.
- City Don't Cry: The minimalist Moroccan collaboration.
- Wah Wah: A track that, frankly, some people forget, but it’s a fun, rhythmic jam.
Why the 10th Anniversary Version Matters
If you’re hunting for this on vinyl or CD today, you’ll notice a difference between the 1994 original and the 2004 "10th Anniversary" re-release. They changed the cover art, which was a bit of a bummer (the original "two guys in the woods" look was iconic), and they messed with the tracklist.
In the 2004 version, they actually cut "Thank You." Why? Who knows. But they added "The Rain Song," which is a gorgeous inclusion. If you can find the DVD version, that's really where the magic lives because you get to see the sheer scale of the orchestra and the chemistry—and sometimes the visible tension—between Jimmy and Robert.
The Legacy of the Unledded Project
Critics at the time were a bit divided. Some thought it was a bloated ego trip; others saw it as a stroke of genius. Looking back through the lens of 2026, it’s clearly the latter. It paved the way for their 1998 studio album Walking into Clarksdale and proved that you can respect your past without being a slave to it.
🔗 Read more: Why Grand Funk’s Bad Time is Secretly the Best Pop Song of the 1970s
The project showed that Led Zeppelin's music wasn't just about loud drums and screaming vocals. It was about a specific kind of musical wanderlust. It was about taking a blues riff from the Mississippi Delta and smashing it into a string arrangement from Cairo.
How to Dive Back In
If you want to appreciate this era of Page and Plant, don't just put it on as background music. Do these three things:
- Watch the "Kashmir" performance on a big screen. The way the Western and Eastern orchestras lock into that descending riff is a masterclass in arrangement.
- Compare "Gallows Pole" to the original. The Unledded version starts slow but turns into a "runaway train" by the end that actually rivals the energy of the Led Zeppelin III version.
- Listen for the "Light and Shade." This was Jimmy Page’s mantra. Notice how the quietest parts of "The Battle of Evermore" (featuring the incredible Najma Akhtar) make the loudest parts of the set feel even bigger.
The No Quarter Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded sessions weren't just a TV special. They were a reminder that even after the stadiums go dark and the bands break up, the music is a living, breathing thing that can always be reinvented.
Next Step: Dig out your old headphones and listen to the Unledded version of "Since I've Been Loving You." Notice how Page's guitar tone is slightly more "glassy" and "clean" than the 1970 version, allowing the bluesy nuances to really pop through the mix.