No Quarter - Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded

No point in saying I agree with most of the reviewers who found this DVD excellent, but the first time I listened to it, I picked the Dolby Stereo and put it on the big audio-rig and speakers -- the heck with five-channel sound when the stereo is this good. I then sat back and closed my eyes to focus on the music at its best. I have been a LZ fan for years, and I own many of their albums in original LP form, but this is amazing. The "Rain Song" has always been my favorite number . . . along with Kashmir, and I can say I never really heard them until this DVD.After listening to CDs, this was sheer ear-ecstasy. The DVD audio quality is simply superb -- the best live recording I have ever seen/heard on DVD . . . and at last the medium lives up to its promise. The combination of watching the picture and listening to the gorgeous music is informing -- I figured out some things. Stereo imaging was highly synchronized with what your eyes see on the picture of the stage. EDIT -- the one glaring exception is "Black Dog", which is like listening to a "boom box" in a 55 gallong drum cranked up to unintelligible and frighening gains. I checked it out on a waveform analysis. There are no peaks; there are no valleys. This is a disappointment to a great song -- what you can credibly hear of the performance "in the drum" sounds as if it could have been a fine performance.Sure, Robert Plant has lost some of the top end of his vocal range, but his unique phrasings and modulations are excellent, emotive and uniformly on key. He certainly is not shy of showing off that he is still quite a showman. And as for Jimmy Page, for the first time to me he shows he was not only a great innovator of the past, but he is still a consumate guitarist.The imagination and reach of the arrangements left me awestruck at the extension of the creativity of Plant and Page. The choice of instrumentation and the superb blending of the various elements is among the most amazing recordings of a live performance I've ever heard. This is the audio fulfilment of my years of fandom of LZ. Sure, I think it's a tragedy that Bonham is no longer with us, and it's a disappointment if they slighted Jones, BUT this is a DVD I will use to demonstrate what great sound can be.I thought the soundstage was beautiful and effective. The alternative recording sites and landscape interludes were pleasant and soothing, and they did not repeat the self-indulgence that mars "The Song Remains the Same" DVD.EDIT: To rehash, I'd like to see whoever engineered that recording of "Black Dog" shot -- the gain and compression are so high that the average loudness is universally at the clipping point. It sounds horrible, and the better your sound system, the worse it sounds. Plant's vocals are muddied and some interesting Moroccan or Egyptian accompanyment is totally buried. It is the worst version of an LZ song I have ever heard by a member of the band, and is guaranteed to really iritate anyone quickly, if you can stand it that long.

Jammin' Out Acoustically

Well, Sir Robert and James Page have done it again!This time, in a re-release of MTV's 1994 Special UnLedded Page and Plant video, the full beauty of Robert's voice, and Jimmy Page and his mastery of guitar legend abound.It is replete with wonderful moments, such as Gallows Pole, featuring Jimmy playing one of his own BlackMountainside Brand custom acoustic guitars, Friends, a fabulous, exotic song from Zep III, and a heavy version of THE song, Kashmir, replete with cello phenom Caroline Dale, her entire ensemble of British cellists, Giles, Milne, et al, an Egyptian string ensemble, (with monstrously talented Egyptian violin soloist Wael Abu Bakr) doing lead violin solo, and Jimmy playing the 50,000$, multi computerized GIbson Les Paul Transperformance guitar - capable of instantaneously moving and retuning to nearly 100 different modal tunings real time- with relish. Jimmy has that device down to a science. Kashmir is simply still astonishing and brings tears to the eyes delivered like this. Power and glory abound here.There is EVEN Page/Plant/Jones and Lee, doing a parody of Dred Zeppelins' (Nobody's Fault) doing a parody of Led Zep. How about that for turnabout? All in good fun of course. It's even dumbed down to Dreds level for extra gusto.The other piec de resistanc' is No Quarter, the beginning song, filmed outdoors, in the woods, in Wales, with Jimmy doing a totally re-worked No quarter in modal 12 string, acoustic, and Robert handling his own array of black boxes (on his lap) through which he does misty mountain hopping special FX for his voice, in real time. THIS is priceless.There are a few (very few) weak spots here and there, but after all, these guys are middle aged fellows, like many of us, here, and none of us are what we were when we were 25. And Bonham's presence is noticable at times. Thank You could have been a better take.But on the whole, this is thrilling music, with enormous scope, big time arrangements, TOP talent doing backup roles. The hurdy gurdy, rich mandolins, and violas and Bodhran add especially flavorful ethnic mixes to the final product. It is exciting, fresh, and full of new twists. I loved the jam with the musicians in Morrocco. And in Marrackech, that anthem, with Pagey doing the moonwalk, is just plain loud fun.Where Pagey gets these special effects is anyones' guess. He never runs out of new ideas, or new gear. No one, save perhaps Gilmour, knows more about the technical end of guitar, electronics, FX, cutting edge tech, and the like. These two fellows have pushed the state of the guitar ahead 100 years... if only there were people behind them picking up where they left off. As long as that is not the case, WE need JP showing us the way..SIBLY is again, great. If you liked Led Zep, I dare say you will probably love this video. It is worth watching and keeping. You won't find another live rock band like this for another hundred years or more. And with this high calibre of musicians backing them up, you won't see a show like this again. That much is assured. Guaranteed.

Pour ma collection

niente da dire..... Page & Plant...... ho detto tutto

De la millor música de l'història del rock

"Weltmusik", aber nicht als ideologischer Triumph über die verachtete Mehrheitsgesellschaft, sondern als Zugewinn durch eine Neuerfindung vieler der auf der DVD enthaltenen Songs. Anspieltipp: Gallows Pole.

Super dvd , son excellent pour l'année 1994 ,image 4/3 mais de bonne qualité.