Jimmy Page Copied a Beatles’ Trick to Make Led Zeppelin’s ‘No Quarter’ Sound ‘Thicker and Ominous’
Jimmy Page wasn’t just a guitar player in Led Zeppelin. He wrote or co-wrote nearly all of the band’s songs. He set the artistic vision for the band. Oh, and he produced and mixed all their albums to make sure the sound coming through the speakers matched what he heard in his head. He was an artistic visionary in his own right, but Page copied a Beatles recording trick on the Led Zeppelin song “No Quarter.”
Jimmy Page copied the same trick The Beatles used on ‘Rain’ for Led Zeppelin’s ‘No Quarter’
Page formed Led Zeppelin to push the boundaries of what was possible in music. He made playing guitar with a bow a mainstream move. The control room at the recording studio became like an extra instrument. His behind-the-scenes work on “Whole Lotta Love” made the psychedelic freakout section a mind-bending experience.
He was a sonic visionary always looking to move the goalposts for rock music, but Page borrowed from The Beatles for the moody Led Zeppelin song “No Quarter.”
The murky tune stood in contrast to the bright and airy feel elsewhere on Houses of the Holy. How did he deliver that ambiance? By slowing down the tape.
“The only song I can think of that we vari-speeded up were a couple of overdubs on ‘Achilles Last Stand.’ However, I applied the vari-speed to the overall track of ‘No Quarter.’ I dropped the whole song a quarter tone because it made the track sound so much thicker and ominous.”
Jimmy Page to ‘Light & Shade’ author Brad Tolinski
Whether he knew it or not, Page copied a move The Beatles used on their 1966 B-side “Rain.” The song that appeared on the flip side of “Paperback Writer” became a watery and atmospheric song when they slowed down the tape upon mastering the tune. The full-speed version that surfaced decades later (via YouTube) hardly sounded like the same song. The faster rendition was closer to pop-punk, which wouldn’t become a music genre for more than a decade.
Page lifted a move from The Beatles, but that was the only similarity between “No Quarter” and anything the Fab Four ever did. Liverpool’s most famous band had moody moments (hello, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” but they never deviated into jazz-like keyboard solos or guitar riffs so fat you needed a knife to cut through them. Page said his guitar sounded like water nymphs on “No Quarter.” Slowing down the tape a la The Beatles helped him achieve a unique tone.
Other unique methods Page and Led Zeppelin used in their songs
Page copied a move from The Beatles with the slowed-down tape on “No Quarter,” but he and Led Zeppelin proved to be more adventurous than the Fab Four when recording their music.
The band put John Bonham’s drum kit on a riser and miked it from a distance on “Whole Lotta Love,” according to Anatomy of a Song author Marc Myers. It’s a reason listeners can hear every cymbal bell tap and high-hat closure so clearly. The band combined unique miking and an echo device for Bonzo’s drums on “When the Levee Breaks” from Led Zeppelin IV. The guitarist used his studio know-how to lie to the record company while making Coda. He employed several tricks to make “We’re Gonna Groove,” the lead track, sound like a studio song even though the band recorded it live.
He was a sonic visionary, but even Jimmy Page wasn’t above copying a move from The Beatles’ playbook on “No Quarter.” Led Zeppelin’s work ethic in their early years mimicked the Fab Four, but Zep otherwise charted their own course, and the guitarist employed several unique methods to make his band’s music along the way.
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