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Led Zeppelin
Houses Of The Holy
1973 (Japanese Import)
Members:
Robert Plant - Vocals (lead and backing) and Harmonica
Jimmy Page - Guitars (lead, rhythm, slide and acoustic)
John Paul Jones - Keyboards and Bass
John Bonham - Drums and Percussion
Notable Tracks:
-D'Yer Ma'ker
-No Quarter
-Dancing Days
-Over The Hills And Far Away
-The Ocean
-The Song Remains The Same
-The Rain Song
After two years off from recording their last (and most successful) album, the untitled 'Led Zeppelin IV' the band returned to the studio. This time taking a more relaxed approach to their music, carefully crafting all the tracks. The quality of the recordings, and the overall tighness in the group reflects the improvement in the band since Led Zeppelin II. This comes shining through on one of the bands more layered, epic songs, 'The Song Remains The Same' featuring at least five guitars (and with those upbeat 12-strings I sometimes wonder if Pete Townshend had influenced them in recent days), and a great bassline. But Page brngs us back to what we're used to when we hear the studio chatter in the background before 'The Ocean'.
The Album as a whole, seems to represent the bands past tendencies, showcasing their eclectic songwriting found on Led Zeppelin III, hard rocking riffs reminiscent of Led Zeppelin II, and the epic buildups found on Led Zep IV.
The album starts itself off with a big bang, 'The Song Remains the Same' rife with overdubs, this song is one of the more memorabletracks. Next up is the more subdued 'Rain Song' with it's beautiful string arrangement. Then the unforgettable 'Over the Hills and Far Away', the closest that any band will ever get to forging acoustic folk and lumbering hard rock into one, starting with one acoustic playing a nice melody it is quickly accompanied by a 12 string acoustic and then both get slaughtered under the pummeling chords of the electric and the wailing screams of Robert Plant. The only weak point to be found on this album lies in 'The Crunge' a strange song to me. The lyrics seem like random ramblings into a micrphone. I've never had the nerve to sit through the entire song as of yet, it just gets repetitive. Not exactly the greatest way to end side one.
But side two makes up for any weakness found on side one. The hard riffs of 'Dancing Days' start it off with a bang (the tone on this guitar seems eerily similar to that of the song 'Houses of The Holy'). Then we're brought into the bouncing reggae guitar and simplistic lyrics of the upbeat "D'yer Mak'er" a simpler arrangement of things, containing very few overdubs, reminiscent of Led Zeppelin I. Then John Paul Jones gets his moment in the sun with his keyboard based epic 'No Quarter', Page's fuzz tone guitar is only an added accent lying in the background, keeping the keyboards and vocals in the foreground, John Bonham's drumwork is quite subdued on this track and is scarcely noticable (in fact aside from D'Yer Ma'ker and The Ocean, Bonham seems quite subdued on the entire album). The album comes to a close in much the same fashion as it began.... with a bang. The radio staple 'The Ocean' closes the album(at least they play it a lot over here). It's a song so heavy and hard rocking it could have well fit in on Led Zeppelin II.
Overall this album rates an 8/10. My worst rating yet!
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