HOUSES OF THE HOLY, the fifth studio album of the British hard rock group Led Zeppelin, is my #8 all-time album. It came out in 1973, largely overshadowed on the radio by their monster hit from the previous album, Stairway to Heaven. Yet Houses of the Holy is loaded with a high quality and diversity of musical types within its eight tracks. D'yer Mak'er, later revealed to be pronounced as "Jamaica", became a U.S. singles hit later that year. Many of the other songs received extensive play on album rock radio stations, including my local one in South Florida at the time, WSHE/103.5. Still, it wouldn't be until I began working in the post office as a letter-sorting machine clerk in the late 1980's that I began to more fully appreciate this album along with the band that produced it. You see, much of my job then involved sitting at a console with modified keys while letters, one by one, whizzed by me as I keyed in the code for their next destination. We were allowed to listen to radios with earphones while doing this, and one song stood out as I regularly tuned in to Gainesville's Rock 104: Over the Hills and Far Away, from this album. Then, in late 1990, their box set was released, and Rock 104 played it in its entirety: I was blown away by the depth of their music and suddenly became a big fan of Led Zeppelin although I had known of them since 1970. In the ensuing couple of years, I collected their music, always regarding Houses of the Holy as one of their greatest works. Here are the album's tracks, along with some brief commentary:
The Song Remains the Same---Primarily a vehicle to demonstrate Jimmy Page's amazing guitar virtuosity, it's mostly instrumental with front man Robert Plant providing curiously weak singing...
The Rain Song---Pretty lengthy and very slow to the point of being languid, with an orchestral-sounding Mellotron background. The melody is beautiful...
Over the Hills and Far Away---Two very different songs in one, a slow section sandwiches the central, rousing philosophical ventures of Plant with Page providing the guitar excitement. I think what won it over to me, though, was Page's acoustic guitar introduction and the keyboard closing, likely by John Paul Jones...
The Crunge---One of my favorite Zeppelin songs, it's a humorous tribute to James Brown...yes, the King of Soul really sounded like this. I loved the song's crazy beat as well...
Dancing Days---Another personal favorite, its generally dark mood belies the deceptive title. Page's defining guitar riff along with Jones' haunting interspersed keyboards are unforgettable...
D'yer Mak'er---Ostensibly the band's half-hearted, jesting stab at reggae music, by the time Page put his guitar work into it this commercially successful singles hit sounded like something completely different. The radio played it a lot around December 1973...
No Quarter---A thoroughly brilliant exercise in utter despair, it may be the most artistically pure piece that the band ever produced. But the depths of that despair expressed here may be difficult for some listeners...
The Ocean---The title refers to Led Zeppelin's loyal base of fans and the song is pretty upbeat...that's good, considering the previous track! The song abruptly switches gears from a slow-paced, heavy grinder to a spirited, happy ending...
I didn't mention one of Led Zeppelin's indispensable members: their incredible drummer John Bonham. His death in 1980 ended the band, pure and simple. Maybe their disbanding after that tragedy saved them from the fate of others who continued on for decades while producing substandard work...
Next week: my #7 all-time favorite album...
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