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Their untitled fourth album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV (1971), is one of the best-selling albums in history with 37 million copies sold. The album includes "Black Dog", "Rock and Roll" and "Stairway to Heaven", with the latter being among the most popular and influential works in rock history. Houses of the Holy (1973) yielded "The Song Remains the Same" and "Over the Hills and Far Away". Physical Graffiti (1975), a double album, featured "The Rover" and "Kashmir". The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are cited as one of the progenitors of hard rock and heavy metal, although their style drew from a variety of influences, including blues and folk music.
How did the song resonate with audiences upon its release?
“Houses of the Holy” was their chance to experiment and to have a little fun. The photo shoot featured two naked child models, Stefan and Samantha Gates. Shooting was done first thing in the morning and at sunset in order to capture the light at dawn and dusk, but the desired effect was never achieved due to constant rain and clouds. The photos of the two children were taken in black and white and were multi-printed to create the effect of 11 individuals that can be seen on the album cover. The results were unsatisfactory, but some accidental tinting effects in post-production created a suitable cover. The inner gatefold photograph was taken at Dunluce Castle nearby the Causeway.[22] In February 2010, Stefan Gates was featured on a BBC Radio 4 documentary about the cover.
The Cover
Work began on the album in April 1972 at Mick Jagger’s Berkshire manor house, Stargroves. The Rolling Stones had moved to France a year before to avoid Britain’s punitive new tax laws and make Exile On Main Street. The four members of Zeppelin shipped over to Stargroves to rehearse and record their new material.
How does “Houses of the Holy” contribute to Led Zeppelin’s legacy?
In between the legs of their worldwide tour, they recorded their fifth album and the first one with a proper title, “Houses of the Holy”, a term they used to describe the huge venues and stadiums where their fans partook in the Led Zeppelin sacrament. Rather like another Led Zeppelin classic, Black Dog, The Ocean pivots around a sinewy riff played in an ambitious time signature (a repeated figure consisting of one bar in standard 4/4 time, followed by another in 7/8) which really shouldn’t work. In practice, though, it not only works like a dream, but it also rocks enthusiastically, too. Just to keep the listener on their toes, the song also includes a little Dion And The Belmonts-esque doo-wop breakdown before surging through a rampant final coda in which Plant exhorts “Oh, sooo good! According to Led Zeppelin biographer Dave Lewis, The Ocean’s title derives from “the sea of heads facing the band in auditoriums”, and the excellent Houses Of The Holy ensured those venues would only increase in size as Led Zeppelin powered on towards their classic double album, Physical Graffiti.
Diverse and confident, ‘Houses Of The Holy’ is an impressive follow-up to Led Zeppelin’s monolithic fourth album. Led Zeppelin drew from various influences, including mythology, spiritualism, and introspection. The band sought to create a song that would challenge their listeners and push the boundaries of their own creativity. The song’s lyrics also showcase a sense of paradox and duality, touching upon the juxtaposition of light and darkness, good and evil.
Why 'Houses of the Holy' doesn't appear on the same album - Far Out Magazine
Why 'Houses of the Holy' doesn't appear on the same album.
Posted: Fri, 06 May 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
After taking a bite of the ham roll he said to his assistant, "breakfast". The rehearsals were halted late that evening and the band retired to Page's house—the Old Mill House in Clewer, Windsor. Another song deriving from jocular, light-hearted jamming, D’yer Mak’er sprang from an attempt to marry two highly unlikely bedfellows – reggae and doo-wop. Jimmy Page later confirmed this MO, telling Trouser Press that the song was “a cross between reggae and a 50s number, [Ricky Nelson’s] Poor Little Fool, or Ben E King’s things, stuff like that”. On paper, it sounds like quite a leap of faith, though it actually works quite well, with Jones’ skanking piano figures working off Bonham’s thunderous beats to create something unique in the Led Zeppelin canon.
"Over the Hills and Far Away." was the first single released from Houses of the Holy, reaching No. 51. The band previewed the song months earlier, during its U.S. tour dates in 1972. Originally named the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin signed a deal with Atlantic Records that gave them considerable artistic freedom. Initially unpopular with critics, they achieved significant commercial success with eight studio albums over ten years. Their 1969 debut, Led Zeppelin, was a top-ten album in several countries and featured such tracks as "Good Times Bad Times", "Dazed and Confused" and "Communication Breakdown". Led Zeppelin II (1969) was their first number-one album, and yielded "Whole Lotta Love" and "Ramble On".
Equally divisive is the pronunciation of the title, which many of the uninitiated (much to Robert Plant‘s amusement) articulate as “Dear Maker,” believing it to have quasi-spiritual overtones. Instead, the playful track takes its name from an old British music-hall joke with a groan-worthy punch line. ” (Rendered “Jamaica?” by a thick Cockney accent.) “No, she went of her own accord.” Pause for laughter. After the pyrotechnics of The Song Remains The Same, the seven-minute The Rain Song provides a welcome oasis of calm. Famously written in response to George Harrison’s gripe that Led Zeppelin “never did any ballads”, the band rubbed their response in further by adopting the same opening chord sequence Harrison used for his Abbey Road classic, Something.
Issued in an eerie, Grammy-nominated sleeve – designed by Hipgnosis’ Aubrey Powell, and standing as one of the most memorable Led Zeppelin album covers – Houses Of The Holy was first released on 28 March 1973. Its eclectic mix of material initially divided the critics, though positive retrospectives (among them Pitchfork’s declaration that “Houses Of The Holy might be Zeppelin’s most impressive album on a purely sonic level”) have significantly restored its reputation as an essential album. Houses Of The Holy’s hard-edged rock songs were clearly influenced by the band’s experiences while traversing the globe. Meanwhile, the album’s grandstanding closing song, The Ocean, found Plant acknowledging Zeppelin’s ever-growing and faithful army of fans (“Singing to an ocean/I can hear the ocean’s roar”) who were now packing out the world’s biggest auditoriums. After releasing their first four records in just under three years, Zeppelin were finally afforded a bit of breathing room with which to create Houses of the Holy.
Bucking the style of their previous albums, Led Zeppelin gave their fifth full-length a name consisting of more than roman numerals and/or cryptic symbols. Houses of the Holy took its title from a song Page had composed, with lyrics that honor both “sacred” places of teenage communion – including movie theaters, drive-ins and even concert arenas – as well as the expanse of the human soul. “It’s about all of us being houses of the Holy Spirit, in a sense,” he revealed in a 2014 interview on Sirius XM. The track had been recorded and mixed during sessions at Electric Lady Studios in June 1972, but ironically it was cut from the album that bore its name. Apparently the group felt the number too closely resembled the mid-tempo strut of “Dancing Days” and instead held the song for their next album, the 1975 double disc Physical Graffiti. Over The Hills And Far Away dated back to Plant and Page’s fecund rural writing sessions at Bron-Yr-Aur, the remote North Wales cottage the pair rented in 1970 to prepare most of the material for Led Zeppelin III.
Energised, confident and with their creative juices flowing, the band hired The Rolling Stones’ mobile recording truck for the sessions and Kramer was more than happy to indulge their experimental approach. The lasting legacy of “Houses of the Holy” lies in its ability to captivate audiences, provoke deep contemplation, and inspire artistic exploration. The song continues to be revered as one of Led Zeppelin’s most powerful and introspective creations, leaving an indelible mark on the world of rock music. Yes, “Houses of the Holy” faced some controversy upon its release due to its suggestive lyrics and album artwork, which depicted nude children climbing the Giant’s Causeway.
The artwork was deemed inappropriate by some, although Led Zeppelin maintained that it was meant to symbolize the innocence and purity of youth. The title “Houses of the Holy” refers to the various realms or dimensions explored in the song. It suggests that there are multiple “houses” or spiritual domains accessible to those who seek enlightenment. The title serves as a metaphor for the diverse experiences and perspectives that exist beyond the physical world. The music itself adds to the overall meaning of the song, with its driving rhythm and soaring guitar solos. Led Zeppelin’s mastery of their instruments, coupled with the emotional depth conveyed through the music, helps to convey the weight and intensity of the song’s message.
A title track was originally recorded, but ultimately bumped from the album. “The key to Led Zeppelin‘s longevity has always been change,” Jimmy Page proclaimed in 1975. This restless sprit enthralled some fans and infuriated others, specifically the type who preferred that the band remain on one sonic plane. Moving past the high-octane thunder of the gods found on their early albums, the folky Celtic mysticism of Led Zeppelin III and the megalithic rock of Led Zeppelin IV, 1973’s Houses of the Holy sounds very much like a band gleefully pondering limitless possibilities. Entirely tongue-in-cheek, with the emphasis on fun rather than funk per se, The Crunge was an experiment Led Zeppelin enjoyed, and they even unleashed it onstage on occasion – usually as part of a medley within a 20-plus-minute version of Dazed And Confused.
Led Zeppelin’s musical legacy, embodied in songs like “Houses of the Holy,” continues to shape the landscape of modern music. The fourth album was an unqualified triumph if only for "Stairway to Heaven" but there was much more to it than that. The band Jimmy Page started in 1968 was filling arenas and on its way to stadiums, and you couldn't spend more than an hour listening to an FM rock station without hearing a Zeppelin song. However, despite the song’s burly swagger, The Ocean’s lyrics had a twist. They weren’t about sex or hobbits, but partly inspired by Plant’s three-year-old daughter, Carmen.
Page would occasionally slip the main riff into extended solos, both with Led Zeppelin and at solo performances, and "The Crunge" lived on thanks to samples by Double D and Steinski ("Lesson 3 - The History of Hip Hop Mix") in 1985 and De La Soul's "The Magic Number" four years later. “Right through, the majority of the music was built on an extreme energy,” explained Plant. That was never more apparent than at the LA Forum and Long Beach Arena on June 25 and 27 (two shows preserved on the 2003-released live album How The West Was Won). That “extreme energy” was further distilled on the three Houses Of The Holy tracks played during the gigs, despite the new album not being out for another nine months. Yes, “Houses of the Holy” received critical acclaim upon its release and continues to be highly regarded by music critics.
The Song Remains The Same started as an instrumental fanfare for the album’s second track, The Rain Song. Meanwhile, Page bagged Jagger’s bedroom, one of the few furnished rooms in the house, and Bonham’s kit was set up in a large, conservatory-style space downstairs. When the group wandered outside, Kramer recorded Plant singing and Page strumming an acoustic guitar in the sunshine. Taken as a whole, it bottles Zeppelin’s gleeful energy and anything-goes experimentalism just at that point before they became the biggest rock group on the planet.
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