Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy (1973)

[Dr. Love]

Thanks for replying, I was interested to know whether you had a strong preference for their earlier sound or whether you simply thought their early songs were better. Looking back, I'd have been better listing Night Flight or Down By The Seaside (originating from the LZ IV sessions) among the outtakes, rather than those from the Houses sessions

All of the above? There is definitely an overall preference for the earlier sound, and there is also a general dislike of the early era outtakes not released until later. My one exception to that would be the 1970 live song We're Gonna Groove being on Coda (an earlier recording of the song was intended to be on II at one point), but then again the song was heavily produced with new guitar overdubbing for Coda, so it is partially new.

The main factor for my claim of early era superiority is quality consistency. The remaining albums after Houses of the Holy are a mixed bag. There are still some great songs, just not great (entire) albums like their first five are.

I agree here as well. Nobody's Fault But Mine is a great tune and Achilles Last Stand is right up there with the very best they've ever done.

OK, it's not just me. I love those same two songs on Presence!

 

[Hurdy Gurdy Man]

The mighty Zep always presented themselves as a band with great enthsiasm for sonic detail in expressing their rather complex musical asiprations.Jimmy Page knew his way around the control room in the studio just about as well as anyone in the biz during the group's heyday and I believe John Paul Jones,who before Zeppelin had produced and arranged for Donovan and Hermits Hermits of all people,did some uncredited production work,particularly on "In Through The Out Door",with Page in the throes of serious chemical addiction at the time."Out Door" is the only record in the Zep catalog that I find a little less than amazing,but even THAT one is worthwhile..........

 

[Khor1255]

Ha! I used to always try to get everyone to jam on Were Gonna Groove back when I was playing drums a lot. This is getting scary.

 

[Dr. Love]

LOL, cool.

"Out Door" is the only record in the Zep catalog that I find a little less than amazing,but even THAT one is worthwhile..........

Zeppelin is one of my all-time favorite bands, but you must be an even bigger fan than I am. I feel Presence, In Through The Out Door, and Coda are all less than amazing (overall). But I do agree that Out Door is the worst of the catalog, even a little worse than Coda.

 

[Lynch]

Really?

I'd take In Through the Out Door over three other LZ albums: III, Presence and Coda, none of which I'd ever play on purpose again.

 

[Khor1255]

Why? III is awesome, Coda has it's moments and Presence has 2 cool songs. What does Out Door have?

 

[Lynch]

III = poop. There are two songs on the album that I like, the rest are all the major pieces of what made me really stop liking Plant's voice most of the time. To put out such a weak album after II is probably the biggest disappointment. If this had been their first album, I would give it much more of a pass. But I and II were both incredible and III is just, MEH.

Presence is a bigger pile of poop than III --- having only 1 good song (no, not Achilles) and maybe a couple of very average tracks. It's a very long and boring bunch of songs. To me, the album is so boring that it feels like it's 2 hours long rather than 40+ minutes.

Coda gets a pass in a sense since it was simply an obligatory album put out by the band, filled with unused or unreleased material. know why the material was unreleased? Because it wasn't very good. So, while it is an official album and it's an obligation album (to the record company), it's weak for a reason.

Out Door has a wide range of stuff on it. I don't love it from start to finish, but there are really only 2 songs that I would normally skip past. South Bound and Carousellambra (or whatever the hell it is called). I really like All My Love, Fool in the Rain and In the Evening. Those three songs alone are better than everything on III, Presense and Coda combined.

One more thing with III, it would have been much better had they actually included a song on it that SHOULD have been on it ,but never was. Hey Hey is such a cool track and the only album it was on was none of them (not including box sets and re-releases of Coda).

 

[Khor1255]

Hey Hey is a better tune than a few of what are actually on the album but III has been one of my favorites from them since I first got into it in the 80s. But then, I like a variety of styles and that one has some of the better British fried folk tunes that anyone has ever done - including Jethro Tull and that's no small feat. I like it better than 2 and almost as much as 1.

Out Door by contrast (and most of Presence) is the band going in a completely different direction than their Page led founding material and I think the change is awful. I was already heavily into hard rock when that album came out and I remember a disappointment I have never gotten over. Not as bad as Kissco disco but a great band sinking to mediocrity (or worse) through and through.

Coda is way way better to my ears because it still contains a lot of the raw energy and jamming that made Zep a great band. Plus I don't remember it having as many bad songs as Presence so (were it not for Achilles and Nobody's fault) Coda would be miles ahead of that one too.

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

[Lynch]

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Exactly


As for you comment about Out Door going a different direction, there's no way to argue that. IT is definitely a major change from the early or even middle years. It would have been a very interesting thing to watch had Bonham not died, to see what could have become of the band and their music following that change.

 

[Riff Raff]

I love Outdoor also. Actually I enjoy that more than IV. III I dig more than IV also.