Review Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy (1973)

[gcczep]

^I thought it was a bit too slick meself but there are some crunchers in there like The Ocean and Over The Hills And Far Away. The Song Remains The Same surges out like a wave BUT I too did not like how they sped up Plant's vocals. He sounds like Mickey Mouse. The fourth album had that rustic/electric quality to it while Graffiti had them revisiting their hard rock/blues roots even though half of it were from other sessions prior. Houses is nowhere near in "feel" with both since the band had more time to tinker in the studio.

 

[Denzil Dexter]

Hi great post,
Coming from the UK we tend to be split in the PURPLE V ZEP camps,I personally prefer Deep Purple myself as Gillans vocals are a bit easier on the eardrums and although Page was a magician on guitar Ritchie Blackmore was indeed a Wizard!
That aside Led Zep 111 was a masterpiece with Gallows Pole being a favorite of mine.
Acoustic Rock can kick ass if its performed well and this particular track nails it for me.

 

[gcczep]

Hi great post,

Coming from the UK we tend to be split in the PURPLE V ZEP camps, I personally prefer Deep Purple myself as Gillans vocals are a bit easier on the eardrums and although Page was a magician on guitar Ritchie Blackmore was indeed a Wizard!

That aside Led Zep III was a masterpiece with Gallows Pole being a favorite of mine.

Acoustic Rock can kick ass if its performed well and this particular track nails it for me.

Thank you. Zeppelin is my MAIN band but I enjoy Purple's music immensely especially Mark II and even Mark III with Coverdale. Blackmore is an amazing player live.

 

[ILoveJimmyPage]

^I thought it was a bit too slick meself but there are some crunchers in there like The Ocean and Over The Hills And Far Away. The Song Remains The Same surges out like a wave BUT I too did not like how they sped up Plant's vocals. He sounds like Mickey Mouse. The fourth album had that rustic/electric quality to it while Graffiti had them revisiting their hard rock/blues roots even though half of it were from other sessions prior. Houses is nowhere near in "feel" with both since the band had more time to tinker in the studio.

That's because, in my opinion, they were in their experimentation stage by that point. It's quite obvious with the contrast from IV and though you mentioned PG, a lot of the newer material they added to the album showcased influence from Plant/Page's travels after they had finished the previous album and had taken some time to draw some "inspiration". I think Jimmy got tired from time to time of the same bluesy rock the fans expected from them, and when he strayed from their expectations a lot of the time the results were panned (III got a lot of criticism from the fans that wanted the hard rock norm Zep came to represent). In a way LZ was THE face of 70's hard rock and that's what was expected from them each time. III and Houses seems to get a lot of appreciation amongst their more devoted fans while the mainstream fans tend to gravitate towards albums II and IV.

Houses is my favorite LZ album and I'm in a small minority there but that's alright. In my eyes Zep can't do any wrong though so I appreciate anything they put out there.

 

[gcczep]

^Also Plant wanted to try different musical strains in the band's work namely the tongue in cheek attempts at funk and reggae.

 

[ILoveJimmyPage]

Didn't the boys do some traveling to the Caribbean around that time too? And they also frequented New Orleans, so I'm surprised they didn't put more jazz into their work, though JPP is a proficient.

 

[gcczep]

Didn't the boys do some traveling to the Caribbean around that time too? And they also frequented New Orleans, so I'm surprised they didn't put more jazz into their work, though JPP is a proficient.

I don't remember the band holidaying in the Caribbean. Just Morrocco from what I know. Their nights at The Crescent Story produced "Royal Orleans" which was someone else's sordid story.

 

[ILoveJimmyPage]

At the very least I do believe I remember reading about Jimmy taking his girlfriend(s) to the Caribbean.

 

[Big Ears]

we tend to be split in the PURPLE V ZEP camps

I prefer Deep Purple, but they are influenced by Led Zeppelin (as well as Vanilla Fudge). You can hear the Zeppelin influences on the comeback album Perfect Strangers.

 

[Humble Floyd]

You will never find a better classic rock album ever!! Rock on Robert!