It took Led Zeppelin just three years to lay the foundations of what, according to them, hard rock should be and sound like. Strictly speaking, it took less time because, of the four albums released between January 1969 and December 1971, only the first two were hard (or rather dense) rock and blues. The other two already showed certain aesthetic and sound openings that would find its expansion into “Houses of the Holy”, their fifth album, released on March 28, 1973, and the first to be named, since the first four were simply numbered.
If in “III” and “IV” the Zeppelin began to play with certain instrumentation, arrangements and influences foreign to hard rock, in “Houses of the Holy” the Zeppelin went much further, to the point of allowing themselves to go deeper with the guitars. acoustics and test without prejudice funk (“The Crunge”) and reggae (“D’yer Mak’er””). It may not have been a coincidence that, in their time, neither of them were taken seriously, especially the press so committed to confronting the band at the time. But time, as almost always, put things in their place. “The Crunge” anticipated bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and vocalists like Prince and no one would be shocked if rock meets reggae, in addition to having one of Bonzo Bonham’s best performances on drums. But in 1973 they still hadn’t seen her.
After the hugely successful Led Zeppelin IV, released in December 1971, the band for the first time took time to work on new music. By then, it was the biggest rock band in the world, to the point of having its own plane to go on tour around the world. Yes, all in just under three years.
At the beginning of 1972, they went to work. First there were a handful of informal rehearsals in Puddletown, Dorset, but the hard work happened. at Mick Jagger’s house. Bah, in one of the many stone mansions. In this case, the one chosen by the Zeppelin was that of Stargroves, a country mansion located in Hampshire.
Page, Plant & Company rehired Eddie Kramer, who had already worked with them on Led Zeppelin II. Kramer was thrilled to discover that Page and John Paul Jones had recently set up their own home studios, which meant they arrived at Stargroves with fully arranged demos of several new songs, entre ellas “Over The Hills And Far Away” y “No Quarter”.
“We were looking for an ambient sound, so we used every aspect of the house and its grounds that we might,” Kramer would recall many years later in an interview with Louder magazine, in 2017. “I remember that I put a Fender amp in the fireplace and a microphone there, while everyone’s team was in other rooms. There was no CCTV, but I put talkback microphones everywhere, so people might talk to each other.”
The songs on “Houses Of The Holy” were heavily influenced by the band’s experiences while traveling around the world. For example, the ragas that Page and Plant heard during his brief visit to India in 1971, infiltrated both Page’s riffs and the Eastern slant of the melodies of “Dancing Days”. There is also an obvious opening towards progressive rock from the brilliant instrumental work of John Paul Jones.
Let’s say it now “Houses of the Holy” is undoubtedly the album by John Paul Jones. If so far, Led Zeppelin had stood out for its extraordinary guitarist Jimmy Page, its versatile singer Robert Plant and its bestial drummer John Bonham, in “Houses of the Holy” it was the turn of its bassist “Jonesy”, as a bassist, yes; but, above all as a keyboardist: the Mellotron in the delicate “The Rain Song”, in “Over the Hills and Far Away” and in “No Quarter”, where he also plays a Moog synthesizer instead of the bass. The progressive airs of the disc are all his.
Released fifty years ago, “The Houses of the Holy” was a break in the musical life of Led Zeppelin. The band would no longer sound like it did before 1973. Less direct, more subtle and open, everything is there in the song that opens the album: “The Song Remains the Same”, an extensive composition rich in nuances. But it will only be the gateway for the true jewel of the album: “The Rain Song”. Led Zeppelin reformulated itself, it needed to be done and it knew exactly how.
«Houses of the Holy», el disco completo
Posted on March 28, 1973
Label: Atlantic Records
Musicians:
Robert Plant – Vocals
Jimmy Page – Guitarra
John Paul Jones – bass, piano, mellotron, organ, synths, backing vocals
John Bonham – Drums, backing vocals
TOPICS
1. The Song Remains the Same (5:30)
2. The Rain Song (7:38)
3. Over the Hills and Far Away (4:49)
4. The Crunge (3:15)
5. Dancing Days (3:41)
6. D’yer Mak’er (4:21)
7. No Quarter (6:59)
8. The Ocean (4:31)
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