Released in 1973, Houses
of the Holy was the fifth studio release by Led Zeppelin and in many ways was
quite a significant moment in the history of the band. It was on this album
when Led Zeppelin began to branch out musically and explore other musical
sounds, as up until that point they had pretty much stuck within the confines
of blues, hard rock and a bit of folk thrown in for good measure. On Houses of the Holy there is still hard
rock and there is still folk, but there is also funk, reggae, progressive rock and
even an eastern inspired song, with the band spreading their wings
stylistically and experimenting with whatever they thought sounded good. Along
with this somewhat change of direction musically, the band were also beginning
to incorporate new production techniques into their recording which helped to
evolve their sound more. Jimmy Page’s guitar playing for one on this album is
more layered and less bluesy, while in keeping with the technological advances
of the early-70s, keyboards and a mellotron also make an appearance. This
combination of new styles and new sounds helped to make Houses of the Holy a completely different beast from the bands
previous release, the classic Led
Zeppelin IV. But despite this change in direction the results were just as
good, all be it in a different way.
The album starts with fast-paced rocker “The Song Remains the
Same”, a song which sounds more progressive than their previous work and
contains heavy layers of multi-tracked guitar. This is followed by “The Rain Song”
which is a progressive folk ballad that features a mellotron providing the
orchestral baroque effects. This song was probably the furthest removed from
Led Zeppelin’s traditional sound up until that point and was definitely a radical
departure for the band at the time. “Over
the Hills and Far Away” is a folk rock track which starts with an acoustic folk
section before transforming into a heavy guitar track much like one of their
earlier songs “Ramble On”. This song highlights well how much the band was developing
as songwriters, with many of their songs now beginning to feature different
sounding sections as well as multiple genres.
The middle of the album is where they really begin to mix it
up stylistically, starting with “The Crunge”, a funk rock track that is a play
on James Brown’s style of funk. As a track it is more a studio experiment rather
than a complete song, and contains no bridge or chorus, something which Robert
Plant is keen to point out in a tongue and cheek way at the end of the song.
For me this is the weakest track on the album and I’m not sure whether their
foray into funk was a good idea. They have better success in their stylistic
experimentation on the next two tracks, firstly on “Dancing Days” which has a
Middle Eastern feel to it, especially in the exotic guitar riff that makes the
song sound so good. “Dancing Days” was actually inspired by an Indian tune
which Robert Plant and Jimmy Page had heard in Bombay, an inspiration which can
clearly be heard throughout the song and that gives it what I would describe as
quite a hypnotic-like feel. They take their stylistic experimentation further
on “D’yer Mak’er”, a reggae influenced track with a reggae drum beat and guitar
riff. The title of the song is even a play on the word Jamaica leaving no doubt
as to where the influence for this song came from.
The album concludes in explosive fashion with two of the
better tracks on the album. No Quarter” is a mellow progressive rock track which features John Paul Jones talent on the keyboards, something which in most unlike Led Zeppelin fashion dominates this song. This song more than any also highlights the changes the band was making in terms of song production, with studio effects and trickery featuring strongly. Things such as a compressed guitar track, as well as the use of the theremin and a moog synthesizer gives this track a magical quality and ensures it is one of the album’s standouts, as well as being one of the bands best songs. Finally, the album closes with heavy rocker “The Ocean”; a track which works well as an album closer with its heavy guitar and drum sound. This track also has the effect of reassuring the listener that the band still had the ability to rock out when they wanted to.
Although Houses of the
Holy was a huge success commercially on its release, its critical reception
was mixed, which leads me to believe that maybe the music press didn’t really
know what to make of a traditional rock band playing reggae and funk. However,
as time has passed it has generally held up quite well and has been
acknowledged as a pivotal release in the bands career. In summing up I firmly believe
Houses of the Holy is one of Led
Zeppelin’s greatest albums and certainly is one of their most diverse
musically. What this album showed was that this band was full of great musical
ideas and that they were not just one trick blues rockers, while highlighting
also their prowess as songwriters especially in their ability to mix up songs
with different sections, tempos and rhythms. If you want to see how Led
Zeppelin developed musically in the mid-70s Houses
of the Holy would be the place to start, while if you ever thought that they
were just a plain and simple hard rock band then this album I am sure will help
to change your mind. Houses of the Holy
for me is experimental and eclectic; it is full of magic, surprise and intrigue
and captures strongly everything good about Led Zeppelin.
A
- Sam
No comments:
Post a Comment