HOUSES OF THE HOLY

Houses of the Holy, I think, is the cream of the Led Zeppelin crop. Looking at the ratings for other Led Zeppelin albums on this site, I see that Physical Graffiti and 4 have higher overall scores. As I mentioned in my review of 4, maybe it's just a matter of oversaturation. You don't hear songs from Houses of the Holy played on rock music stations as often. Houses of the Holy is my top choice, and I give it 4 and 1/2 stars.

There's a lot of variety on this album. Houses of the Holy encompasses the funkiness of "The Crunge" and the reggae-ness of "D'yer Maker". One of the reasons I love Houses of the Holy is the off-kilter rhythms. They're ample evidence for my belief that John Bonham was the best drummer in hard rock. What there is hardly any of on Houses of the Holy, for a change, is blues. Picking a favorite track would be extremely difficult. I like "Nor Quarter" a lot, because it's so different. My favorite might the beautiful, mellotron-drenched "The Rain". For its variety and great songwriting, Houses of the Holy earns four and a half stars.