HOUSES OF THE HOLY

Graced with an outstanding and fascinating colour filtered pictures (both inside and outside) on the nameless gatefold, this album is one of the two "proggier" albums of Zep along with its predecessor. But the album is terribly uneven and musically completely unfocused (much more so that the Runes album before it).

The album starts out with a pair of tracks that are usually played successively (they blend so nicely into each other too) and although both Song Remains The Same and the Rain Song are well above the average of this album (and the rest of their future discography), they are followed by another great track Over The Hills, but then that is almost it..... Finished!!

Well I did say: almost, because there is still their best track ever coming soon. But set aside No quarter for a moment, and look at the second part of the album's track list: really, is there any real reason to boasts loudly at how great this album is? Sure fans may actually like that wide and unfocused spectrum of (sub-par) tracks that are just non-sense rockers (Crunge), reggae (D'yer), nostalgia (Dancing Days) and uninspiration (Ocean), but this proghead says NO!!! And the real sad fact is that their greatest track is unfortunately stuck in between that flood of fillers and misses. Yes, the superb No Quarter should've been on the good side A (to have it become a superb side A), and the ridiculous Crunge should've been bumped on the side B. No Quarter is Zep at its apex; probably at the top of their songwriting abilities with Percy diving into solemn Viking mythology, these seven minutes are one (if not the only) reason why Zep is included on our beloved Archives.

A very uneven album, which I (had I been the producer) would have chosen to make even more uneven by swapping two tracks, thus with that change then creating a completely schizophrenic album, this album would've made much more sense. Yes there are some incredible moments on this slice of wax, but there are also some huge flaws as well.

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