HOUSES OF THE HOLY

This album contains four (perhaps 5) of the best Zeppelin tracks of all time. It also contains 3 listenable but average tracks that became more prevalent as the band went on from here. It still has the classic Zep sound that is never quite present after this album. From here the production gets a little slicker, the focus seems to get lost, something that I love about Zep is not quite there.

I have a special relationship with The Rain Song. From the first time I watched the Song Remains the Same film, I have loved this song and learned to play it. At first, I learned the extremely awkward and incomplete standard tuning version, which still gave me a certain pleasure to play. When I finally discovered a transcription of the piece in Page's original tuning, the world opened to me. I still remember going outside on rainy nights to strum along in a kind of communion with falling water. Experimenting with non-standard tunings became part of my musical identity and The Rain Song was the standard I set as the pinnacle.

Over the Hills and Far Away was another of the tunes that was part of my guitar training. The interplay of electric and acoustic parts was what Pagey was all about, what made Zep so much more than Sabbath, so much more than heavy metal.

Song Remains the Same, No Quarter, and The Ocean are all classics of the Zeppelin catalog that I still love after dozens if not hundreds of listens. These songs are completely distinct in feel and arrangement, a testament to the enormous breadth of Jimmy Page and the band in general.

The Crunge, Dyer Maker, Dancing Days are certainly move average songs but don't ruin the album for me. I don't feel the need to fast forward though I'd never pick them out to listen to.

This is a pretty solid 4.5 star album for me. Don't feel right rounding up to a perfect score.