Houses of the Holy

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''For the Led Zeppelin song of the same name, see Houses of the Holy (song).

Houses of the Holy is an album by Led Zeppelin released by Atlantic Records on March 28, 1973 (see 1973 in music). The album title is a dedication by the band to their fans who appeared at venues they dubbed, "Houses of the Holy." "D'yer Mak'er" is a reggae-based tune, and is a play on words from the joke: "My wife's been to the West Indies." "Jamaica?" "No, she went of her own accord." A funk tribute to James Brown, "The Crunge" is included at the end of Side 1. The album's closing song "The Ocean" is also dedicated to the "sea" of fans which came to Led Zeppelin concerts.

The album cover was inspired by the ending of Arthur C. Clarke's novel, Childhood's End. It is a collage of several photographs taken at the Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland, by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. The photoshoot was a miserable affair over the course of every morning for a week. The desired sunrise never appeared due to constant rain and clouds and many of the models were never used. The results of the shoot were less than satisifactory, but some accidental tinting effects in post-production created an unexpectedly magical album cover. It was initially released with a paper sleeve wrapped around the cover, printed with the band and album name, that had to be broken to access the record. This hid the childrens' bottoms from general display, but still the album was either banned or unavailable in Spain and some parts of southern United States.

This album was a stylistic turning point in Led Zeppelin`s career. Guitar riffs became heavier, losing some of their blues influences, and the lyrics turn towards mysticism to a greater degree.

"Houses of the Holy" is also the name of a song which was recorded during the sessions for this album, but wasn't released until 1975. It appeared on the album Physical Graffiti.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 149 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

In 2004, the industrial metal group Ministry released an album called Houses of the Molé, which seems to be a parody of the title of this album.

The 1989 film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure pays homage to the album, when, during the final scene, the protagonists are delivering a presentation about ancient Greece (having recently visited it), they describe what they saw as follows: "470 BC. A time when much of the world looked like the cover of the Led Zeppelin album 'Houses of the Holy'".

Track listing

1. "The Song Remains the Same" (Page/Plant) – 5:30
2. "The Rain Song" (Page/Plant) – 7:39
3. "Over the Hills and Far Away" (Page/Plant) – 4:50
4. "The Crunge" (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) – 3:17
5. "Dancing Days" (Page/Plant) – 3:43
6. "D'yer Mak'er" (Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham) – 4:23
7. "No Quarter" (Page/Plant/Jones) – 7:00
8. "The Ocean" (Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham) – 4:31

Credits

• John Bonham - Drums, backing vocals
• John Paul Jones - Organ, Mellotron, bass guitar, backing vocals, piano, synths, harpsichord
• Jimmy Page - Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, pedal steel guitar, backing vocals, producer
• Robert Plant - Vocals, harmonica

• Peter Grant - Executive producer
• Eddie Kramer - Engineer, mixing
• Keith Harwood - Mixing
• Andy Johns - Engineer, mixing (Track 7)

• Hipgnosis - Sleeve Art Direction
• Aubrey Powell - Cover Photography

External links

• [Houses of the Holy] at MusicBrainz
• [Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy Lyrics]
• [Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy Cover Art]
• [Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy Cover Art - Aubrey Powell]

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