Houses Of The Holy, Led Zeppelin

If you were to rank the 10 Greatest Led Zeppelin songs, none of them would be on Houses Of The Holy. If you were to extend that list to 25 songs, there's a good chance that 6 or 7 would be on the fifth Led Zeppelin album.

The first CD I ever bought and my favorite Zeppelin album for a long time (it's now Physical Graffiti), Houses Of The Holy might be the most solid of all their work, no real dogs among the eight tracks. Just real good (not great) rock songs.

Like most Zeppelin albums, this one opens with a punch in the face. "The Song Remains The Same" kick starts the glorious Zep machine. The driving riff, the stellar drum work, all trademarks of the first song on any Led Zeppelin album. Don't believe me, just check track 1 of every Zeppelin album you own.

Then, with "The Rain Song", the album comes to a screeching halt. It's Zeppelin at their most tender, until the five minute mark when the storm breaks. John Paul Jones' string arrangement in this song might be the second best in all of rock history, behind only "Levon" by Elton John.

"Over The Hills And Far Away" is pure Led Zeppelin (that blues/british folk sound that no one else quite pulls off) and "The Crunge", which ends with everyone's favorite question, 'Where's that confounded bridge?'

"Dancing Days" and "D'yer Mak'er" show that Zep was more than just a rock band. The former swings and the latter that there is a place for reggae-inspired grooves in rock music. Sting took note of that, stripped it down and made a fortune.

But, its the last two songs that made this my first cd purchase.

"No Quarter" is a trip down the River Styx in a slow, leaky boat. Again, driven by Jones, this time on electric piano; this is one of Zep's most ambitious studio works. Robert Plant has his lyrics slowed down and filtered to create the creepy drone of his Valhalla-inspired metaphor.

Known more for their stage acumen, it's nice to see Zeppelin had other studio tricks up their sleeve, not just catching the occasional plane or cough on tape.

The riff Jimmy Page lays down, slithers in, out and around the work of Jones. John Bonham is finally allowed space to do what he does best, thunder underneath the rest of the band, punctuating the song with trademark Bonzo kick-drum-tom fills. "No Quarter" is Zeppelin at its most epic and prog at the same time.

The final song on the album, "The Ocean" opens with a bit of studio noise and is one of the more underplayed songs in their pantheon. It contains an a cappella section, an oddity among Zeppelin songs; and while no one will confuse the mighty Zep with Queen for such sections, it only adds to the breadth of the band.

Houses Of The Holy will always hold a special place in my catalog and ranks somewhere in the up reaches of my top 100 albums of all time.