Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy First U.S Robert Ludwig (Sterling) Pressing Vinyl Rip Flac With Bonus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Houses of the Holy
Studio album by Led Zeppelin
Released 28 March 1973
Recorded January–August 1972,
Stargroves and Headley Grange with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, and Island Studios, London
Mixed at Olympic Studios, London and Electric Lady Studios, New York
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal
Length 40:58
Label Atlantic SD 7255
Producer Jimmy Page
Singles from Houses of the Holy
1. "Over the Hills and Far Away"/"Dancing Days"
Released: 24 May 1973
2. "D'yer Mak'er"/"The Crunge"
Released: 17 September 1973
Houses of the Holy is the fifth album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released by Atlantic Records on 28 March 1973. The album title is a dedication by the band to their fans who appeared at venues they dubbed "Houses of the Holy." It was the first Led Zeppelin album to not officially be titled after the band. It was also the first of the band's albums to be composed of completely original material. It represents a musical turning point for Led Zeppelin, as they began to use more layering and production techniques in recording their songs.
Receiving mixed to negative reviews upon its release, "Houses of the Holy" is considered[who?] to be one of Led Zeppelin's weaker albums despite containing several of their best-known songs. The album provided notable additions to the band's catalogue of songs, and it has sold over 11 million copies in the United States. In 2003, Houses of the Holy was ranked number 149 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Contents
Recording sessions
Much of this album was recorded in Spring 1972 at Stargroves, the country estate in Berkshire which was owned by Mick Jagger, through the use of the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Some songs from the album had initially been tried out earlier than this, such as "No Quarter", which was first attempted during a session at Headley Grange.[1]
Several of the songs were also demoed at the personal studios of guitarist Jimmy Page and bass player/keyboardist John Paul Jones. These two musicians had recently installed these studios in their respective homes, which enabled them to complete the arrangements which had been laid down earlier.[1] In particular, Page was able to present complete arrangements of "The Rain Song" and "Over the Hills and Far Away", while Jones had developed "No Quarter".[1]
Another bout of recording took place at Olympic Studios in May 1972, and during the band's 1972 North American tour additional recording sessions were conducted at Electric Lady Studios in New York.[1]
Some songs which were recorded from these various sessions did not eventually make it onto Houses of the Holy, namely "Black Country Woman", "Walter's Walk", "The Rover" and also the title-track, "Houses of the Holy". All of these songs were retained and later released on subsequent Led Zeppelin albums.
Composition
This album was a stylistic turning point in the lifespan of Led Zeppelin. Guitar riffs became more layered within Jimmy Page's production techniques and departed from the blues influences of earlier records. In the album's opening opus, "The Song Remains the Same", and its intricate companion suite, "The Rain Song", Robert Plant's lyrics matured toward a less overt form of the mysticism and fantasy of previous efforts. Houses of the Holy also featured styles not heard on the first four Led Zeppelin albums. For example, "D'yer Mak'er" is a reggae-based tune (the name of the song being derived from the phonetic spelling of the British pronunciation of "Jamaica"); "No Quarter" features atmospheric keyboard sounds and an acoustic piano solo from John Paul Jones; "The Crunge" is a funk tribute to James Brown; and "The Rain Song" is embellished by Jones on his newly-acquired mellotron. The album's closing song "The Ocean", which features an a cappella section and a doo-wop influenced coda, is dedicated to "the ocean" of fans who were massing to Led Zeppelin concerts at this point of the band's career.
According to Led Zeppelin expert Dave Lewis:
In retrospect, 'Houses of the Holy' holds its ground with the middle period releases quite admirably. The barnstorming effect of the early era was now levelling off and though devoid of the electricity of 'Led Zeppelin I' and 'II', or the sheer diversity of the third album, and lacking the classic status of the fourth, 'Houses' took stock of their situation. In doing so, it laid several foundations on which they would expand their future collective musical aspirations.[1]
Album sleeve design
Houses of the Holy album cover, outer gatefold
The cover art for Houses of the Holy was inspired by the ending of Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End.[1] (The ending involves several hundred million naked children, only slightly and physically resembling the human race in basic forms.) It is a collage of several photographs which were taken at the Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland, by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. This location was chosen ahead of an alternative one in Peru which was being considered.[1]
The two children who modelled for the cover were siblings Stefan and Samanatha Gates.[2] The photoshoot was a frustrating affair over the course of ten days. Shooting was done first thing in the morning and at sunset in order to capture the light at dawn and dusk, but the desired effect was never achieved due to constant rain and clouds. The photos of the two children were taken in black and white and were multi-printed to create the effect of 11 individuals that can be seen on the album cover. The results of the shoot were less than satisfactory, but some accidental tinting effects in post-production created an unexpectedly striking album cover.[1] The inner sleeve photograph was taken at Dunluce Castle near to the Causeway.
In February 2010 Stefan Gates presented a half-hour BBC Radio 4 documentary entitled Stefan Gates's Cover Story, about his part in the making of the album cover. Gates claimed in the documentary to have felt there was something sinister about the image, although his sister disagreed. He also admitted never actually having heard the album. The programme ended with Gates returning to Giant's Causeway and listening to the album on a portable player, after which he claimed that a great weight had been lifted from him.
Like Led Zeppelin's fourth album, neither the band's name nor the album title was printed on the sleeve. However, manager Peter Grant did allow Atlantic Records to add a wrap-around paper title band to US and UK copies of the sleeve that had to be broken or slid off to access the record.[1] This hid the children's buttocks from general display, but still the album was either banned or unavailable in some parts of the Southern United States for several years.[3][4]
Houses of the Holy inner gatefold
The first CD release of the album in the 1980s did have the title logos printed on the cover itself.[1]
In 1974, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best album package. The cover was rated #6 on VH1's 50 Greatest Album Covers in 2003.
Jimmy Page has stated that the album cover was actually the second version submitted by Hipgnosis. The first, by artist Storm Thorgerson, featured an electric green tennis court with a tennis racquet on it. Furious that Thorgerson was implying their music sounded like a "racket", the band fired him and hired Powell in his place.[5] Thorgerson did, however, go on to produce the album artwork for Led Zeppelin's subsequent albums Presence and In Through the Out Door.
Release and critical reaction
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 5/5 stars[6]
Billboard (favourable)[7]
Blender 3/5 stars[8]
Entertainment Weekly (A)[9]
Robert Christgau (A-)[10]
Rolling Stone (1973) (unfavourable)[11]
Rolling Stone (2003) 5/5 stars[12]
Yahoo! Music (favourable)[13]
This was Led Zeppelin's final studio release on Atlantic Records before forming their own label, Swan Song Records, in 1974. It was also the only Led Zeppelin album that contained complete printed lyrics to each song.
"The epic scale suited Zeppelin: They had the largest crowds, the loudest rock songs, the most groupies, the fullest manes of hair. Eventually excess would turn into bombast, but on Houses, it still provided inspiration."
—Gavin Edwards, Rolling Stone.[14]
Although intended for release in January 1973, delays in producing the album cover meant that it was not released until March, when the band was on its 1973 European tour. The album was promoted heavily before the commencement of Led Zeppelin's subsequent North American Tour, ensuring that it had ascended the top of the American chart by the beginning of the tour.[1] Because much of the album had been recorded almost a year previously, many of the songs which are featured on the album had already been played live by Led Zeppelin on their concert tours of North America, Japan, Europe and the United Kingdom in 1972-1973.[1]
Upon its release, the album received some mixed reviews,[15] with much criticism from the music press being directed at the off-beat nature of tracks such as "The Crunge" and "D'yer Mak'er".[1] However, the album was very commercially successful, entering the UK chart at number one, while in America its 39-week run (2 of them spent at number one) on the Billboard Top 40 was their longest since their third album.[1]
In 2003, the album was ranked number 149 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Accolades
Publication? Country? Accolade? Year? Rank?
The Book of Rock Lists United States "The Top 40 Albums (1973)"[16] 1981 13
Grammy Award United States "Grammy Award for Best Recording Package"[17] 1974 Nominee
Classic Rock United Kingdom "100 Greatest British Rock Album Ever"[18] 2006 90
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame United States "The Definitive 200: Top 200 Albums of All-Time"[19] 2007 51
(*) designates unordered lists.
Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "The Song Remains the Same" Page, Plant 5:32
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
Side two
1. "Dancing Days" Page, Plant 3:43
2. "D'yer Mak'er" Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant 4:23
3. "No Quarter" Jones, Page, Plant 7:00
4. "The Ocean" Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant 4:31
Sales chart performance
Album
Chart (1973)? Peak Position?
Japanese Albums Chart[20] 3
UK Albums Chart[21] 1
Norwegian Albums Chart[22] 4
US Billboard The 200 Albums Chart[23] 1
US Cash Box Top 100 Albums Chart[24] 1
US Record World Top Pop Albums Chart[25] 1
Austrian Albums Chart[26] 3
Canadian RPM Top 100 Albums Chart[27] 1
Spanish Albums Chart[28] 9
Australian Go-Set Top 20 Albums Chart[29] 1
Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart 1
German Albums Chart[30] 8
French Albums Chart[31] 3
Singles
Year Single Chart Position
1973 "D'yer Mak'er" Billboard Pop Singles (Billboard Hot 100) 20
1973 "Over The Hills And Far Away" Billboard Pop Singles (Billboard Hot 100) 51
[edit] Sales certifications
Country? Sales? Certification?
United Kingdom (BPI) 300,000+ Platinum[32]
Germany (IFPI) 100,000+ Gold[33]
Argentina (CAPIF) 30,000+ Gold[34]
United States (RIAA) 11,000,000+ Diamond[35]
France (SNEP) 150,000+ 2× Gold[36]
Spain (PROMUSICAE) 40,000+ Gold[37]
Personnel
Led Zeppelin
* John Bonham – drums, backing vocals
* John Paul Jones – organ, Mellotron, bass guitar, backing vocals, piano, synthesisers, harpsichord
* Jimmy Page – acoustic, electric, and pedal steel guitar, production
* Robert Plant – lead vocals and backing vocals.
Production
* Keith Harwood – mixing
* Hipgnosis – sleeve art direction
* Andy Johns – engineering, mixing (on "No Quarter")
* Eddie Kramer – engineering, mixing
* Bob Ludwig – mastering engineering
* Aubrey Powell – cover photography
Also Included "Over The Hills And Far Away" / "Dancing Days" (First Pressing U.S Single)
"Over The Hills And Far Away" (Mono Radio Single)
"D'yer Mak'er" / "The Crunge" (First Pressing U.S Single)
"D'yer Mak'er" (Mono Radio Long Version) / "D'yer Mak'er" (Mono Radio Edited Version)
Over the Hills and Far Away (Led Zeppelin song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Over the Hills and Far Away"
Single by Led Zeppelin
from the album Houses of the Holy
B-side "Dancing Days"
Released 24 May 1973
Format 7" 45 RPM
Recorded 1972
Genre Hard rock, folk rock
Length 4:50
Label Atlantic Records
Writer(s) Page/Plant
Producer Jimmy Page
"Over the Hills and Far Away" is the third track from English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1973 album Houses of the Holy.
Contents
Overview
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant originally constructed the song in 1970 at Bron-Yr-Aur, a small cottage in Wales where they stayed after completing a gruelling North American concert tour.[1]
Page plays a six-string acoustic guitar introduction with a melody reminiscent of "White Summer". Page repeats the theme with 12-string acoustic guitar in unison. In an interview published in Guitar World magazine's November 1993 issue, Page commented on the construction of the song:
GW: There’s an acoustic guitar running throughout the song. Did you play a main acoustic and then overdub an electric?
Page: No, we played it through entirely as you know it, but I was playing electric.
GW: So you simply edited out of the beginning?
Page: Yeah, that’s right. “Presumably”. It sounds that way. It sounds like the acoustic is going straight through.
Plant's vocals enter on the next repetition. He tenderly offers himself to the "lady" who's "got the love [he] need[s]." The acoustic guitars build in a crescendo toward the abrupt infusion of Page's electric guitars along with drummer John Bonham's and bass guitarist John Paul Jones' rhythm accompaniment.
Through the pre-verse interludes and instrumental bridge, "Over the Hills and Far Away" stands out as an example of Jones and Bonham's tight interplay. Following the final verse, the rhythm section fades out, gradually replaced by the echo returns from Page's electric guitar and a few chords played by Jones on harpsichord.[2] In the final 8 bars, Page executes a linearly descending/ascending sequence and then concludes with the idiomatic V-I cadence on pedal steel guitar.
The song was released as Houses of the Holy's first US single, reaching #51 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, later becoming a staple of the Classic rock radio format.
Set lists from Led Zeppelin concerts frequently contained "Over the Hills and Far Away", the song being one that the band introduced on stage well ahead of its studio release.[3] The live recording on How the West Was Won (Led Zeppelin album), a combined edit of the concerts on 25 and 27 June 1972, was the first public performance of the song[clarification needed].[4] The band continued to play it on the rest of the 1972 concert tour of North America and retained it consistently through 1979, before omitting it from their final tour of Europe in 1980. In singing the song live, Plant commonly followed the words "pocket-full of gold" with "Acapulco Gold" (a type of marijuana), as can be heard on the live album How the West Was Won. Also, at concerts guitarist Jimmy Page performed an extended guitar solo, which essentially consisted of the rhythm and lead guitar parts of the album version split into two separate pieces. This extended solo made the live renditions last almost or more than seven minutes.
Archive footage of this track being performed live at Seattle in 1977 and at Knebworth in 1979 was used for an officially distributed video of the song, used to promote the 1990 Led Zeppelin Remasters release.[3]. The video accompanied a CD single which was released following the successful "Travelling Riverside Blues" release.[5]
The song was first called "Many, Many Times", as shown on a picture of the original master on the Led Zeppelin website. Among blogging and forum-attending Led Zeppelin fans, the song has gained the abbreviation OTHAFA.
Formats and tracklistings
1973 7" single (US/Australia/Finland/New Zealand/Philippines/Sweden: Atlantic 45-2970, Angola: Atlantic ATS 610, Brazil: Atco ATCS 10.062, Canada: Atlantic AT 2970, Greece: Atlantic 2091228, Holland: Atlantic ATL 10328, Italy: Atlantic K 10328, Japan: Warner Pioneer P-1237A, Mexico: Atlantic G-1210, Portugal: Atlantic ATL NS 28138, South Africa: Atlantic ATL 610, Spain: Atlantic HS 957, Yugoslavia: Atlantic ATL 26076)
* A. "Over the Hills and Far Away" (Page, Plant) 4:47
* B. "Dancing Days" (Page, Plant) 3:43
1973 7" radio edit (US: Atlantic 45-2970)
* A. "Over the Hills and Far Away" [mono] (Page, Plant) 4:47
* B. "Over the Hills and Far Away" [stereo] (Page, Plant) 4:47
D'yer Mak'er
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"D'yer Mak'er"
Single by Led Zeppelin
from the album Houses of the Holy
B-side "The Crunge"
Released 17 September 1973
Recorded 1972
Genre Rock, Reggae
Length 4:23
Label Atlantic
Writer(s) John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
Producer Jimmy Page
"D'yer Mak'er" (intended to be pronounced in a British non-rhotic accent as "Jamaica", /d??'me?k?/) is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, from their 1973 album Houses of the Holy.
Contents
] Overview
This song was meant to imitate reggae and its "dub" derivative emerging from Jamaica in the early 1970s. Its genesis is traced to Led Zeppelin's rehearsals at Stargroves in 1972, when drummer John Bonham started with a beat similar to 1950s doo-wop, and then twisted it into a slight off beat tempo, upon which a reggae influence emerged.[1] The distinctive drum sound was created by placing three microphones a good distance away from Bonham's drums.
"D'yer Mak'er" is one of the few Led Zeppelin songs where all four members share the composer credit. The sleeve on the album also gives tribute to "Rosie and the Originals",[1] a reference to the doo-wop influence which was evident in the song's style.
This track, as well as another song entitled "The Crunge", was initially not taken seriously by many listeners, and some critics reserved their harshest criticism for these two arrangements.[1] In an interview he gave in 1977, Page referred to this negative response:
I didn't expect people not to get it. I thought it was pretty obvious. The song itself was a cross between reggae and a '50s number, "Poor Little Fool," Ben E. King's things, stuff like that.[2]
Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones has expressed his distaste for the song, suggesting that it started off as a joke and wasn't thought through carefully enough.[1] However, "D'yer Mak'er" has gathered critical respect in the years since, and has grown into something of a Led Zeppelin classic. Upon the album's release, Robert Plant was keen to issue the track as a single in the United Kingdom. Atlantic Records went so far as to distribute advance promotional copies to DJs (now valuable collectors' items). While it was released in the US, and the single peaked at #20 in December 1973, it was ultimately never released in the UK.[1]
Hip-Hop and pop artist Sean Kingston samples this song in his single "Me Love" on his debut album released in 2007.
Rock band 311 has covered this song live.
This song was never performed live in its entirety at Led Zeppelin concerts, although snatches of it were played during "Whole Lotta Love" during the 1975 North American concert tour and "Communication Breakdown" at the Earls Court shows in the same year.
Pronunciation of song title
The name of the song is derived from an old joke: "My wife's gone to the West Indies." "Jamaica?" (which has a similar pronunciation as "D'you make her?") "No, she went of her own accord". On 21 July 2005, Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant discussed the song during an interview with Mike Halloran, a DJ on radio station FM94.9 in San Diego. During the interview, he talked about the different interpretations and pronunciations of the name of the song [3]. The title, which appears nowhere in the lyrics, was chosen because it reflects the reggae flavour of the song. Plant has said that he finds it amusing when fans completely ignore the apostrophes and pronounce it as "Dire Maker".
Accolades
Publication? Country? Accolade? Year? Rank?
Radio Caroline United Kingdom "Top 500 Tracks"[4] 1999 453
DigitalDreamDoor United States "The 100 Greatest Recordings From 1973"[5] 2007 79
Formats and tracklistings
1973 7" single (US/Australia/New Zealand: Atlantic 45-2986, Austria/Germany: Atlantic ATL 10377, Canada: Atlantic AT 2986, France: Atlantic 10377, Greece: Atlantic 2091236, Japan: Warner Pioneer P-1265A, Mexico: Atlantic G-1275, Peru: Atlantic ALT 2986, Spain: Atlantic HS 987, Venezuela: Atlantic 5-001, Yugoslavia: Atlantic 26077)
* A. "D'yer Mak'er" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 4:23
* B. "The Crunge" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 3:17
1973 7" single (US ATLANTIC 45-2986..Promo Mono)
* A. "D'yer Mak'er" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 4:23
* B. "D'yer Mak'er" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 3:15
1973 7" single (Holland: Atlantic ATL 10374)
* A. "D'yer Mak'er" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 4:23
* B. "Gallows Pole" (trad. arr. Page, Plant) 4:56
1973 7" promo (UK: Atlantic K 10296, South Africa: Trutone 45)
* A. "D'yer Mak'er" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 4:23
* B. "The Crunge" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 3:17
1973 7" EP (Mexico: Atlantic GX 07-818)
* A1. "D'Yer Mak'er" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 4:23
* A2. "Over the Hills and Far Away" (Page, Plant) 4:47
* B1. "Black Dog" (Jones, Page, Plant) 4:56
* B2. "Misty Mountain Hop" (Jones, Page, Plant) 4:38
1973 7" EP (Argentina: Music Hall 40.019)
* A1. "D'Yer Mak'er" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 4:23
* A2. "The Crunge" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 3:17
* B1. "The Ocean" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 4:31
* B2. "No Quarter" (Jones, Page, Plant) 7:00