Original subtitles

Houses of the Holy is the fifth studio

album by Led Zeppelin, released in 1973.

It's the first album they gave a title

to and it contains songs such as No

Quarter, the song remains the same and

The Rain Song, which would go on to

feature prominently in their live

performances going forward.

Stylistically, it represents a

significant step in the band's musical

evolution. Following the immense

commercial success of their untitled

fourth album, commonly referred to as

Led Zeppelin 4, the band used this

opportunity to expand their sonic pallet

and push their creative boundaries. They

maintain their hard rock foundation, but

now they were incorporating elements of

funk, reggae, and progressive rock to

create a broader musical experience that

continues to captivate listeners decades

later. By 1972, Led Zeppelin had

established themselves as one of rock's

biggest acts. Their previous album had

featured classics like Stairway to

Heaven and Black Dog set in an

incredibly high bar for their next

release rather than repeating the same

formula. Though the band chose artistic

growth over commercial certainty, the

album's title, Houses of the Holy refers

to concert venues. The Sacred Spaces

where the band connected with their

fans. Interestingly though, the song

Houses of the Holy didn't appear on the

album, but was held back for their next

release, Physical Graffiti. Recording

for the album began in May 1972 at

Stargroves McJagger's country home in

Hampshire, England. The Rolling Stones

mobile studio, a state-of-the-art mobile

recording unit built into a truck, was

utilized for these initial sessions.

This mobile studio was equipped with a

customuilt Helios console which had

become something of a signature for many

British rock recordings of the era. The

only plan Zeppelin had was to write and

record some songs. Paige said, "When we

first went down there, we had no set

ideas. We just recorded the ideas each

of us had at that particular time. It

was simply a matter of getting together

and letting it come out." Eddie Kramer,

who had engineered earlier Zeppelin

albums, was heavily involved,

particularly at Star Groves, but later

Keith Harwood came in for certain tracks

and overdubs at Olympic and Island

Studios, with the final mixing completed

at Electric Lady Studios in New York.

before the band reconvened at Stargrow.

Paige had already begun writing and

producing some of the album's key songs

in his recently put together home

studio. The band's success had enabled

him to assemble a really well-featured

facility where he could record fully

formed pieces on his multitrack machine.

Jones also had a similar facility at his

house and was able to do the same. In a

Rolling Stone magazine interview from

2020, Paige said on the Rain Song, "I

recently found a really early personal

demo tape that had been missing for a

long while, but it's got a full

orchestration of Rain Song. It goes all

through to the very end, the same way

you know it, even with the bits in the

middle where it gets a bit heavier

before it goes back to the light and

caressing parts. It's all in there, the

melatron and everything. And it's not

played as well like the John Paul Jones

version because I knew he could do a

really good job on it, but it's there,

every part of it. For recording, Paige

was still mainly using his Gibson Les

Paul number one through Marshall heads

during this period, often favoring the

JMP Superbass over his 100 W Super Lead.

For microphones on the cabs, he usually

had one close mic and one set further

back to capture more ambience. This

could vary from a ribbon mic like the

Bayer M160 or a dynamic such as the

Shore SM57, then with a condenser as a

far mic like a Noman U87 or 67. When

layering guitar parts, Jimmy would

slightly change the tuning. Maybe only

by plus or minus 5 cents, but just

enough to cause an interesting chorus

effect that would give the parts a much

richer sound. For the song remains the

same. The famous double necked Gibson

EDS 1275 would become synonymous with

the song for live performances. But he

didn't need this convenience in the

studio. So, the 12 string parts are

actually played on his Fender Electric

12, the same one he used on Stairway to

Heaven. His main acoustic guitar for the

album was the Harmony Sovereign H1260,

which was used on Over the Hills, the

same guitar he used on Stairway to

Heaven and Ramble On. He also had his

Martin B28 in use around this time, as

you can see him use it here on Black

Country Woman, which would actually end

up on physical graffiti, but recorded

during the sessions for Houses of the

Holy. Robert Plant's vocal chain was the

Noman U67 into the Helios console with a

touch of compression from the Yuri 1176

and reverb from the EMT 140 plate with

occasionally some tape echo. John Paul

Jones mainly played his 62 Fender Jazz

bass into a custom DI box for a direct

sound and also into the acoustic 360

amplifier with an AKG D12 mic on the cab

compressed with the Yuri L2A. I'm

recording John Bonum. Kramer said,

"Here's the thing about Bonum. If you

put him in the room and you only had

three mics, you could record John Bonham

because that's the way he hit the damn

drums and the way he tuned the kit." At

Star Groves, we had an opportunity to

put Bonso in a room entirely by himself,

which was this huge sort of

conservatory, basically a big wooden

room with a carved wooden window frame,

very ancient sort of room with

incredible acoustics. So, I set him up

in there with just a stereo pair of

overhead mics, a snare mic, tom mics,

and bass mic, and he just banged away.

The first time he hit the snare, oh my

god. And when he came into the truck to

hear it, he said, "Nice, mate. It's all

right." Kramer didn't specify what mics

we used, but it's likely the AKG D12 or

Zenheiser MD421 on the kick, the Noman

U87 as overheads, along with the Shore

SM57 on the snare. The tom mics I'm

unsure of, but you can see them used

here. Kramer's remarks about three mics

was not just hypothetical. Apparently

for Jamaica only three mics were

actually used according to the book Led

Zeppelin All the Songs. These being the

D12 on the kick and just two overheads

which were the U87s. This would go on to

be Bonham's preferred setup as he really

wasn't a fan of close micing. The album

is characterized with the band really

starting to venture away from their

strict rock style and trying out other

genres they were listening to at the

time. The Crunch was a James Brown

inspired funk experiment. It showcases

Jones clavinet work and Bonham

syncopated drumming. It was mostly

recorded live in the studio with Jones

using a Hana Clavvenet D6 run through a

Wawwa pedal. Jamaica, the band's venture

into reggae territory was recorded with

a focus on capturing a live feel. The

song's title is based on an old British

joke. I took my wife to the Caribbean

last week. Jamaica? No, she wanted to

go. Paige used his Telecaster for the

rhythm parts and his le Paul for the

solo sections. The rain song was

apparently in response to George

Harrison's reservations about the band

not having any ballads. The result is

one of their most beautiful songs

featuring intricate guitar work from

Paige using a Dan Electro guitar tunes

an unusual open tuning of DG C GC D. The

song's orchestral feel was achieved

through Jones's melatron and piano work.

According to the recording notes, the

piano was a Steinway Grand Island

Studios recorded with the lid fully open

and the microphones placed strategically

to capture the room's ambience. No

quarter is a great example of how the

band used very speed tape manipulation

to change the tonality and pitch of

Robert Plant's vocals. This was done by

deliberately altering the speed of the

tape during the recording. slowed down

typically by 15 to 20%. Then played back

at normal speed, creating the pitched up

vocal effect. The ambient sounds

throughout this track were created using

an EMS VCS3 synthesizers noise generator

rooted through the voltage control

filters that were manually manipulated

during recording to create the swirling

atmospheric effects. Digital effects

such as delays weren't available at this

point, so it's still tape delay. Many

use in the Echoplex, which were used on

other sources such as vocals. Also, at

the highly productive Star Grove

sessions with Kramer, six houses of the

holy tracks emerged. The song remains

the same, the rain song, Over the Hills

and Far Away, Dancing Days, Jamaica, and

the Ocean. Two songs from the Starrove

sessions actually ended up on physical

graffiti, the Rover and Black Country

Woman. This is a photo of Paige and

Plant recording the latter here. The

sessions were highly productive but also

fun with Kramer saying the lads were

really happy there recording with the

amazing acoustics of the old mansion and

frolicking around in the park-like

setting. The band were great to work

with. They were so confident and so

happy at what was going on. The general

feeling was excellent. This is shown

here with the band dancing to the

playback of the newly recorded Dancing

Days. Kramer said the truck doors are

open and we're playing back what was

just recorded. So the lads decided to

get into it and dance around to this

great new track. Houses of the Holy

represented a crucial artistic step for

Led Zeppelin by expanding their sonic

pallet without abandoning their core

sound, demonstrating remarkable music

versatility. The album reached number

one on the Billboard charts and has

since been certified diamond, selling

over 11 million copies in the United

States alone. 50 years after its

release, it remains a testament to Led

Zeppelin's artistic vision and technical

prowess. A perfect marriage of

musicianship, songwriting, and studio

craftsmanship that continues to inspire

and influence new generations of

musicians and producers.

[Music]