In Review - Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin

Luke Garrison discusses Led Zeppelin's album "Houses of the Holy" on the podcast OBUSM. He shares his personal experiences with the band and their music, as well as his respect for their influence on rock and roll. The podcast also touches on the interview they had with Steve Peccaro, a member of Toto, and discusses the history of Led Zeppelin and their discography. The band's fusion of blues, hard rock, and folk influences, along with their electrifying live performances, contributed to their success. The podcast mentions the band's decision to disband after the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. Hey, what's up everybody? This is Sam Bennett. And I'm Luke Garrison. And welcome back to another episode of OBUSM. Grateful that y'all took the time to tune in for this episode. Today, Luke, you want to start us off? This is your episode. Yeah, today I got to choose an album, and I picked a record by one of my favorite bands growing up, and still is one of my favorite bands. Album is Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin. Nice, yeah. I didn't really know, really, any of the songs off this album when you sent it to me, which I know a fair amount of Led Zeppelin, so I was surprised that I didn't know anything off this album, but it was kind of actually pretty refreshing, I would say. Yeah, that's very interesting to me, because a lot of these songs I've known since I was a kid, but I think that's just because my dad's such a big Zeppelin fan, and I've grown up as one, too, that I've known a lot of these songs so long. So it's interesting to me that you are such a classic rock fan and haven't heard these. But I guess they are a little bit deeper cuts. This is still a very successful album, but it doesn't have their biggest singles on it, per se. Before we kind of get into our discussion on the band and then obviously the album itself, I think we need to take a minute just to discuss last week's episode, which was Toto's Fahrenheit, but mainly the interview that we got to do with Steve Peccaro. Yeah, that was awesome. We've had the pleasure to speak with, I think he was our third guest from the music industry, and yeah, it's just every time I'm still kind of blown away. Him being someone who's actually in the band and was there writing these songs, recording all these songs, it was really interesting to hear his take on all of it, and also him just working with other artists outside of Toto. It was just really refreshing for me. Yeah, it was very cool to get to talk to him. I found it really cool to obviously talk about Toto and a lot of the songs that we discussed on that album and kind of throughout their entire discography, getting to kind of hear stories of working with Miles Davis, you know, in the band and whatnot, and Don Henley and Michael McDonald, but also his session work with Michael Jackson and people like that. So that was really special to hear all those stories. So yeah, we want to once again thank Steve Peccaro for taking the time to come on our show. So yeah, kind of getting back into the topic at hand here, Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy. Before we talk about the album, I kind of already said how big of a fan of Led Zeppelin I am. I want to know what your personal experiences are with them and how you feel about them present day. Yeah, I mean, this is, I don't know, I'm going to do my best to not like piss off a lot of people in this episode, especially with this statement, but I don't know, I always kind of use the analogy, if Guitar Center sells their merch, then usually it's not one of my favorite bands. There's a few exceptions, Manhalen and Kiss, but I don't know. I mean, I love and respect the Beatles, but they're not my favorite. This band is kind of the same for me. It's not that they're overrated, because they're not. I fully respect their place in music and certainly in rock and roll. I think that rock and roll would not be nearly what it was in its heyday and I guess still is today without them. Certainly a lot of my favorite rock acts wouldn't have been a thing, really, if it weren't for Led Zeppelin or the Beatles. I've only really recently gotten more into Led Zeppelin's music, and I'm still pretty green in that, because it's mainly the hits, like rock and roll and Black Dog and stuff like that. I love Good Times, Bad Times as a drummer. That's one of my favorites, too. Yeah, but I don't know. I mean, when you were picking an album from this band to discuss, there was either this one or Led Zeppelin 4, that you kind of choose in between, which is the album that came out right before this one. Yeah, I know a fair amount of songs on that album, and like we said, I didn't know a lot of really any songs on this album before I started prepping for this episode. So it was kind of refreshing to not know anything and kind of dive right in from a fresh perspective. So yeah, that was cool and kind of getting to add to the songs that I know by this band. And there are a few that I ended up really liking. But yeah, John Bonham, I mean, obviously that's a huge discussion. He's known as one of the greatest drummers of all time, especially in rock music. I very much respect that title. I wouldn't say that he's one of my biggest influences, mainly because I don't listen to their music as much. Yeah, and I think that's important to note, because you have someone like John Bonham, who a ton of people say he's the greatest or one of the greatest drummers of all time. That doesn't mean that every drummer has to idolize this dude. But yeah, I'm glad that you say you respect him. That's how I feel about certain guitarists. I mean, someone like Jimi Hendrix, for example, a lot of people put him as the greatest guitarist of all time. I don't necessarily agree with that, even though I do really respect him and his music. So yeah, I think that's important to distinguish. It's not like hating or calling him overrated, but I get what you mean. Yeah, I think that that's a discussion to be had, because a lot of people, I mean, they'll just kind of diss a band or an artist that has the legendary status, and either they won't really know their music, or maybe the music is just not for them, but they don't take the time to really respect their place in music, their legacy, their impact on the genre and music itself, and how many, many millions of people love their music. That's kind of the way I feel with this. There's a difference between just saying, oh, that band sucks, and saying, you know, I don't love that band, but I really think that they did great things for music, and I respect what they did, so. Yeah, definitely. All right, so now that we've kind of talked about our personal relationship with Led Zeppelin, we're going to get into some more factual artist history. Yeah. So Led Zeppelin was a legendary British rock band that formed in 1968 and became one of the most influential and successful rock bands in history. The band was formed by guitarist Jimmy Page in London. Page had previously been a member of the Yardbirds and wanted to form a new band. He recruited vocalist Robert Plant, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. The band's name, Led Zeppelin, is said to have been suggested by The Who's drummer, Keith Moon. Led Zeppelin released their self-titled debut album in 1969. The album was a mix of blues and hard rock and featured iconic tracks like Good Times, Bad Times, and Dazed and Confused. It received critical acclaim and set the stage for their future success. Led Zeppelin released a series of highly successful albums throughout the 1970s including Led Zeppelin II in 1969, Led Zeppelin III in 1970, Led Zeppelin IV in 1971, House of the Holy in 1973, and Physical Graffiti in 1975. These albums contained classic songs like Whole Lotta Love, Stairway to Heaven, Immigrant Song, and Cashmere, just to name a few. Led Zeppelin's music was a fusion of blues, hard rock, and folk influences. They were known for their powerful and innovative guitar works by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant's distinctive vocals, John Paul Jones' versatile bass and keyboard skills, and John Bonham's thunderous drumming. Led Zeppelin gained a reputation for their electrifying live shows, known for their extended improvisational jams, and high-energy performances. The band's career was marked by both incredible success and tragedy. In 1980, John Bonham passed away, leading to Led Zeppelin's decision to disband. They officially disbanded in 1980, and they've reunited for a few one-off performances and events over the years. I didn't know that it was 1980, because don't they have a few albums in the 80s? I know there's one that came out in the 80s. Sadly, John Bonham passed away, and they just hard-stopped, like they didn't even try to find another drummer. They're like, we can't do this without him, and it's honestly respectable. It's kind of sad that we couldn't see what Led Zeppelin would have done in future decades, but I don't know. It's kind of poetic that there's that quintessential four, and then one dies, and the other three just decide to stop. Well, the Dakota album, that's 82, so was that just like kind of selected works? Yeah, that's kind of like some of the B-sides and stuff that was never properly released, from what I understand. Yeah, because I know, Hey Hey, What Can I Do? Yeah, that was one that was, I think, recorded before he passed. Yeah, maybe they had the track and just kind of worked on it afterwards. The bulk of the catalog was before 1980, with John Bonham. What are the signs? So that, it goes along with Zeppelin IV, I think, is when this first became a thing, because Led Zeppelin's name was not on IV at all, as far as the cover or anything. I mean, obviously, they were one of the biggest bands in the world. Word got out, this is the new Led Zeppelin album. But all they had was the cover of that painting of that farmer dude, and then on the back, I believe, is those four symbols. And those are all symbols that the members chose. I know Robert Plant, he chose, I think it's like a, what is it, like a leaf? Oh yeah, like a quill? Yeah, a quill, because his whole thing is the lyrics and all that. Okay, yeah, I thought that was John Paul Jones. The Zoso thing is Jimmy Page, he has some reason for that, I don't know. The other two, I get mixed up. That's John Bonham. The three rings. Oh, like the Trinity type? Yeah, the three rings are John Bonham, and then I guess the triangle one is John Paul Jones. Do they ever call him JPJ? Okay, I actually did not know until research for this album that his real name is not John Paul Jones. What is it? When I was looking through my notes and making notes about him, I'm like, I don't want to say John Paul Jones each time I mention him. Yeah, his real name is John Richard Baldwin. Okay. Because I was reading some stuff on Wikipedia or something, and it kept saying, Baldwin joined the band, and I was like, who the heck is this? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I just say Jones, John Paul just kind of feels weird. Yeah. And there's already another John in the band. But now that we've talked about the artist's history, we're going to move on to the album history. House of the Holy is the fifth studio album by Led Zeppelin, released in 1973. Led Zeppelin began recording it in 1972 at various studios, including Stargroves and Olympic Studios in England, and Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Nice. Led Zeppelin was produced by Jimmy Page, the band's guitarist, and was engineered by Eddie Kramer. House of the Holy continued Led Zeppelin's exploration of various musical genres, showcasing their versatility by incorporating elements of reggae and funk alongside their typical rock, blues, and folk styles. House of the Holy received positive reviews upon its release and was commercially successful, reaching the top of the charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It continued Led Zeppelin's streak of critically acclaimed albums after their four self-titled releases and contributed to their status as one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Led Zeppelin's fifth album achieved RIAA gold status in two weeks and eventually went platinum eleven times over. Many of the songs from House of the Holy remain staples of classic rock radio and are celebrated as some of Led Zeppelin's finest work. The album's genre-blending and innovative approach to rock music has made it a landmark in the history of rock albums. The album consists of eight tracks, each with its own unique sound and character. This album has gone platinum eleven times? I'm pretty sure all of their first five, if not six, have done close to that. Yeah, I mean, the only thing I knew when I looked at this album for the first time was the album cover. You had seen that before? Yeah, I've definitely seen that, like, in the vinyl section of stores. It's definitely an interesting choice. Yeah, I mean, honestly, I mean, obviously this is not at all what they were going for since it was in the 70s and this wasn't invented yet, but it looks like something that AI would create today. Yeah, it's very odd. It's supposed to be like children climbing on top of some kind of Irish thing, not at all when I was researching it, but it's very evocative and it's distinct. So it's the orange background with kind of those pale skin, I guess kids is what it's supposed to be. I don't know. Very interesting cover, but it's definitely memorable. Most of their covers are. Okay, so getting into the track by track, really diving into the trenches here. Track one, The Song Remains the Same. I'll let you start since this is your pick. So yeah, the album opens with The Song Remains the Same. It was primarily written by Jimmy Page. The Plant wrote the lyrics and suggested the halftime section in the middle. It's kind of a reoccurring theme in most Zeppelin albums where Jimmy Page will write the music and then Robert Plant will come and write lyrics to whatever Jimmy Page has. Yeah, I was looking at the writing credits on this album and it looked like a significant amount of the tracks were written by those two and then there was a few that were written by like all four. And then, yeah, every now and then you'll have all four of them credited as writers. That's a little more rare, but it's an interesting dynamic and I think that's kind of what makes songwriting wise Zeppelin Zeppelin is the Page and Plant dynamic. Yeah. Yeah. And then every now and then, even though Plant didn't play any instruments on stage when they performed, he will suggest some musical decisions like here, apparently it was the halftime section. Yeah. Yeah. I really like this song. Zeppelin has a live album and also a live video that I remember seeing a lot as a kid and it's called The Song Remains the Same, which I think is interesting because this isn't one of their hugest songs in my opinion, but I know it is a fan favorite. I really like it. I'm interested to see what you think about it. Yeah. I liked the song musically. Lots of energy to start off the record. I'm going to be a little honest though and say that I found the vocals a little bit annoying on this song. Not all of it, but mainly the stuff at the very end where it gets like really high and Yeah, just like that and then when he actually says the song remains the same, just the particular pitch that he chose, it's like, it's just so whiny. And I know that that's kind of his thing, but I think that he really pulls that off really well in a lot of other songs and I don't know that that was necessarily, in my opinion, pulled off as well on this track. But I really do like the music and I don't know, it's not really a big deal because I think this song in particular, it's more centered around the music anyway. Yeah, I read something else that said that Gene Page actually intended for this one to just be instrumental. Yeah. You can kind of hear that. And then Plant just wrote lyrics on top of it anyways and they were like, okay. And going along with kind of the annoying vocals, I'm honestly, as much as I love the band, I'm not going to disagree with you there. And I was actually reading something else about this too. This is where I think his voice was starting to wear a little bit. Okay. Because the way he screams, screams things really and had been for years at this point. I guess. Yeah. So whenever he did hit those high notes, he kind of had to go into more of like a nasally register that's not hating on Greta Van Fleet, but this is when he reminds me of the dude from Greta Van Fleet. Okay. It's when his voice is kind of like, he's trying harder. Yeah. And a lot of people compare those two bands, I'm not saying that, but vocally I can kind of hear that there and it does kind of get on my nerves on this song at least. Yeah, I get what you're saying. A ton of guitar overdubs, which really fills in the space because something that I've never really thought about in terms of this band is really musically in terms of instruments, it's a trio. Yeah. It's really just three instruments. I mean, you could argue Rob Plant's voice is also an instrument, but it's pretty incredible, especially when you listen to some of these live versions where obviously there can't be two guitar parts going in one, but just hearing what Jimmy Page does or what John Paul Jones will do to fill space under Jimmy Page. It's pretty incredible. And yeah, this song shows off a ton of that musicality. Page played his double neck guitars and he would transition from 12 string to six string in a single take, which is pretty crazy to think about. Yeah. Does Robert Plant ever play rhythm at all live? I've never seen anything with him doing that with Zeppelin. He has a solo career and I have seen like maybe one or two videos of him playing acoustic. Yeah, his solo career is like drastically different than... It is very different. There's some bangers in there, but yeah, it's very different from Led Zeppelin. I wanted to mention, this song sounds like a much more rocked out version of Behind the Lines by Genesis. Did you get a chance to listen to that? I did. I listened to it a couple hours ago when you sent that to me and before, like without you saying anything, I thought that too. Yeah, because I didn't tell you what it was going to be for. I distinctly remember, oh, this sounds like Song Remains the Same musically. Like the intro is similar. Of course, Genesis, it's not as rock and roll because they have Tony Banks doing his like synth stuff. But yeah. It just sounds cleaner. Yeah. Zeppelin kind of has that... It's more muddy. Yeah, muddy, almost sloppy aesthetic sometimes. Yeah. This one, when I listened to it the first time, I couldn't tell if that like riff when they all come in kind of at the beginning mainly, not when it goes back to it on different parts of the song, but it kind of sounded a little bit off, but it worked. It's very organic. Yeah. It's not overproduced. It's not like it would be today where it would be on a click track, you know, and it would be so quantized. Yeah. That's something true in a lot of Zeppelin songs. I feel like, I mean, you mentioned Blacktop earlier. There's parts of that where like it sounds like the guitar and drums are out of sync and then a couple of seconds later, they're all sent back in, I think, and you realize it never really went anywhere. It's really cool. It is organic, like you said, and I think these guys played together so much, they jammed together so much, they kind of could just do that. And with it only being really three of them on instruments, I think it made it probably a little bit easier than it would even like a five or six piece. Yeah. Cool. I guess we can move on to track two, which is the rain song. What do you have to say about this one? Yeah. I liked the electric guitar on this song. Kind of, I don't know if this is the right term, but like the little bends he'd do like on the end of each vocal line. Yeah. I thought that that was pretty cool. Some cool, I guess it was a Mellotron that John Paul Jones was playing on there. When I think of a Mellotron, because that's such a weird instrument. Yeah. It's like a keyboard that mainly does like flutes and stuff. It's like strings. Yeah. And it was only really used for like 10 years or so until we got like actual synthesizers. Yeah. But when I think of that, this is one of the first songs I think of. I think John Paul Jones' parts on that are really well written and they fit the guitar playing so well. Yeah. I like a lot of the little fill things that Bonham does before he comes in. I think that's cool. And then I really do like this song a lot more when it's all in. It takes like five minutes to get there. Yeah. It's not bad at all before that, but it does, I wouldn't say it drags, but it goes on a lot longer maybe than it should before it all comes in, but it works for a certain audience. Yeah. I love this song. I am a big Led Zeppelin fan and they don't have many songs like this. I think that's why I am so drawn to it, but the acoustic guitar parts at the beginning and then, yeah, when the electric guitar comes in, all those parts are just so well written. On Paige's part, I know people wrote pretty much all the music for this song. And then Plant's lyrics too, they're very melancholic. A lot of them kind of just seem almost like poems or something, not necessarily song lyrics. But on this one, it does take a while. I love when the drums do finally come in and the whole band never really rocks really, but it kind of gets there. Certainly a different vibe. And then it drops out. I still really like this song. Interesting tidbit. Apparently, Jimmy Page wrote this when George Harrison said, Hey, I love Led Zeppelin, but y'all don't play enough ballads. I can kind of hear that, yeah. Then Jimmy Page went and wrote this. And if you listen, like the very first part of this sounds like something. Like musically. It's just the chords. I saw an interview where Jimmy Page admitted that, which is interesting, as he almost kind of had like a Beatles, George Harrison-y inspiration for this. I very much picked up on that, because especially that mid-instrumental section, it sounded like it could be on one of the later Beatles records. Yeah, it's a little psychedelic too, yeah. Many times I've lied, many times I've laid in, many times I've wondered how much there is to know. So track three, Over the Hills and Far Away. Pretty elaborate guitar work from Page on this song. Kind of erratic, you know, acoustic. But it's really cool to kind of follow where he goes, because there's not like a structure to it. It's like you're not really sure where he's going to go next, and that's pretty cool, I think. Especially this beginning portion, it's almost like he's kind of just jamming, but then you realize he's not, you know, when Rob Plant comes in. It's almost like, obviously this is before Beat Switches, but it's almost like a Beat Switch, where they're kind of the first minute and a half, two minutes, or whatever this song is. Almost an acoustic folk song, and then it kicks into a full-on rocker, which I really enjoy. Yeah, some cool hits at the end as well. Not sure what that very end part is. Yeah, apparently it's, I'm going to get the terminology wrong, but it's like however Jimmy Page's guitar was like going in to where they were recording, it was reversed. So it's kind of like a weird, kind of why it warbles like that, I guess. And then you also have John Paul Jones, I think, playing the clavinet or something. Under that, he played a bunch of weird instruments. But yeah, this one was mainly written by Page too. Plant wrote the lyrics. It was originally titled Many, Many Times. Yeah, I wanted to say this. I really like the solo on this song, and of course this was bound to come up on my part, but you can really hear Jimmy Page's influence on Joe Perry on this song. Oh, definitely. I know that Jimmy Page is a huge influence on Joe Perry of Aerosmith, and this solo to me was very reminiscent of Rats in the Cellar from the Rocks album by Aerosmith, and that's one of my favorite tracks by them, so it really stuck out to me. Kind of just the tone and even, I mean, it's just similar in terms of the solo, but yeah, I think that that was cool that I got to pick up on that, being such a huge Aerosmith fan. And Joe Perry and Steven Tyler inducted this band into the Hall of Fame. Yeah. They're very big fans. That's what I was saying earlier. Like, Aerosmith is my all-time favorite hard rock band, and there would be no Aerosmith if it weren't for Led Zeppelin, so yeah. They wouldn't be how they are today. This is a really good song. It's one of the bigger ones. I don't know if you have heard it on the radio or not, but this is the one I would always hear on The Point or whatever my dad was listening to, and one of the ones he liked the most from this album. So it's definitely a good one to come back to. Alright, track four, The Crunch. What is A Crunch? I honestly don't know. This is definitely the quirkiest song here. Before I get into my thoughts, I want you to take the reins on this. This is only an eight-track record. Yeah, it was a little bit shorter than I was expecting it to be. And this is the only song on here that I've never really got. I like it more now, and I think it's because I'm so used to it. I mean, I've been listening to this album for years now, and I was coming back to listen to it this week. I was like, okay, I can see what they were trying to do. When I was researching, apparently this was supposed to be a James Brown tribute. Okay. It's kind of what they were going for with it. Which, if you listen to the song thinking that, you can kind of hear it. But where this song completely loses me is about a minute in, whenever John Paul Jones comes in with his synth part. Yeah, I don't like that either. It's like, it just sticks out, and I don't know. The guitar is cool. It starts off with drums, and the drum beat is like, okay, this is sick. Where is it going to go? I'm just kind of like, I don't know. It's not a terrible song by any means. This is the song that was hated most, critically. It received mixed reactions when this album came out. But it's not a bad song by any means, but it's definitely not my favorite here. Yeah, I think that Bono and Page and Jones, when he's playing bass on this song, I think that that is cool. Yeah. I don't like the keys, like you said, and I do not like Plant's performance on this song either. Yeah, and like I said, apparently he was trying to emulate a James Brown type of thing. Yeah. It doesn't really work that well. Yeah, the music is definitely the best part, like the three of them, as you said. Yeah, this one lost me for sure. I'm not dissing anybody who does like this song. It's just, I don't know who the audience for this one is, but I'm not the demo, and that's okay. But yeah, this one, honestly, I said this in my notes, and I don't know that this is too harsh, but I couldn't wait for it to be over when I was prepping for this episode. The placement of this song is pretty unexpected, too, amidst the album's more diverse and kind of serious songwriting, I'd say. It's trying to be lighthearted and kind of like fun. Yeah. I can feel that, but it just doesn't work as well, in my opinion. They've tried to do that other times, but there's a song later on here where they kind of do that same vibe that works way better, in my opinion. Yes. But it's cool. I mean, Jimmy Page's guitar, he's basically using a wall pedal, it sounded like to me like the whole time, which adds kind of the funky groove of the song, but it's definitely not one of their best. Not my favorite on this record. Yeah. Let's look up what a crunch is. Crunch is a term that doesn't have a widely recognized or standard definition in the English language. It is not a common word in everyday usage, and its meaning can vary depending on context. In some cases, crunch might be used as a slang or an informal term describing something that is awkward, uncomfortable, or unpleasant. That works. Interesting. But that's more cringe. Yeah, that sounded like cringe. I don't know. Is crunch, cringe? Question mark? Chad, you need to make yourself up. So anyways, we can move on. Moving on, definitely. Track five, Dancing Days. I liked this song. I certainly liked it. I was very glad to be off of the crunch, but I liked this song as well. Out of everything on this album, there's one other example, but this is probably the one that sounds most like what Led Zeppelin is in my head. I liked the guitar on this song. I didn't love the keys, though. Like the keys towards the end, it kind of matches what Page is doing. I thought that that was a little unnecessary. I know exactly what you're talking about, and I think that does add some additional layers to this song. It's not really needed, though. It's kind of interesting, because this is before synths were so widely used, and you can tell John Paul Jones is trying to use keyboards in interesting ways. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's a little off, kind of like you're saying. But I do like this song a lot. Without the keyboards, I feel like, yeah, this sounds like just a classic Led Zeppelin rocking song. The riff is almost dissonant in parts, but then it kind of comes back, and I just like it, and I like the way Plant sings over this song, too. The whole, you know it's alright, I said it's alright, and the like, wow, guitar parts, that whole section, I love that. I like this song overall. I like the riff a lot, and I appreciated that this is kind of the more classic Zeppelin sound, in terms of what Zeppelin is to me. Yeah, and following this track, we have two more that aren't very classic Zeppelin-sounding songs. One's very good, and the other one is up for debate, in my opinion. And then they close out with another classic Zeppelin-sounding song, but, yeah, that's Dancing Days. Track six. Yeah, how do you say this? Okay, I'm just going to start with the title of the song. So I've heard on the radio, and my dad has always called the song Dire Maker. Yeah, that's what I would imagine, but I was wondering if it was like a British... It's supposed to be British up here. I actually had something. In a 2005 interview, Plant discussed the different interpretations and pronunciations of the name of the song. He explained that the title is derived from an old joke where two friends have this following accent. My wife's gone to the West Indies, Jamaica. Oh, really? Jamaica. Interesting. Like, did you make her? But also, if it's Jamaica, that kind of fits into what this song is. And I think that's the whole point of it. It's like, Jamaica? Jamaica? I don't even know. I don't even know. If you're reading it, if y'all don't know what this song looks like, you'd probably think we're crazy listening to us say this. But yeah, apparently it's supposed to be a play on Jamaica. Robert Plant, please write us in and tell us if we're correct or not. Yeah, and the title, which does not appear in the lyrics, was chosen because it reflects the reggae feel of the song as an example of the Led Zeppelin band members' sense of humor. Because apparently they were big jokesters, even in the studio. And you said you were listening to Led Zeppelin IV. You know, there's four sticks on that song. That song's only named that because John Bonham used four sticks when he played that song. Stuff like that. I wasn't expecting this song at all, and I was very pleasantly surprised. It's an outlier in their catalog that I've always loved. I think it's a good John Bonham track, and I think Jones really is the one kind of giving it that reggae feel with his bass, which Page really helps accentuate. I also really like the solo on this one. It's kind of just a feel-good song. Yeah, I do like the guitar solo. It doesn't really sound like a Jimmy Page guitar solo that you typically think of, but I really like it. This is one of the few Led Zeppelin songs where all four members share writing credits, Like I said, apparently it was a joke at first that they kind of just jammed on, and according to my research, it originally started out with John Bonham having a 1950s doo-wop type beat with it, and then John Paul Jones or Jimmy Page, whoever it was, started trying to put reggae on top of that, and that's kind of just morphed into what it is. That being said, apparently John Paul Jones and John Bonham both hate this song. Really? I mean, John Bonham's no longer with us, but apparently he didn't like this one that much, and they didn't play it live very often because of that. Interesting. But I've always liked this song. Yeah, this is probably top three for me on this album. I'm surprised you haven't heard this song before. Yeah, I may have. This is one I've heard just playing in public, and I think I read it's one of their most streamed on Spotify. I think it has, next to The Ocean, I think it has the most radio appeal to it. Because it's not super long. No, it's not. And it's pretty catchy. The lyrics aren't super out there. It's definitely catchier than most Led Zeppelins. Yeah, I think it has a lot of commercial appeal, which I don't know if that's something they would like for it to have. Yeah, I remember distinctly I was in the gym a couple weeks ago, and this song was playing. Really? I wasn't listening to it, it was over the radio, or the PA, whoever was playing music, I don't know, and I was like, what the hell, this is a weird track to be playing right now. But I mean, it's just kind of like you said, it's a feel-good song. Most people, if they hear this, they probably wouldn't think it's Led Zeppelin, unless they're a Zeppelin fan or a classic rock fan. Yeah, I like this song, even though I'm still a little unsure of how to pronounce it. Dermaker? Sorry for those that know what it is and are cringing at us. Alright, track seven, No Quarter. So this is a dark and atmospheric song with haunting keyboard work by John Paul Jones and plants evocative lyrics. It's very moody and psychedelic. Yeah, it felt like it was playing underwater. Yes. Kind of an aquatic feel to this song. Yeah, I like that description, and this is, interestingly enough, not written by Jimmy Page or Rob Plant, this is written by John Paul Jones. Okay. Musically. And I think that's kind of why it sounds so different. Are there any other songs that you know of theirs that are written solely by John Paul Jones? I don't know if there are, they're probably on the later albums, the later two, that I'm not aware of, but no, this is the only one I'm very familiar with. I was going to say, like, I would be interested to see how similar the songs are that are written solely by him, because, yeah, I mean, if this is kind of his vibe in terms of song writing, then I think that that's an interesting choice. It was a longer track for sure. It is long. And it has the pretty interesting intro to it. The music, like when it occasionally kicks in to the actual band playing, I kind of like that. There's a vocal effect on this song. Yeah, it's weird. It's not that I don't like it, but I think it would be better if it was more just traditional. Yeah. I don't think it's a vocoder. I'm not sure what it is. This is obviously before autotune. This has always been a weird song in my opinion. Yeah. It's an interesting vibe, though. Like, sometimes when I listen to this album, this would come on and I'd be like, okay, I can listen to it. But this is never a song I would just pull out on its own. Yeah, I think this would be like a good interlude. It's a seven and a half minute track, I don't know if that's necessary. This one or the Rain song is longer. Those are both long songs, but I feel like the Rain song kind of justifies its length a little bit more. Yeah, I understand that one. With the buildup. But this song, there's a couple minutes, especially in the middle, where it kind of feels like nothing is really happening musically. I think, actually, I was listening to it and I had my eyes closed and I wanted to pause on it. Yeah, it's almost like a haunting, kind of otherworldly sound. It's weird, but I don't hate this song at all. No, yeah, I mean, it's definitely experimental to a point where it kind of works and it's cool. But yeah, it's not one that I would go back to. I think for the time, it probably was a lot more mind-blowing because of the vocal effects and all that stuff that wasn't being used frequently at this point. What I have here stands out as one of Led Zeppelin's most experimental and enigmatic tracks, demonstrating their willingness to explore different musical styles and textures. And I think that's part of the ethos of the band. They have their signature sound, but they also try to add stuff on top of that on different albums and different things. This one, they had the funk, whatever the crunch is trying to sound like, the reggae. So, I don't know. I think it's an experiment that didn't fail. It hasn't aged, right? Yeah. The last track here, track 8, is The Ocean. I liked this one a lot. Yeah, this is a high-energy rock song. It captures the signature sound of Led Zeppelin. This is one of their staples of their live show. I think this was predominantly their encore or their set closure. What song did the best on this album, do you know? At the time, I'm not sure. I know I hear The Ocean a lot. I think The Ocean is the biggest song on this record. I hadn't heard this song before I started listening to this album. And it's similar to what I said about Dancing Days in that it's the most reminiscent of what Led Zeppelin is and their sound is in my head, which is mainly those first three or four records. I really dig the odd time signature. That makes it really musically interesting. It's probably my favorite Robert Plant performance on this album, for sure, because he just really does his classic stuff. He's not reaching to where I'm like, I don't know about that. I do love his vocals on this one. The lyrics are pretty straightforward and it has some cool backing vocals throughout the song and mainly on that ending part where they switch things up, which is also really cool. That is really cool. I think this is one of the only Zeppelin songs, at least to my knowledge, where it drops out and is completely acapella at a certain point. And it's just Robert Plant's vocals and then either one or two stacked harmonies on top of that. And that part works. It shows off how good his voice just naturally was. The tone and everything. Because like we said a bunch of times, this was before autotune and any of that stuff. And he just had a quality to his voice that you can't learn that. And I think that kind of shows on this song, on that part. And yeah, like you said, he's not reaching on the parts where he does go high. That's the more scream thing. This is a great song vocally, but yeah, musically it's just as interesting. One of Page's best riffs in my opinion. I'd say easily top ten, if not top five. I really like the part at the end, the walk downs. I think that that's cool. At the very beginning it's kind of inaudible, but it says, we've done four already, but now we're steady. And then they went one, two, three, four. Is that just kind of... That's John Bonham. And he actually does that live. Or he did that live. Like a limerick? It's so funny. I don't know what it's supposed to mean here. That's something that is all over music in general, not specific artists or anything like that. But mainly these classic artists that kind of weave in little tidbits and stuff. Like studio. Yeah, I always really enjoy that. I do too. It's kind of like peeking behind the curtain, but I want to show you this. It kind of cracked me up. I don't know what the point of that is, or what it means. It works. Yeah. Obviously the crowd was getting hyped up to it. Yeah. Kind of going on John Bonham. I'd like to bring up Jason Bonham, his son, who he's currently in The Circle, which is Sammy Hagar's band. Yeah. But he was their drummer when they toured. Was it like, what, mid-2000s? Mid-2000s. I know it did extremely well. It did. And I know before that, it was either the late 80s, I think it was the 90s, that they first tried with him. I don't know, something with it didn't go well. They didn't play that many shows. But then, yeah, they ended up another tour in the 2000s that was very lucrative. They had a bunch of people. I'd never got to see Led Zeppelin before live. Got to see Led Zeppelin. I'm sure it was amazing. And obviously it wasn't John Bonham, but I mean, having his son is just as special, really. And he is an insane drummer in his own right. Yeah, he was also in Foreigner for a little bit. Oh, I did not know that. Yeah. I think it's kind of cool. It's a similar dynamic to Nick Collins. It is. Obviously under more tragic circumstances. But, yeah, kind of a similar story to that. So that's cool. Props to Jason Bonham. Yeah, I think that's all we have to say on The Ocean, really. Yeah. And that concludes the Track by Track. Not a very long album. Nope, not very long. Eight songs. Still at about 40 minutes, which shows how long some of the songs are on here. They still get to that. But it's kind of a theme in most of their albums. Led Zeppelin 4, I think, is still only eight tracks. The first three don't go over 10, I don't think. The next album, Physical Graffiti, was a double album. Oh, okay. That has a lot of songs on it. I don't know the number off the top of my head. I love that album. I would pick it, but that would take forever to talk about. And half the songs, I don't care for it. I would refuse to edit that episode. Yeah, it's like the Beatles' White Album. The White Album has so many good songs on it, but also has about 10 that don't need to be there. Right, yeah. I wanted to ask you this, because you might know the answer. This album is called Houses of the Holy. There is a song, it's on the follow-up album, right? It's on Physical Graffiti? It's on Physical Graffiti, yeah. Called Houses of the Holy, which I know. And so when you said, we're going to do Houses of the Holy, I'm like, okay, cool. I definitely know the title track, but no, it's not on the album. What's that about? I really don't know. I think I've read this before, that they had that song, but I didn't feel like it fit the rest of the album. I mean, I kind of get that, but I think they should have put it on there. If that was their choice, my question is, why didn't they change the name of the album? Or change the name of that song? It's just kind of a weird choice, but I don't really think Led Zeppelin cared. I think at the end of the day, I think they kind of just did what they wanted. It seems like they don't put a whole lot of thought into things. In a bad way, they just kind of go for it, which is pretty respectable in terms of how good their career has been. Yeah, but I bet if we were in their shoes, I doubt they really knew how big they were. Yeah. Without the internet and all that, I'm sure they were playing these shows and seeing thousands of people being like, oh, this is crazy, but did they think people 50 years from now were going to be talking about their album? Yeah, I mean, and they're obviously one of the most legendary and or iconic bands of all time. Probably like top five biggest rock bands ever, but also their career wasn't that long. It wasn't how long they were active. It was just, what, a little over a decade. Yeah, it would have been 58 to 82, but really just 80. Yeah, like release-wise, barely over a decade. I think they were playing a little bit before that as a band before they started recording, but even then, yeah, they weren't together for over 15 years, which is kind of the same with The Beatles. They weren't even a band for barely a decade, and they also made such a lasting impact. I think it was just the time, really. They were the first ones to do it. I think that's kind of what it boils down to. They are the most talented musicians ever since then. I mean, they could arguably be. People could argue about that for days, but they were the first to do the type of things they were doing, which I think is why they kind of are so influential. Yeah, and yeah, they kind of went on to, obviously, John Bonham passed away, but they went on to solo stuff or other projects. I know Robert Plant, like we said, had a pretty illustrious solo career. He worked a lot with Phil Collins with, I think, him drumming, but also producing a lot of his stuff. I will say this about Phil Collins and Led Zeppelin is their Live Aid performance. There's a lot of differing stories about this. A lot of people hate this performance, which never existed. Yeah, a lot of people blame Phil Collins for it not going well. I don't know a whole lot about that. I know Phil Collins was super hurt about all of it because he's such a big Led Zeppelin fan. Yeah, I just know that a lot of people were not happy with that performance. I think that was their first big show since Bonham passed, so a lot of fans are probably expecting it to be. Yeah, it was Phil Collins with Led Zeppelin, and also drumming was Tony Thompson, who was the drummer for Chic and The Power Station, a little offshoot of Duran Duran. Wait, so they had two drummers at the same time? That's funny. But Phil Collins says that mainly it was just they didn't rehearse beforehand. Oh, yeah. Haters will call Jimmy Page sloppy, and this is true. He's an insane guitar player, one of the best ever. Definitely, you'll notice, especially if you listen to different versions of the same song, he never played it like the recording, and he usually doesn't even play it the same way he played it live the last time. Yeah. Which, I mean, part of that is just him being the only guitar, but I think he did write his parts, but I also think he didn't really care. As long as he fit in the rhythm and the structure, he would kind of play how he wanted, and that might rub people the wrong way, or at least make it hard to follow, I'd assume, if it's someone you haven't really played with or practiced with. So, I don't know. A lot of these early rock and roll guys seem to be kind of divas. Yeah, the story says here that Phil Collins, he was very busy that day, because he played at JFK in Philly, and he also played at Wembley in London. Oh, so he flew? Same day. He took, like, a red eye and played both, which a lot of people, like, give him crap for that, because they say that he's just so extra that he was wanting to do both. But I'm like, what do you want from him? Like, that's an awesome thing to go and do both. But yeah, he... That's incredible. Because he was so busy, he said that he didn't really have a whole lot of time to prepare, because he was flying, so he said he listened to the songs on the flight, and then when he got there, Jimmy Page was belligerently drunk, and it was just a very unproductive rehearsal. And then they just went and performed, and it sounds like it's mainly just kind of Phil Collins versus Jimmy Page, in terms of interviews after the fact. Yeah, I've never listened to that performance. I kind of want to, but I also kind of don't want to. It's a little all over the place. I don't think it's nearly as bad as people are saying it is, and that's not me sticking up for Phil, I just don't think it's as bad as people think it is. I don't understand the decision to have two drummers. Tony Thompson is a phenomenal drummer, but I think it should have been one or the other. Yeah, they didn't need both. I don't know if they were just trying to double down to match the powerhouse drumming of John Bonham, but I don't know. It was a weird choice. And then, kind of back to the original point, with just after projects of Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page, he had the firm with Paul Rogers from Bad Company. Oh yeah, yeah. But yeah, they have a hit song called Satisfaction Guaranteed, which is a good song. But yeah, other than that, I mean, I'm sure Jimmy Page did a lot more. I don't really know what John Paul Jones did. I don't know a lot of what Jimmy Page did, but I'm familiar with the firm. But, interesting thing, which is tied back into this album, is their first, maybe their only recorded reunion was between Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and they didn't invite John Paul Jones. Really? It was in the 90s, I believe, and they recorded some acoustic versions of songs, and they also recorded some new material that was mainly acoustic. Was JPJ not happy about that? Well, guess what they titled the project? What? Why? I don't know why, but that's his song, one of his, like, the only songs he wrote. Yeah, I didn't even think about that. That's kind of a dish. They named it that, and they didn't invite him. That's not cool. I don't know what the story there is, as far as, like, beef or what. Well, I mean, they got back together to do this. They ended up, obviously, they ended up squashing it up, squashing the beef, but yeah, I was reading about that leading up to this, and I was like, what the heck? Because I kept seeing this. It's not on Spotify, but it's called No Quarter Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unwedded. Interesting. And they play various acoustic versions of songs from all their records. That's a strange move. Yeah, it was an MTV project, apparently. Yeah, this was what? You said in the 90s? Yeah, 94. Huh. It was released on Halloween in 94. What a strange move. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. That's strange. I don't know why they did that. It was, the artists were just Page and Plant, but yeah, apparently there was interviews of John Paul Jones being hurt by that because he wasn't invited. Yeah. Kind of messed up, but yeah, name it that song and play songs that he wrote exclusively. Was there any percussion or was it just? I think there's like a little bit, but I don't think there's any full drum set. I haven't listened to the whole project. I only listened to a couple of the versions. It's okay. Yeah. It's not Led Zeppelin. Yeah. So yeah, that kind of concludes the overall discussion and track by track for this album. What would you say about the album just in closing? This is one of my favorite Led Zeppelin projects. It's very kind of weird and out there, but I feel like they play the band sound pretty well. It's the first album after their self-titled releases. The self-titled ones are kind of when they were, I guess, getting a name for themselves, but when I say that, it's kind of hard to even say that because their first record had some of their biggest songs. Yeah. They kind of came right out of the gate and they really didn't stop and this is one of the hypoids, I feel like. Yeah, kind of like what we were saying earlier. I'm still pretty green in terms of my knowledge of the discography of the genre, but I wasn't really familiar of their folk music, their folk side. I know them for Good Times, Bad Times, Whole Lotta Love, Rock and Roll, Cashmere, songs like that that are so ball-to-the-wall, rock and roll that when I was listening through this album, I'm like, this is a lot more tame than I was expecting it to be. Not that that's a bad thing, I think it was cool because it was a lot different than I was expecting and then it had a lot of different things. It had, of course, the crunch, say what you want about the song, but in terms of genre, it was funk, borderline, and then you had you said, yeah, which is kind of a reggae feel, so yeah, I mean, kind of shows their versatility, I guess. What is your favorite Led Zeppelin song? Give me one favorite Led Zeppelin song. Oh, that's a hard question. For me, as a drummer, I think it's gotta be Good Times, Bad Times. That's the song I have on here, Good Times, Bad Times. That was one of my favorite songs in Far Away. Yeah. The songs I encapsulate both their kind of acoustical side and the hard rock side, Stairway to Heaven does that too. That's not one of my personal favorites of theirs, but I see why people gravitate to that song a lot. Yeah. But yeah, they have a lot of great songs. I mean, rock and roll, I think, is one of the top three greatest rock and roll songs of all time. Rock and roll is great. I mean, Black Dog is also insane. Yeah. When the levee breaks in Zip and Four, I love that song too. There's a lot of songs I come back to, but then they even have the softer side with the Rain song and Going to California that I also come back to. I will say Fool in the Rain is one of my favorites. And, kind of to connect that to last week, that song, as well as the Bernard Purdy Shuffle are what inspired Rosanna by Toto. Oh, wow. I did not know that. When you listen to the beat on that song, you'll pick up on that. Wow. Yeah, I'm gonna have to go check that out. You know that one? Yeah. It's pretty incredible. It's a classic Led Zeppelin rocking song. Yeah. Cool. But, yeah, I guess if OBFN had to pick one Led Zeppelin song, it'd be Good Times, Bad Times. Yeah, that sounds like a collective decision. Okay, well, we can do a guessing game now. Oh, yeah. I didn't think about that. Let's pick a song on this album. Okay, you went first last week, so I'll go first this week. My first guess, based on what I've heard you say, is The Crunch. I'm kidding. It's probably Over the Hills and Far Away. Today, yes. Okay. I'll say that's my favorite song. That's right. I went through a phase where I loved the Rain song. Yeah, that's understandable. It's in a really weird tuning in guitar, and I spent, like, hours, and I learned how to play the entire song. You hand me the guitar and that same tuning now, I could maybe play it. It's been so long. But the one I come back to the most is probably Over the Hills and Far Away. Yeah. Alright. For you, I'm going to say The Ocean. That's correct. Yeah. I also love The Ocean, and I can kind of tell that's the song you would gravitate towards. Yeah. What do you think of my other two? Is The Song Remains the Same on there? No. Dancing Days. Yeah, that's one of them. And Did You Make Her? Yeah. Did You Make Her? Yeah. Did You Make Her? There's two songs on here that I straight up just really don't, it's not that, yeah, I'm not going to say that. The Crunch and No Quarter? I definitely wouldn't listen to. I feel that. The Crunch I definitely wouldn't listen to. No Quarter, I still don't really listen to it, but I mean, there was a time. I would rather listen to No Quarter than The Crunch. Yeah, there was a time when I appreciated that song a lot more. Yeah. Okay. That concludes The Guessing Game. And that kind of concludes the discussion on this album. So yeah, moving into Three of the Week, I'm going to start with Run to You by Bryan Adams from the Reckless album from 1984. Then I'm going to go with Top of the World by Van Halen from the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album from 1991. And then this last one, it's by a Japanese artist that I just recently found. They do instrumentals kind of retro wave, so like mainly they're just doing like 80s instrumentals. So the song translates to Ugly Shirt. The artist's name is Lush Crayon. Yeah, they're a Japanese like instrumental group. Like I said, they do like retro wave like 80s music essentially. I guarantee you've heard a lot of their songs. I probably have, yeah. The album translates to Authentic Original from 2019. So yeah, I understand that's a very left field pick, but it's a great song. Alright, yeah. For my Three of the Week, I'm going to start out with Give Me Love, Give Me Peace by George Harrison from Living in the Material World with his 1973 record. Next I'm going to go with Sweet Thing by Keith Urban which is off his Defying Gravity record from 2009. And then kind of keeping with the country theme, which I didn't plan out, is Boys of Faith which released today or the day we're recording this podcast. Interesting. By Zach Bryan featuring Bon Iver. I love both those artists. And yeah, the song is Boys of Faith. It's also the name of the EP. It has a lot of good tracks on it. Check it out. Nice. Okay, so that's our episode for this week discussing Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin. That's our episode for this week. We've got a really cool episode for next week celebrating the 40th anniversary of one of probably the biggest albums of the 80s. And we have a really cool guest that was right there in the middle of making it. So yeah, we're really looking forward to that. It should be exciting. Luke and I also want to mention that we were special guests on The Sound of the Signal, Sydney and Mariah's podcast in a new episode entitled A Little Bit About Success Part 1 featuring Sam Bennett and Luke Garrison. So yeah, we really enjoy their podcasts so go check that out. So that's our episode for this week. I'm Sam Bennett. And I'm Luke Garrison. Thanks for listening. This episode of OBUFM is a Questone Entertainment production.