28 March 1973: release of led Zeppelin's "Houses of the Holy"-10 anecdotes-rolling Stone<

Discover behind the scenes of Houss of the Holy by Led Zeppelin, released on March 28, 1973

"The key to the longevity of Led Zeppelin has always resided in the change," proclaimed Jimmy Page in 1975. This endless agitation will captivate certain fans, will annoy others, especially those who would have preferred that the group is content with.

Refusing to be intimidated by their world success, Led Zeppelin followed her muse wherever she led them, going so far as to experiment with unfamiliar genres - as on the "of Yer Mak'er" very reggae and the funky "TheCrunge " - and by creating new ones (for proof: the unclassifiable" No Quarter ".) This is the first album of Led Zeppelin to be made up exclusively of original content."Houses of the Holy was created for a very inspired period," recalls Plant in 1991. "We had a lot of imagination for this album.»»

1- « The Song Remains the Same » était initialement un titre instrumental appelé « The Overture »

The album opens onto a triumphant procession led by page, worthy of the Royal Status of Led Zeppelin.The guitarist built the song as a complex mini-suite, contrasting violent suspended agreements to say the least (a reminiscence of his "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor" released in 1967 with the Yardbirds) with more delicate acoustic elements.Presented to the group under the name of "Worcester and Plumpton Races" - a reference to page properties and Plant - "The Song Remains The Same" made its debut during the group tour in Japan in October 1972, during which the song is seenAlternatively introduced under the names of "The Campaign", "The Overture" and sometimes "Zep".

His final name will come words written by Plant, inspired by the time spent by Led Zeppelin on the roads."Whenever I sing [" The Song Remains The Same "], I remember that I have been all over the world, and that at the origin of all this, there is a common denominator," explained-It in Nme in 1973. "This common denominator is what makes a song good or bad, whether Led Zeppelin or Alice Cooper.»»

2- George Harrison a inspiré « The Rain Song », après s’être plaint du répertoire du groupe.

George Harrison was an important support by Led Zeppelin, even going so far as to make a surprise appearance at the 25th anniversary of John Bonham in 1973 - a party during which he clogged the interested party.(Bonzo brought him into the pool, in retaliation.) After one of the group's three -hour marathon concerts, in Los Angeles, a reasonably impressed Harrison warmly congratulated Led Zep behind the scenes." Whore !With the Beatles, we made 25 minutes, when we could only have lasted 15!»»

But despite all its compliments, the one we call the discreet beatle remains that Led Zep is not a little more.George spoke to Bonzo one evening, and said to him "The problem with you is that you never do ballads," reports to the Brad Tolinski biographer."I said to him," I'm going to make you a walk ", and I wrote" Rain Song "which is on Houses of the Holy.In fact, you can notice that I am even referring to ‘Something’ in the first two chords of the song.He worked on the song in his studio in Plumpton, where one could find in particular the Pye Mobile unit used for the recording of Live At Leeds of the Who in 1970. Aware that this composition did not pay tribute to the Pedigree Hard fullyRock of the console, he gave him the sarcastic working name of "Slush".

For Plant, which will contribute to the words, "The Rain Song" exemplifies its ethereal production, signature of its work with page."‘ The Rain Song ’was born out of a kind of inspiration that I had.The next morning, I scribbled it all.If I had done it the next day, it wouldn't have been as well."He will keep an intact pride vis-à-vis the title over the years, citing him as one of his favorites during an interview in 2005." I would say that it is on 'Rain Song' that I ringthe best.I had reached a point where I knew that to be good, I had to repeat myself.The acute cries became my business card.»»

3- Le groupe désigne Eddie Kramer ingénieur en chef, malgré une dispute assez sévère au sujet de la nourriture indienne.

If Page is namely named as the producer of all the group's albums, his partnership with engineer Eddie Krammer on LED Zeppelin II in 1969 had helped forge one of the crucial components of the group's sound.But their relations became more difficult after the sessions of Led Zeppelin III, the following year.

"With Zeppelin, everything started to become a fight, because they were how to come to the studio with the big head," recalls Kramer in 2003. Things reach the point of no return to the Electric Lady-the creative laboratory thatHe had created with Jimi Hendrix - when Zeppelin destroyed the studio in the least rock and roll way possible."The group had ordered Indian food, and a large part of their dishes fell to the ground," explains Kramer."I asked Roadies to clean.The studio was brand new and I was very proud of it.Suddenly, [Led Zeppelin] begins to scream ‘You do not tell our Roadies what to do!’ And they got away;they left ;And I didn't tell them for about a year!»»

Kramer was not part of the recording of Led Zeppelin IV, but when he started working on their fifth album, page decides to bring him back in the loop.According to the engineer, water had passed under the bridges since their confrontation: "They called me, and asked me to record for them again, as if nothing had happened.»»

4- The beginnings of the album were recorded in Mick Jagger's country house, Stargroves

After their third album in 1970, Led Zeppelin tried to escape from the confined spaces of traditional recording studios by carrying out part of their sessions in a more intimate property in the countryside.The idea had been borrowed from the band, which had a community house, next to the Dylan refuge in Woodstock, New York.

"I didn't know exactly how the band had recorded their album Music from Big Pink or The Basement Tapes, but the rumor said they had done everything in a house they had rented," recalls Plant for Guitar World."But I was not sure it was true, but I liked this idea.And I told myself that you had to try to go somewhere and live there, rather than visit a studio and then go home.I wanted to see what would happen if everything we had to think was to make music and live it as an experience.»»

The choice of page was made on Headley Grange, a rustic building in the Hampshire, which had served the group during the session of Led Zeppelin III and IV.But the house being unavailable in the spring of 1972, the gang put its luggage to Stargroves, the manor of Mick Jagger in the East Woodhay.Purchased by the singer from a local aristocrat in 1970 for the sum of £ 55,000, the house had been used by the Rolling Stones for the recording of certain pieces of Exile on Main Street and Sticky Fingers, and recently rented by the WhoFor the sessions of Who's Next.

When ZEP moved to May 1972, the group wanted to fully use the potential of each room."The sound was great, because you had this particularly variable acoustics in each room, with the battery in the conservatory where we had placed Bonham," recalls Kramer."Jimmy's amp could be stuck in a fireplace, and we connected a microphone ... We really had the opportunity to change the sound by going to any room.»»

The sound engineer supervised the whole of his observation post, in the recording truck of the Rolling Stones parked in the aisle.On the occasion, he opened the doors in the back for an outdoor playback session with the group."I remember, Bonzo, Plant, Page and Jones, on the lawn, listening to the playbacks of" d'Yer Mak’er "and" Dancing Days ";All were walking like Groucho Marx, in cadence and rhythm, like children."If many of the titles were completed at the Electric Lady and London’s Olympic studios, the Stargroves period realizes the overflowing creativity that we find on the final album."When we arrived there for the first time, we had no defined ideas," said page to the biographer Richie Yorke.“We simply record the ideas that everyone had at some point.It was a way of being together and going out.»»

5- The title of "d'Yer Mak'er" comes from an old joke of music hall.

Few songs from the LED Zeppelin repertoire are as divisive-even within the group-as this reggae-esque farce.Another subject of discord, the pronunciation of the title, which many uninitiated (to the greatest amusement of Plant) transform into "Dear Maker", believing in its quasi-spiritual subtext.The song takes place takes its name from an old joke of British music hall.

The song took shape at the end of the album's opening session."We had just finished" The Song Remains The Same "," said Plant to Zig Zag in 1973. "It was about 5 am and it's been a long time since I was waiting to do something like [" Yer Mak 'Er ”]… It’s born of scraps here and there.The initial intention was to make a reggae pastiche, mixed with melodramatic pop in the early sixties, but the colossal batteries of Bonham led the song in a completely different direction.

"John showed interest in all kinds of music, except jazz and reggae," said Jones."He did not hate the first, but he hated playing reggae - he found it very boring.When we made "Yer Mak’er", he only played one pace throughout the title.He hated this, and me too.It could have been not bad if it had respected the partition to the letter - the interest of the reggae lies in the fact that the batteries and the bass must be very scrupulous on what they play.And he didn't want to, so it was horrible.»»

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Even if the rhythm section ostensibly hated the song, Plant's enthusiasm will allow "Yer Mak’er" to go out in the United States in September 1973, with "The Grunge".If Page will later admit that it was a navelist decision to get out of the songs which he called "parody" and "joke", he was not ready to face the growing antipathy that will surroundthe piece.Despite an explanation connecting the song to the universe of Rosie and the Originals, which had recorded the "Nagle Baby" ballad in 1960, the fans will not be able to put their finger on the artistic intention behind the song."I didn’t expect people not understanding," said a pepai page to the writer Dave Shulps."I thought it was quite clear.The song itself was a mixture of reggae and fifties music;‘Poor Little Fool’, Ben E. Kings stuff… ”

But Jones' vision on the song will not change over time.He will describe the song with tact as "not being [s] preferred" in an interview from 1991 with Alan Di Perna.“She makes me cringe a little.It all started as a joke, really ... But I was not delighted with what it has become.Robert really loved him, but even in a group, people have different opinions on songs.»»

6- "The Crunge" is a nice parody of James Brown.

Led Zeppelin's funky breakaway on Houss of the Holy is almost as divisive as "by Yer Mak’er".The two songs share the same story: both were born from a JAM in the studio and were propelled by the Bonham battery."When we were writing, Bonzo dictated an unusual rhythm to us;Or it was during the Jams, that he invented something, "reports Jones to Matt Resnicoff from Musician.“Or, he started a riff that was strange, unusual or just interesting."The Crunge" is one of them.»»

In this specific case, the drummer had chosen a tempo far from standard."There is an additional half time ago, which is a fairly brilliant idea," explains page.The syncopated rhythm recalls the riff which had become the signature of the page since 1970. "Bonzo begins on" The Crunge ", then Jones begins to play this bass line, and I arrive on the pace," he tellsGuitar World."I played on a strat for this song - I wanted to have this effect James Brown.»»

When it was time to add the voices, Plant took again inspiration on the Soul Godfather.Because it was enough for a few rehearsals to record the majority of Brown sessions, his instructions given in the middle of the song to the group became his trademark.Keeping this in mind, the singer of Zeppelin first sought to add his British paw on these spoken cuts."Bonzo and I went to the studio and speak with an accent to cut with a knife throughout the song.The idea was finally excluded, just like the idea of including the choreography of a fictitious dance (called "The Crunge" of course).The final title keeps its brownesque influence, from the intro (you can hear page converse with the engineer George Chkiantz) to the planting of the plant.

The group will perform an unprecedented version of the song for a few dates at Los Angeles Forum in March 1975, combining it with a resumption of Brown's "Sex Machine".Unlike "D'Yer Mak’er", Jones remains very attached to the fence of the A of Houses of the Holy."" The crunge "is brilliant.This is one of my favorites.»»

7- The shooting of the cover will have lasted ten days.

The emblematic photo of Houses of the Holy depicts a horde of recolled wild children, climbing a heap of geomtric stones worn by time, reminiscent of the group's fascination with the supernatural and science fiction.Inspired by the children of Icarus written by Arthur C. Clarke who wrote 2001: The Odyssey of space, in which children climb the end of the world, the surreal image was created by the Hipgnosis team, whichThe work for Pink Floyd, T. Rex and Elo was particularly hailed in the 1970s.

"One day, the phone rings, it's Jimmy Page," says Aubrey "Po" Powell, the co-founder of Hipgnoses at Rolling Stone in 2017. "He said to me 'I saw an album coverthat you had made for a group called Wishbone Ash, ”in this case Argus."Would you like to do something for Led Zeppelin?"The guitarist will not give them the task easy, refusing to give them the proposals for titles, to listen to part of their unpublished, or even to give an overview of words.“Typical of Jimmy - very esoteric and strange.He told us ‘find me in three weeks, with ideas.You know what is our group style.»»

Unfortunately, the collaboration experienced a false departure, when Powell's partner, Strom Thorgerson, accidentally offensive with one of his proposals."He arrived by offering this image of an electrical green tennis court, with a tennis racket placed on it," recalls page for Guitar World."I told him 'what is the relationship between this fucking thing and our music?' And he said to me 'racket ... You do not understand?' I answered him 'are you insinuing that ourMusic is a racket?Get out! ’We never saw her again ... It was a real insult ... He had balls!»»

Fortunately, Powell knew how to calm the situation, and offer new ideas.One of them was to engrave the group's "Zoso" symbols in the Nazca lines in Peru ("I don't think the Peruvian authorities would have agreed," will later admit Powell).Instead, they chose to shoot on geological training in Northern Ireland called the Giants Chaussée.Rather than bringing a whole bunch of children, Hipgnosis invited only two - a brother and a sister, Samantha and Stefan Gates, aged seven and five respectively.

"We stayed in this small guest house next to the Chaussée des Géants," recalls Stefan, who has become a TV personality in Great Britain."I heard people who said they had put wigs on several children.But there was only me and my sister, and it is our real hair.I liked to be naked at this age, so it didn't bother me.I took off my clothes and I went for a good time, so I was in my element.»»

The memories of these ten days as his sister recalls them are less sunny."I remember the shoot very precisely, mainly because it was extremely cold and rained all the time," she said to the Daily Mail in 2007. "We were naked in many of the shoots we made,No one said anything about it at the time.Today you couldn't do it.»»

The little mild weather created a lot of problems, not just the lack of comfort."It rained ropes for a week, and I couldn't take the photo," explains Powell."So I told myself that I should create a black and white collage, only with children.The initial plan was to color their gold and silver bodies;But the gray sky made them look like ghosts, making the manual coloring necessary.The retouching process took two months, forcing the group to move the release date of the album from January to March.Peter Grant, the formidable manager of Led Zep constantly monitored Hipgnosis.

The designers could not afford a new delay, when the artist responsible for retouching accidentally gave children a purplish shade."When I saw him for the first time, I said to myself" Oh my God ".Then we looked at this, and I said "wait a minute, it gives new strength to the image," explains Powell."So we left as is.He presented the final result on page and Grant in his car, after a concert by Led Zeppelin."We were there with Jimmy, the beak cigarette, smoking a lot, her long dispersed hair, always dressed in her stage costume.About 200 people were around us, and looked at artwork.It was surreal.And I received my prize for applause from all this audience.»»

8- Un titre éponyme fut initialement enregistré, mais finalement rejeté.

Going against the style of the previous albums, Led Zeppelin gave his fifth opus a name inspired by cryptic symbols.Hosues of the Holy takes its name from a song that page had composed, whose words honored both the "sacred" places of adolescent communion-among which theaters, drive-in and concert halls-as well as the extentof the human soul."It talks about all of us, who are small houses of the healthy spirit, in a sense," he reveals in an interview given to Sirius XM in 2014. The piece had been recorded and mixed during session at ElectricLady Studios in June 1972, but was ironically deleted from the album that bears her name.The group will keep the song for its next album, the double disc discre Graffiti (1975).

9- Le groupe partira en tournée à bord de leur fameux jet privé, le Starship.

The North American tour of Led Zeppelin in 1973 will broke all the public records, even exceeding that of the Beatles established in Shea Stadium with the Tampa Stadium concert on May 5 where 56,800 fans gathered to see page, Plant, Jones andBonham Play a selection of their most recent titles.Now unbeatable rock heroes, the group needed a mount to its measure.To avoid changing hotels daily, they decided to stay in several large cities, and to charter an airplane to take them and bring them back from their concerts.

Journalist Chris Charlesworth, a member of the group's entourage on tour, remembers having seen roads meeting the group "in great red bathrobes, already ready, when they had just descended from the stage.They recovered them after the bis and quickly driven them to the airport while the crowd was still in the stadium applauded.No big aircraft lovers, Zeppelin found his first device, a Falcon 20 business jet, cramped and uncomfortable.When a series of turbulence threatened to crash the plane after the first series of concerts on the tour, they decided to abandon the Falcon for good.Peter Grand charged the Tour Manager Richard Cole to find a new plane, intimating him not to reluctant to expenditure with regard to the opulence of the device and his safety - in this order of priority.

The stars will fulfill the contract.The former Boeing 720b having belonged to United Airlines, initially bought by the idol of young Bobby Sheran and his manager Ward Sylvester a few years earlier, is transformed by the duo for the modest sum of $ 200,000, making the jet138 places a "fucking steering wheel" as Cole will qualify.The arrangements included a sofa that made the entire length of the plane, a bar, a sony tape recorder containing a series of films, ranging from the integral of the Marx brothers to the last porn films, a separate piece with a false fireplace, and aContinuation with shower and a covered bed of white fur.

The conscientious manager will obtain the rental of the jet for $ 30,000 for the three weeks, as well as a supplement for flight costs, amount to $ 2,500 per hour.After having made some crucial transformations - notably having painted "Led Zeppelin" on the cabin - the group discovers the aircraft at Chicago’s O’Hare airport on July 6.Even Hugh Hefner's private jet, parked next door, was pale in comparison."We were not the only group to have our private jet," notes page.“But we were the only ones to have a real plane.»»

The Starship will later welcome Elton John, the Allman Brothers, the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper and Peter Frampton ... But the stories of Zeppelin's debauchery will remain engraved in memories.Two young air hostesses, Bianca and Suzee served food and alcohol.Their tips took the form of hundred dollars tickets covered with white powder.

They certainly deserved a small bonus for having managed to manage some of the group's most surbulent members."John Bonham once tried to open the door while flying over Kansasq City, because he had to go to the toilet," said Suzee at the Sex York Times in 2003. The drummer also developed a passion for cockpit,where the border between passenger and pilot is gradually."He took us all from New York to L.A. once," recalls Grant."He had no license ..."

10- Rolling Stone n’a pas été très sympa avec l’album après sa sortie.

Les critiques de l’époque ne surent pas trop quoi faire de l’album quand il sortit en mars 1973. L’album rencontra des critiques mitigées, beaucoup d’entre elles affirmant que Led Zeppelin s’était égaré trop loin de leur rock des débuts. « Plant et Page sont étrangement léthargiques et absents, explosant très occasionnellement sur « Dancing Days » et ‘The Rain Spong’. » affirmait un article de Disc & Echo. « Après deux ou trois écoutes, Houses of the Holy se révèle être un travail assez inconsistant. » Même Chris Welch donnera un avis négatif, affirmant que « Zeppelin s’était perdu en chemin. »

Cependant, ce fut Rolling Stone qui donna le coup de grâce. Les critiques du magazine n’ont jamais été les plus fervents supporters du groupe, mais la chronique de Gordon Fletcher dans le numéro du 7 juin 1973 atteint un nouveau niveau de brutalité verbale. « Houses of the Holy est l’un des albums les plus nuls et déconcertants que j’ai entendu cette année, » déclare-t-il. Il cible ensuite chaque membre du groupe individuellement. « La guitare de Jimmy Page, avec John Paul Pones et John Bonham qui riffent derrière, mais l’effet est détruit par des roucoulements ridicules et une coda si flagrante qu’elle ne peut être que perçue comme un mépris du rock & roll. »

Il réserve ses dernières cartouches pour les deux « imitations » – « The Crunge » et « D’yer Mak’er » – qu’il qualifie de « largement les pires choses que le groupe ait jamais inventées. » Même les titres qui évitent les écueils précédents, ne servent qu’à mettre en valeur les « lacunes en matière d’écriture » de Page & Co. « Leur premier succès est venu quand ils se sont mis à voler littéralement chaque riff blues, note par note, donc je suppose qu’il est logique que rien n’irait avec leurs propres contenus. » En conclusion, il intime le groupe de se conformer à leurs racines « blues-rock ». « Tant qu’ils ne reviennent pas à cela, le Zeppelin n’arrivera jamais à gonfler. »

Four decades later, Kory Grow by Rolling Stone had the chance to listen to the album on the occasion of the release in Deluxe version in 2014. He was more tolerant of the group's desire to widen their palettemsuicalus."Decades of saturation have made these titles classics," he writes, "but when we put the album in context, wedged between the fourth opus of Led Zeppelin and the double-lp that was physical graffiti, these songstestify to an ardent desire for change.»»

Jordan Runtagh