38 Years And We’re Still Looking For That Confounded Bridge

We've got four already, but now we're steady, and then they went 1, 2, 3, 4! Led Zeppelin's fifth studio album, Houses of the Holy was released on this day in 1973 and makes number 3 on the list of Five Albums I Could Listen To For The Rest of My Life.

Houses of the Holy was Led Zeppelin's fifth studio album and is the first one that's not officially named after the band. The album is a dedication by the band to the fans who went to their concerts at the venues, which they dubbed the Houses of the Holy. This album is also home to the song which they dedicated to the fans. That song would be "The Ocean", which is what they called their legions of fans as they saw them from the stage.

This record marked a real turning point for the band as they used more layering and different production techniques and is kind of far removed from the more bluesy sound they were used to in their first four albums. "D'yer Mak'er" is infused with a reggae beat, "No Quarter" is very spacey sounding and "The Crunge" is a funkdified tribute to James Brown. John Paul Jones also had a lot of fun using his new mellotron on "Over the Hills and Far Away" and "The Rain Song."

The release of Houses was originally slated for January of 1973, but album cover design issues delayed the release until March of 1973 and the band was already out on tour. A heavy pre-promote helped push the record to number one in the U.S. by the time their North American tour had kicked off. Houses stayed at number one for two weeks in the U.S. and also went to number one on seven other charts in five different countries.

*~By the way, "The Song Remains The Same" is AWESOME and is pretty much my favorite opening track for any record ever.~*

Here is Led Zeppelin performing "The Song Remains The Same" in L.A. March 25, 1975.