POLL: Best Song on Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy

"Dancing Days," probably my favourite Led Zeppelin song, period.

"The Ocean"

I am having a hard time deciding between "The Ocean" and "D'Yer Mak'er".

"Over The Hills And Far Away"

Radio could use a "D'Yer Mak'er" moratorium like they did with "Stairway to Heaven" years ago.

I am looking forward to seeing the performance of "The Crunge" in this poll.

D'yer Maker=best drums ever

"Rain Song"

ha, Kenny G (WFMU's Kenny G) must be reading this thread.

No Quarter. I don't like the rest too much. In fact the only Zep I really like are III and Physical Graffiti.

Wow, practically every song mentioned within the first couple of posts.

no quarter is the answer. we need a poll for this?

The only song not singled out thus far is the title track, and that would be my #2 (after "Rain Song")

There is no title track, at least for another two years at least.

And then it isn't exactly a title track either :)

Oops, that's right ha ha :)

I voted for the Song Remains The Same. One of my favorite LZ songs on my least favorite LZ album.

'dancing days'...with 'over the hills and far away' and 'the ocean' nipping at the heels.

the intro to 'the song remains the same' is breathtaking, but the song takes a minor nosedive once plant steps up to the mic

least fave zep record?

i think it might be my fave. some days it's probably III though.

I loved it when I was 15, but that was 20 years ago. I got bored of it really quickly.

"Dancing Days": Love the snaky, multiple guitars and that catlike lead riff- the come hither tempo - the way it all sounds so gloriously STONED. One of my favorite Zep tracks, definitely.

'over the hills and faraway'. swings along very nicely and I like the acoustic beginning.

'song remains...' is also great. weirdly i always preferred this album to IV which I think is so overrated.

Where's that confounded bridge?!

This is TOUGH. Worst song would be easy peasy ("NQ").

Very tough, but I'm going to have to go with "The Song Remains the Same," with "Rain Song" as a close second.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"Over the Hills" I think, but it's a tough one.

I've got an erratic tape player in my car. It plays most of this album fine, but right at the start of 'No Quarter' it slows down and plays at a wobbly half-speed. It's like the soundtrack to a nightmare.

Going with 'Dancing Days' because it's a great tune to listen to in the summer.

Lots of multi-tracked guitars on this record.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Not sure I've ever listened deep or attentively enough into this album to notice the WONDERFULLY goofy synth on "The Crunge" - shit sounds like a Commander Keen background track! <3

I don't think there's any album I associate more with my adolescence than this. I have these very strong memories of listening to it on my walkman while on some road trip, rewinding rain song over and over again and pining for some girl from summer camp, and then at home as a newb guitarist trying to figure out how the hell Jimmy Page made the chords sound like that.

Something about the super-saturated sound is perfect for boiling-over hormones.

This is one of their most elusive records for me - been giving it a few spins, trying to see if anything sinks more. Several songs are very distinct in my mind, but "The Rain Song" and "The Song Remains the Same" sort of disappear the moment I'm done listening to them. Maybe I'm a shallow listener who kinda needs a big obvious riff or chorus to make the song stick with me. They can go too far in the other direction; Dancing Days kinda wears me out in this sense. That's a lot of the record, but even on the songs I don't love, the playing is really good and it just sounds great coming out of the speaker. Would've voted "Over The Hills," but runners-up to "The Ocean" for best riff and "The Crunge" for most fun.

Despite many years of disliking "D'yer Mak'er," I gotta go "No Quarter" for worst - the riff is great, but it's so long and dreary and Plant's vocal combined with the watery warble effect they have on it means that whenever the arrangement opens up to give him a major line, he sounds ridiculous, spoiling the effect. "The dogs of doom" and "the winds of Thor" particularly - yikes!

Assuming I knew how to play an instrument, I'm certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could crank out a note-perfect rendition of 'The Song Remains the Same' and 'The Rain Song' from memory. They are perma-ensconced in my brain. I'd advise listening to the album maybe like a hundred more times if you're interested in becoming similarly familiar.

(I probably listen to the run from III through Physical Graffiti once every couple months on average.)

I learned the Rain Song (well the majority of it) recently and it is a p weird song. It's in C6 tuning for one thing.

I've actually been sort of working my way back in their career lately - big chunk of the record collection that I just haven't given too much time in ages. Burned out on IV circa senior year of high school, put that on today for the first time in at least a decade and it sure sounded good. Not sure I could quite give Houses a hundred more listens but no reason not to keep it in rotation for a while.

The Ocean is my favorite off the record. Great riff, love the doo-wop outro.

The Song Remains The Same is a relatively unmemorable melody but the intro is so thrilling, amazing rising action--perfect album opener.

The stuff in between is pretty good too, even if I'm sick of D'Yer Mak'er

I agree with the top 2

Me too. This is my second favourite Zep after Physical Graffiti.

I learned the Rain Song (well the majority of it) recently and it is a p weird song. It's in C6 tuning for one thing.

― Οὖτις, dimanche 10 avril 2016 17:47 (Yesterday)

yeah, me too a couple of years ago. it's so satisfying to play. almost a physical pleasure. clearly one of my favourite songs to play on a guitar (and so my favourite song of the album).
the only problem is it's a bit annoying to have to change the tuning of the guitar just for that one song !

The Song Remains the Same always sounds to me like Led Zeppelin's James Bond Theme. You got the big action part up front with Roger Moore on Jet Skis or horseback then the smoothe back end when you roll the credits and have women swim naked around Bond's gun awashed in psychedelic early 70s colors.

I can totally hear it. Surprised there's not already a supercut of it.

Thanks, Google. Never mind, earl.

http://i.imgur.com/pcyp6mD.jpg

Ha! Forgot about that one. The Song Remains the Same would fit as a Bond title too.

The Song Remains the Same always sounds to me like Led Zeppelin's James Bond Theme. You got the big action part up front with Roger Moore on Jet Skis or horseback then the smoothe back end when you roll the credits and have women swim naked around Bond's gun awashed in psychedelic early 70s colors.

― earlnash, Monday, April 11, 2016 8:25 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol, I never would have thought of this but it works

I don't think there's any album I associate more with my adolescence than this. I have these very strong memories of listening to it on my walkman while on some road trip, rewinding rain song over and over again and pining for some girl from summer camp, and then at home as a newb guitarist trying to figure out how the hell Jimmy Page made the chords sound like that.

Something about the super-saturated sound is perfect for boiling-over hormones.

― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Saturday, December 14, 2013 10:13 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Also now remembering that I spent a lot of time trying in vain to figure out Bonham drum parts (I was pretty bad at drums at the time) and in particular how to make the drums SOUND like that (having no idea that a lot of it was production).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gTkWU3Ywwo

This is easily "The Rain Song" for me.

Even though it was recorded all over the place - like most of their albums - this seems like their brightest and best sounding album up till then. By no means my favourite though.

Has anybody ever covered The Rain Song with real strings instead of the Mellotron? I'd love to hear a mega-lush version of the song.

Love mellotron strings tho.

predictably "Over the Hills" for me, but honestly I just love listening to this thing as a whole. was my favorite Zep for a very long time. maybe still is.

"No Quarter" a close second.

Rain Song is indeed amazing though

Love this album sm but it's still Over the Hills in a heartbeat

I wouldn't call the 1994 Page & Plant rendition of "Rain Song" a cover, right? But the below as well as 'Four Sticks" and "Friends" are stirringly rendered by the accompaniment of an Egyptian orchestra and a moroccan string band… I think that P&P project was pretty fucking awesome, including Walking through Clarksdale, and Unledded is the only unplugged exponent that is worth more than a syphlitic dog testicle… like, I never thought a version of "Kashmir" associated with the Unplugged franchise could possibly be any good, but with the accompaniment I mentioned above, it is DEVASTATING.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeDylD8dV7U

for some reason the one song I could never quite get a handle on here is “dancing days”… there’s barely any harmonic movement or energy shifts, it’s weird

This was the first Zeppelin album I bought, and it's still my favorite. I love every song on it, including "D'Yer Maker." That said, my pick is "No Quarter." However, almost nothing rocks harder than "The Ocean" (even more so the version on How the West was Won).

Jimmy Page looks like Rosanne Bar there

Barr even

The TPL review of it is amazing. Even tho it barely mentions my favourite.
https://nobilliards.blogspot.com/2011/06/led-zeppelin-houses-of-holy.html

I think this poll mostly gets it right, but I can't stand Dancing Days - I find it dull and plodding, and it sounds like they tried really hard to write a single. The short harmonized guitar solo/bridge is probably the only thing that saves it for me.

I like it but you can't dance to it

I think I could sign off if The Ocean and Dancing Days were swapped. DD is still better than Crunge - which is kind of a throwaway - and Dyer Maker, which is deeply irritating at this point.

I like "Dancing Days". I don't like either "The Crunge" or "D'yer Maker", despite Marcello's best efforts.

i think a big part of the problem with D'Yer Maker is the lyrics sound like Sting wrote them

Agree about Unledded, it was a current release when i was getting into this band and i think the second LZ-related album i bought (after IV) or maybe even the first. i haven't heard it in years but i listened to the studio recording of No Quarter over the summer with the Unledded version in mind and it was disappointing. I wish there were more classic rock dudes who were trying to be Najma Akhtar.

Sting couldn't have written them b/c the song has no awkward polysyllabic word.

I think this poll mostly gets it right, but I can't stand Dancing Days - I find it dull and plodding, and it sounds like they tried really hard to write a single. The short harmonized guitar solo/bridge is probably the only thing that saves it for me.

Not uniquely, no.

I’m the biggest fan on my block but I have 0.0 pct interest in hearing Clarksdale or Unledded

both are duds

I forgot about the Page & Plant version of Rain Song, and also forgot that I have the Gallows Pole CD single with Rain Song as a b-side.

That middle eastern version of Four Sticks kills me.

I just listened to this album and Over The Hills And Far Away is indeed a worthy winner.