Houses Of The Holy

Buoyed by the runaway commercial success of Led Zeppelin IV, Jimmy Page used this 1973 follow-up to hone his already impressive production skills, and the result was a collection sporting an impressively expansive sound.

Benefiting – especially on tracks such as ‘Dancing Days Are Here Again’, ‘The Crunge’ and ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’ – was Zeppelin’s always underrated rhythm section: thunder-fisted drummer John Bonham and rock-solid bassist John Paul Jones. Jones also emerged here as a secret weapon on keyboards with his subtle work on more pensive fare such as ‘No Quarter’ and ‘The Ocean’. And the goofy ‘D’yer Ma’ker’ showed that Zeppelin had more of a sense of humour than most people ever gave them credit for.