Led Zeppelin - 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 humor than most people ever gave them credit for. --Billy Altman