Release and Critical Reaction
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Billboard | Favourable |
| Robert Christgau | A− |
| Entertainment Weekly | A |
| Rolling Stone (1973) | Unfavourable |
| Rolling Stone (2003) | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Yahoo! Music | Favourable |
This was Led Zeppelin's final studio release on Atlantic Records before forming their own label, Swan Song Records, in 1974. It was also the only Led Zeppelin album that contained complete printed lyrics for each song.
| "The epic scale suited Zeppelin: They had the largest crowds, the loudest rock songs, the most groupies, the fullest manes of hair. Eventually excess would turn into bombast, but on Houses, it still provided inspiration." |
| —Gavin Edwards, Rolling Stone. |
Although intended for release in January 1973, delays in producing the album cover meant that it was not released until March, when the band was on its 1973 European tour. The album was promoted heavily before the commencement of Led Zeppelin's subsequent North American Tour, ensuring that it had ascended the top of the American chart by the beginning of the tour. Because much of the album had been recorded almost a year previously, many of the songs which are featured on the album had already been played live by Led Zeppelin on their concert tours of North America, Japan, Europe and the United Kingdom in 1972–1973.
Upon its release, the album received some mixed reviews, with much criticism from the music press being directed at the off-beat nature of tracks such as "The Crunge" and "D'yer Mak'er". However, the album was very successful commercially, entering the UK chart at number one, while in America its 39-week run (2 of them spent at number one) on the Billboard Top 40 was their longest since their third album.
In 2012, the album was ranked number 148 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Read more about this topic: Houses Of The Holy
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