[4][5] The album benefited from two band members installing studios at home, which allowed them to develop more sophisticated songs and arrangements and expand their musical style.

Other material recorded at the sessions, including the title track, was shelved and released on the later albums Physical Graffiti (1975) and Coda (1982).

Although critical response was mixed, Houses of the Holy became a commercial success, later receiving a Diamond certification[6] by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1999 for at least 10 million copies sold in the US.

They were keen to record on location using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio as it had been an enjoyable experience for their untitled fourth album, released the previous year.

[8] After touring Australia, in April 1972 the group decided to take the mobile studio to Mick Jagger's home, Stargroves, a manor house and country estate in Hampshire.

[10] Both guitarist and producer Jimmy Page and bassist / keyboardist John Paul Jones had installed home studios, which allowed them to arrive at Stargroves with complete compositions and arrangements.

According to the band's biographer Dave Lewis, "while the barnstorming effect of the early era was now levelling off, and though devoid of the electricity of Zeppelin I and II, the sheer diversity of the third album, and lacking the classic status of the fourth, Houses of the Holy nevertheless found its rightful niche.

[13] Pete Prown and HP Newquist have called it "a diverse collection of rockers, ballads, reggae, funk, and fifties-style rock 'n' roll".

The track was occasionally performed as an impromptu piece in concert, usually in the middle of another song such as the fast guitar solo section in "Dazed and Confused".

Led Zeppelin's general policy was to not release singles in the UK, and though test and promotional pressings were produced there, the rest of the group vetoed the idea.

The track quickly became a live favourite, and was featured at every show from 1973 through 1979, providing Jones with an extended solo showcase in the middle, and a jam session with a variety of different styles.

The middle of the track features an a cappella vocal break sung by Plant, Bonham and Jones, while the ending was another pastiche of the doo-wop style.

[20] That album also included two songs from Houses of the Holy's Stargroves sessions, "The Rover" and "Black Country Woman" (the latter recorded in the outdoor garden).

Shooting was done first thing in the morning and at sunset in order to capture the light at dawn and dusk, but the desired effect was never achieved due to constant rain and clouds.

The programme ended with Gates returning to Giant's Causeway and listening to the album on a portable player, after which he said that a great weight had been lifted from him.

Furious that Thorgerson was implying, by means of a visual pun, that their music sounded like a "racket", the band fired him and hired Powell in his place.

[37] "The epic scale suited Zeppelin: They had the largest crowds, the loudest rock songs, the most groupies, the fullest manes of hair.

[39] Houses of the Holy originally received 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".

While mocking the solemnity of "No Quarter" and finding some tracks derivative of previous albums, he found side one "solid led" with "sprung rhythm" and a "James Brown tribute/parody/ripoff" in "The Crunge" that complements the second side's "two amazing, well, dance tracks" in "Dancing Days"'s "transmogrified shuffle" and the reggae of "D'yer Mak'er".

[28] "Throughout the record, the band's playing is excellent," wrote AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, "making the eclecticism of Page and Robert Plant's songwriting sound coherent and natural.

[7] In 1991, Chuck Eddy ranked Houses of the Holy 45th in his book of the 500 best heavy metal albums, writing that as with "the Byrds in the sixties and college radio in the eighties", the band "forfeit hookage for janglage".

He noted that despite fans of the band's "lead mode" being critical of the funk and reggae excursions, "fun" songs like those and "Dancing Days" mark the album's best material, highlighting Bonham's great steel drum-esque sounds on "D'yer Maker", as well as praising "The Rain Song" for being "my kinda new age".

[50] Consequence of Sound writer Kristofer Lenz said, "The remastering of this album is a blessing to the careful compositions and mannered performances throughout the record.

"[13] "Houses of the Holy might be Zeppelin's most impressive album on a purely sonic level," wrote Pitchfork's Mark Richardson, "and this particular remaster reinforces that notion."