This live album (and film) is now 40 year old, although of course the performances are older than that (a three night stand at Madison Square Garden in 1973). So I thought it was worthy of a thread.
I go for the 2007 version because it has more material. Concerning the songs on the original album, the Houses Of The Holy tracks are terrific- 'The Rain Song' in particular I find breathtaking, and 'No Quarter' has a jazzier feel than the studio one. 'Stairway To Heaven' is given a commanding performance. I've softened to 'Dazed And Confused', as sprawling as it is, although 'Moby Dick' will never hold any appeal.
With the 2007 version, there was controversy over changes made to 'No Quarter', and, if you read around online, there's the mixing-and-matching Page often uses on their live albums. However, the fact that there are no less than five strong performances added offers more than adequate compensation. Incredible that classics like 'Black Dog' and 'Since I've Been Loving You' were never on the original album. 'The Ocean' was actually the encore but here is on the end of Disc 1.
Wondering what people make of this one, all these years later...
Bookmarks