Led Zeppelin "Houses of the Holy" Atlantic K50014 A2/B2 STERLING + inner g/fold

	£		16
	$		21

Led Zeppelin ? "Houses Of The Holy"  Atlantic ?K 50014   Vinyl, LP, housed in a printed inner sleeve, which is, in turn, contained in a gate-fold  sleeve and released in 1973. This is an early UK release, with orange/white/green Atlantic labels with no WEA logo.
The vinyl appears to have been well looked after and is in great shape. It played through beautifully on my elderly stereo - no hop, stick or jump. It is housed in its original printed inner sleeve, which shows minimal signs of wear and which is also in great condition - no rips or writing. The gate-fold sleeve too is in great shape, with minimal signs of wear, again, no rips or writing. The spine is intact . Matrix / Runout  Side One : K 50014 A2 STERLING  Matrix / Runout  Side Two : K 50014 B2 STERLING 
"Houses of the Holy" is Led Zeppelin's fifth studio album. It was released on 28 March 1973 by Atlantic Records.
The album benefited from several band members installing studios at home, which allowed them to develop more sophisticated songs and arrangements, and expand their musical style. Several songs subsequently became fixtures in the group's live set, including "The Song Remains the Same", "The Rain Song" and "No Quarter". Other material recorded at the sessions, including the title track, was shelved and released on the later albums Physical Graffiti and Coda. All instruments and vocals were provided by the band members Robert Plant (vocals), Jimmy Page (guitar), John Paul Jones (musician) (bass, keyboards), and John Bonham (drums). The album was produced by Jimmy Page, and it was mixed by Eddie Kramer.
The cover was the first by the band to be designed by Hipgnosis and was based on a photograph taken at Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.
Although critical response was mixed, "Houses of the Holy" became a commercial success later receiving a Diamond (over 10-million albums sold) certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1999. 
This was Led Zeppelin's final studio release on Atlantic Records before forming their own label, Swan Song Records, in 1974, which would be distributed by Atlantic. It was also the only Led Zeppelin album that contained complete printed lyrics for each song.
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 UK in 1972–73.
"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". Gordon Fletcher from Rolling Stone called the album "one of the dullest and most confusing albums I've heard this year", believing the band had digressed from "the epitome of everything good about rock" to a watered down heavy metal act. However, the album was a commercial success and topped the UK charts and spent 39 weeks on the Billboard 200 albums chart including two weeks at number one (their longest stint since Led Zeppelin III).
In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau appraised "Houses of the Holy" favourably. 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". "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." In 2012, the album was ranked number 148 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.