Hardly anything needs to be said about Led Zeppelin's massive influence in the universe of rock. Formed in 1968 out of the ashes of the Yardbirds, the band featured Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and former session guitarist Jimmy Page (who played with acts ranging from John Mayall to Jackie DeShannon). Drawing their inspiration from genres as diverse as rock, blues, folk, and psychedelia, Led Zeppelin became one of the most influential and most accoladed bands of the 1970s, releasing a total of nine studio albums and inspiring countless legions of fans and musicians right up to the present day.
Houses of the Holy, their fifth studio album, originally released in 1973, has since had
over 500 individual national and international releases on various formats and doubtless will see many more in the years and decades to come. This comparison is of the original U.S. CD release and the 1994 CD remaster helmed by Jimmy Page and George Marino. How do the two compare?
The Song Remains the Same
1985 original U.S. CD release
1994 CD remaster
The Rain Song
1985 original U.S. CD release
1994 CD remaster
Over the Hills and Far Away
1985 original U.S. CD release
1994 CD remaster
The Crunge
1985 original U.S. CD release
1994 CD remaster
Dancing Days
1985 original U.S. CD release
1994 CD remaster
D'yer Mak'er
1985 original U.S. CD release
1994 CD remaster
No Quarter
1985 original U.S. CD release
1994 CD remaster
The Ocean
1985 original U.S. CD release
1994 CD remaster
And the winner is: 1994 remastered version.
The Jimmy Page remastered disc represents such a dramatic sonic improvement over the earlier issue that this one is no contest. It is noticeably louder than its predecessor, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing in this case. Looking carefully at the waveforms, it does appear possible that there may have been some *very slight* compression of the very loudest peaks, but this may simply fall in line with normal mastering practice for evening out the sound. It's not entirely clear, but the dynamics appear pretty much intact, and so I am going to give this one to the 1994 disc. The 1994 Jimmy Page remaster is the clear winner, with bright, clear sound and no muddiness, released during a time when "remaster" didn't mean "brickwalled to hell." The dynamics are great, the sound is top notch, and I enthusiastically recommend this release over the earlier one.
