Houses of the Holy 50th anniversary, JP Posts rare Rain Song demo

[Sped Spedding]

On 4/9/2023 at 2:34 AM, ohjimmy said:

Love your channel….. and I don’t even play guitar! Your lessons are really informative and I appreciate the cheeky sense of humour. Keep up the great work.👍

 

Here’s a great Houses of the Holy doc if you haven’t seen it yet. Well worth checking out. Cheers

 

 

Super kind, both yourself and Ian. Thanks so much for the compliments and recommendation. 🙌🏻
 

[Ian Smith]

9 hours ago, Plant77 said:

Hello Sir, man, that is tough. It depends if it is studio or live. And the truth is, there isn’t a song I don’t love/like. When I say I am consumed by this band, I truly mean that. I suppose there are a few songs that are not my favorite. But really I absolutely love all of their songs. I am really into their later years right now. But next month I might be into the early years which is what I was introduced too. 
 

I am really into PG, and Presence and ITTOD right now as far as studio, and for live material, I am obsessed with anything Montreux and anything that is in SF which were my first Bootlegs I purchased. However, their 77 run in NY and LA is mind blowing and I love to throw that on and make my daughter listen to it. Sorry if I have not answered this question. But I am into all of it, no matter the year, and no matter the circumstances that they were under. I appreciate and love all of it. 

You couldn't have answered the question better. Wonderful answer my friend. Oh I love those 77 shows too. I love Plant's cracked and often broken voice the best. So raw and powerful. I also love the Knebworth shows. Hell, like you said so well, I appreciate and love all of it as well. 

Gotta say that 2 songs that leave me cold, Candy Store Rock and Hots on for Nowhere. Bonham kind of saves them for me. 

And I nominate you for coolest Dad ever 😎

[FillmoreDays]

On 3/28/2023 at 9:35 PM, luvlz2 said:

From a 2014 interview with Jimmy Page:

Has any of this kind of material been lost over the years?

 

Yes. I had a home demo of The Rain Song (from Houses Of The Holy). but unfortunately the tapes have been lost. Which is a real bastard.

 

**Was this a fully formed version of the song?**

 

Yes. I literally had the full piece from beginning to end. I had the Mellotron idea and everything on it. But the version of The Rain Song on the new companion disk is a really cool one. It's got less piano on it, so you get more of the guitar textures. I really like the version that we did on (1976 live album) The Song Remains The Same. I thought we were working it really well. These songs, you see, they're recorded and they come out on an album, and then they were included in the live set, and they would start to mutate. That was what was so good about it. So the live version on The Song Remains The Same is quite different to how it is on the studio version.

 

**Does that explain why Led Zeppelin was a one-band bootleg industry?**

 

At one point I think it was (laughs). But that's the thing with doing concerts differently every night, you see.

https://www.loudersound.com/features/interview-jimmy-page

 

From a 2020 Rolling Stone interview:

 

Have you discovered any new recordings since completing the box-sets project?

 

I recently found a really early [personal demo] tape that had been missing for a long while, but it's got the full orchestration of "Rain Song." It goes all through to the very end, the same way that you know it, even with the bit in the middle where it goes a bit heavier, before it goes back the the light and caressing parts. It's all in there, the Mellotron and everything. And it's not played as well, like the John Paul Jones version, because I knew he could do a really good job on it. But it''s there, every part of it, every phrase is there, slightly different. And then you hear things that didn't get used.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/jimmy-page-anthology-interview-bonham-led-zeppelin-1074825/

 

 

 

 

Having listened to this remarkable Rain Song demo a bunch of times now, I'm curious about the Mellotron part. As he states in the above post "‘The Seasons’ was a memo to myself as a reminder of the sequence of the song and various ideas I’d had for it in its embryonic stage. I’d worked on it over one evening at home."  The demo sounds like at least 4 guitar overdubs plus Mellotron and appears similar as we would come to know the final version. It just seems a bit out of place compared to other rough guitar demos and things we've heard in the past?

Curious if Jimmy ever mentioned having a Mellotron at home in 1972 or playing any keyboards back then, other than the above interview? As he says, "not played as well, like JPJ version" but it sounds competent for a quick demo one night at home for someone who didn't play keyboards. I know there's some rough dabbling on Mellotron on the Lucifer Rising soundtrack a bit later around 1974 and the Arp synthesizer.

 

[Plant77]

On 4/11/2023 at 6:08 AM, Ian Smith said:

You couldn't have answered the question better. Wonderful answer my friend. Oh I love those 77 shows too. I love Plant's cracked and often broken voice the best. So raw and powerful. I also love the Knebworth shows. Hell, like you said so well, I appreciate and love all of it as well. 

Gotta say that 2 songs that leave me cold, Candy Store Rock and Hots on for Nowhere. Bonham kind of saves them for me. 

And I nominate you for coolest Dad ever 😎

That is Rad my friend. I also agree with you selections, and yes JB saves those songs for sure! What an amazing band to have found, and to have obsessed on. There couldn’t be another band that you would do this with. The power and the mystery alone is just incredible. 
 

Thank you for all your awesome posts and thoughts! It is cool to read and explore the nuances of the band through someone. 
 

You have a great weekend my friend. I am going through 1970 right now just to hear the power and glory. I will say, the 77, and 79 tour was amazing! They had reached and developed into another band. That is just the absolute incredible path that these 4 men took along with their amazing manager. I have to say that Plants lyrics are overlooked, by Houses of the Holy he was on another planet. When we get to PG and Presence and then ITTOD that man is an absolute beast lyrically. I would say that he is in his own category all by himself. But really because he was the Black Dog man, and the Whole Lotta Love man, he gets overlooked constantly. 
 

Thanks again, be well, I hope to hear from you soon Sir. 

[Plant77]

On 4/11/2023 at 6:08 AM, Ian Smith said:

You couldn't have answered the question better. Wonderful answer my friend. Oh I love those 77 shows too. I love Plant's cracked and often broken voice the best. So raw and powerful. I also love the Knebworth shows. Hell, like you said so well, I appreciate and love all of it as well. 

Gotta say that 2 songs that leave me cold, Candy Store Rock and Hots on for Nowhere. Bonham kind of saves them for me. 

And I nominate you for coolest Dad ever 😎

Thanks for the nomination my friend. I agree that Bonham saves those songs. But sometimes depending on my mood Presence will become my favorite album. I have been trying to get my daughter into all of their albums of course, but I routinely make her listen to ALS, live or in the studio. 
 

Have a great night. I really appreciate the post. 

[Ian Smith]

On 5/8/2023 at 9:09 PM, Plant77 said:

Thanks for the nomination my friend. I agree that Bonham saves those songs. But sometimes depending on my mood Presence will become my favorite album. I have been trying to get my daughter into all of their albums of course, but I routinely make her listen to ALS, live or in the studio. 
 

Have a great night. I really appreciate the post. 

Cheers my friend from the mountains of Quebec

[z1inspector]

If i Remember correctly  Robert Plant was especially fond of the houses of the holy time period. And I can understand why! Just like he alluded to the fact that they had Already released the fourth album which had put them at the top of the world sO far ahead of whoevers number 2 as plant said in a interview  around then LMAO!!!

what was great was they had no issues with how to follow up the fourth release.  It was a time to take a look at their WORLD & feel it .They knew at that time exactly who they were & whatever will come next is (Hoth) just bursting out of them as they lay down new ideas ! Was more than just optimistic / was the feeling of their sum was larger than the Four and a “if you thought album 4was great “ “brace ya selves” ! 

Plant felt the force within the band ,they ALL DID !

& he was/they all were pushin without intimidation & musically as far as ideas & out put of material  obviously we know they had no problems as hoth  Was absolutely magical and soon tofollow was P graffiti a DOUBLE ALBUM that is My favorite but still the creativity fueled by such confidence on through Presence &  ITTOD still today takes my breath away!!!

i just cant imagine what they think of when they look over their sholders when they get together or even alone at nite, or just listening to a track alone !

they know it took each other to create what they did & even their manager & his freeing them up to do so , everything  played a part . Im sure they are quite humble ! 

As they will go down in history , taught in schools like Shakespeare  / Beethoven i am sure of this.

Im thankfull  that I am here  in the same  time line as such GIANTS Walked the Earth!