Holier Than Thou

There are two tracks on Houses Of The Holy that you have to make excuses for; The Crunge, and D'Yer Mak'er. "Come on! It's the sound of the band relaxing and having fuh-hun! Does everything have to be serious? Lighten up!"

Ye-eah. Except this is like explaining a joke - you may get it, but you don't laugh. They're B-sides from a band that didn't make singles. The only album they'd make sense on is a box set. But there they are, and we're stuck with them. Or, you know, not.

If you want to hear Houses at its absolute Holiest, uncompromised by ill-advised attempts to make it a comedy album, the yoks have to go. Luckily there a couple of tracks written for the album held back for Physical Graffiti that fit a treat. One is, duh, the title track. That dull thumping sound you hear is my head on my keyboard. Yup, they shelved the title track so they could include their leaden, irritating stylistic imitations of funk and reggae. You like 'em? You think they add variety and lightness of tone? Fine - what you doing here? The other song through our musical Stargate is the acoustic country blues of Black Country Woman, which now leads beautifully into Over The Hills. Don't worry - they'll still be on Physical Graffiti when you play it. But there's just a chance you'll hear them more frequently here, on the album they were meant for.

Replacing the pastiches of black music genres the band was incapable of playing straight with a couple of polished jewels changes the whole tenor of the album, from an unsatisfactory compromise to a totally credible follow-up to IV. A little darker, a little stranger, and a whole lot stronger. This is what we pay them for, not fucking around in the studio.

Cover notes: I read somewhere that the original gatefold images were intended to be montaged together, but were left separate to cover both inner and outer sleeves. So here's what that would have looked like - a natural fit. Like it's what they always had in mind. Amazing! The perspective and scale, and the attitude of the figures, locks together as seamlessly as the revised track order. The beautiful typography - missing from the original - is from the later, censored release. Even if you have *cough* ethical qualms about desecrating a priceless cultural artefact by shuffling tracks, you can use this image for your digital player. Because it's a huge improvement, not least in the way it shifts the focus to the house on the hill.

So let me take you, take you to the movie
Can I take you, baby, to the show?
Why don't you let me be yours ever truly?
Can I make your garden grow?
You know that's right ...