Eddie Kramer's guide to Led Zeppelin's Houses Of The Holy

Houses Of The Holy was the sound of Led Zeppelin at the top of their game. Producer Eddie Kramer was at the helm, and these are his memories of those eight landmark songs

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In late April 1972, Led Zeppelin decamped to Stargroves, Mick Jagger’s Berkshire mansion,to start work on their fifth album. According to Robert Plant, it was a chance for Zeppelin to show another side to their personality. “It’s time that people heard something about us other than that we were eating women and throwing the bones out of the window,” the singer said at the time.

The man they initially brought in to help them get their goal on tape was renowned South African-born producer/engineer Eddie Kramer. Kramer hadworked with Zeppelin on III, on which he was credited as ‘Director Of Engineering’, although his most recent encounter with the band had ended badly following a row during sessions the previous year at Electric Lady studios in New York.

“Everything was going fine until they ordered in some Indian food,” says Kramer today. “A whole bunch ended up on the floor. I was pretty possessive about the place and I asked them to clear it up. And they all walked out!”

All that had been forgotten by the time Kramer got the call to fly to England to work with Zeppelin again. When he arrived at Stargroves, the band were in buoyant mood. “The weather was good, the atmosphere among the band was very jolly,” he says. “Jimmy had