Originally Posted by: schmangeI've never been a diehard Led Zepplin listener so I'm just curious if that album was a departure from their usual stuff or something. The only Led Zeppelin stuff I really know is Immigrant Song, Stairway to Heaven and the Presence Album.

I think the real departure album was Physical Graffiti, which came out right after Houses of the Holy. Come to think of it, Houses of the Holy was pretty different from the first 4 albums too. I would say Houses of the Holy was probably when they first realized there was more they could do than just bluesy rock and acoustic folk stuff. It was a pretty soft-sounding album compared to the first 4. Then Physical Graffiti came out, and it was more rock-oriented again, but there was a lot more keyboard usage.