I've been on a big Led Zeppelin kick lately and bought Houses of the Holy remaster last week. I noticed during "The Ocean" - about 1:36 in and lasting for about 15 seconds - there was some crackling (also noticed the phone ringing, which is kinda cool). I played it on a few different CD players with the same results. Figuring I picked up a bad pressing, I exchanged it for another copy (from a different Circuit City) and it still has the crackling.

Is that just how the song is supposed to sound?

My copy's like that, too. I've got the Complete Studio Recordings disc. Never noticed it before (never knew about the phone, either--thanks for pointing that out).

always thought this album was a tad underrated, as it doesn't get the same props as zoso or the first 2 albums. (The Rain song is my personal favorite zep song, as its a beautiful ballad.

and also, what is bonham saying at the begining of "the ocean"
regarding the crackling on "the ocean" i noticed it also. it might be the pressing, or it might be that the mixing isn't that great. I'd like to see if anyone has the original cd release (that is not remastered) to see if the crackling is there.

Thanks, guys. Good to know it isn't just my CD. It'd be nice to get the definitive word as to the crackling, though.

As for the telephone ringing and Bonham's words, this is taken from the song's Wikipedia entry:

I didn't even know about the phone ringing until reading this article. I'm thinking of adding Hammer of the Gods to my reading pile. Should I bother?

And rest assured, since I've begun buying their catalog on CD (so far, this and IV/Zoso/Runes/Whatever the hell you call it; II will likely be my next purchase), we're bound to get definitive deluxe editions of each album shortly - with crackling problems solved.

I wonder if its a 1 take wonder? also, around 45 seconds in, there seems to be some distortion on robert plant's vocal.

You should also look into physical grafitti. at the very end of the song "in my time of dying" the lyric is supposed to go "make it my dying dying dying.....breath" but before he could get to the last word, someone coughs in the background, and he says "dying...cough" and page does a very short improv solo, and then some indiscrete words are said before the next song starts (which happens to be "houses of the holy". from what i have heard over the years, to pad out the running time of the physical grafiti album (it was a tad too long for one lp), they put some older unused material, many accoustic outtakes from III (including bron yr stomp, which they played live alot)

Man, wait till you hear Physical Graffitti. The Ocean crackling is on the old vinyl LP also.

A slight change of subject. Whenever I hear Pink Floyd's "Money" on the radio I hear a voice say "You're cruisin' for a bruisin'" during the fade out. I've never been able to hear it on my old vinyl LP or on the cd either.

its on the cd. i have the 92/94 remaster, and its there. I saw the cover band "several species" perform this and it was amazing how it sounded. (but the true highlight for me that night was hearing the last 3 songs on dark side of the moon played as the encore at almost 1:30 in the morning. that night was unreal.

When you get to it you should definately get the DVD that they put out a few years ago. It is a 2 DVD set that covers concerts from 4 differant tours. Great great stuff. The video isn't so hot, but the audio is remastered and in 5.1 glory. Play it loud.

The version of The Ocean on the DVD is great. Bonham counts the song in live the same way he does on the album.

yah, when i owned the original cd, i was concerned that it was because of a shoddy transfer. but the remaster is the same too. must have peaked too high!

In listening to the track, it seems like the crackle pretty much coincides with a guitar solo coming into the mix. I would assume the crackle is part of that guitar track.

I'm old enough that I owned "Houses of the Holy" on vinyl, but me memory isn't good enough to remember if the crackle was there.