About the Album:
“Led Zeppelin returned from a nearly two-year hiatus in 1975 with Physical Graffiti, a sprawling, ambitious double album” AM which has been hailed as “unequivocally their best, and potentially the greatest double-album ever.” PM It was “an artistic gamble, full of detours and moments of supreme triumph and quirky experimentation.” GW Led Zeppelin showed an ability to be “daring…and enthusiastically eccentric” GW as they try out “funk, country, R&B and even Celtic folk hymns.” RV “Like all successful double albums, it captures the unique personality of each band member” GW “rarely showcased elsewhere.” AM It “is a testament to the band’s unwavering belief in its craft.” GW
The result of such reach is that “to many, its synthesis of funk and Eastern music into the Hammer of the Gods Zeppelin thunder is a joy to behold, the sound of a band realizing there are no limits to its powers.” GW “The quality of Physical Graffiti is maddening, if only because few rock bands have ever lit such a pronounced match of badassery in such a small vacuum. The album is brutal, symphonic, dense and, at the end of the day, a tour de force of rock ‘n’ roll brilliance.” PM “The stretch from ‘Houses of the Holy’ through ‘Kashmir’ is so singular that you couldn’t imagine the record getting better after that—and then the band performs ‘In the Light,’ ‘Bron-Yr-Aur,’ ‘Down by the Seaside’ and ‘Ten Years Gone.’” PM
“To others, the album is dense and frustrating, stuffed with filler.” GW “Yes, some of this could be labeled as filler, but like any great double album, its appeal lies in its great sprawl.” AM “Even at its worst, Physical Graffiti towers above its hard rock peers of the mid-‘70s.” AM “Nothing before or after matched [its] sheer power and brilliance.” NO This “landmark album” NO “remains an essential part of any collection.” NO
How It Became a Double Album
“Led Zeppelin had eight new songs or so – enough for a cool album, but too many minutes in running time to fit on a single vinyl album.” AD Not wanting to sacrifice any of the new material, they pondered adding some live material before opting for including some archival material. AD The result “is the feeling that Physical Graffiti does absolutely everything, shows absolutely everything – that Led Zeppelin ever were.” AD
The Old…
Part of the inconsistency – or diversity – of the album, depending on the listener’s perspective, can be attributed to the history behind the tracks. Nearly half the material was recorded during earlier sessions.” NO
“Bron-Yr-Aur”
Bron-Yr-Aur dates back to sessions for Led Zeppelin III in July 1970. It “is a nice interlude, pretty folk acoustic stuff from Jimmy” AD Page “has never sounded sweeter.” NO
“Night Flight,” Boogie with Stu,” and “Down by the Seaside”
Night Flight, Boogie with Stu, and Down by the Seaside, which “is the closest they’ve come to country,” AM were recorded between December 1970 and February 1971 during sessions for Led Zeppelin IV. “Boogie with Stu” “was named for Ian Stewart, who had also played on IV’s “Rock and Roll.” GW It “sounds just like its title suggests. It’s a plain old rock n roll boogie – but fun… Robert Plant sounds utterly daft, and that’s fun – hugely enjoyable stuff.” AD
“Houses of the Holy”
Houses of the Holy was originally recorded for Led Zeppelin’s fifth album of the same name but left off. It “is as effervescent as pre-Beatles pop.” AM Critic Adrian Denning argues that the song is better than half of what ended up on that album. AD
“The Rover” and “Black Country Woman”
Those same May 1972 sessions produced “the monstrous epic The Rover” AM and Black Country Woman. The former features “Jimmy Page on the top of his game,” AD “cool riffs…[and] “fantastic guitar.” AD The latter “is a weird semi-acoustic thing, very eccentric and filler – but for the fact this album REQUIRES such songs.” AD
…And the New
The remaining eight tracks were new songs recorded in January and February 1974 at Headley Grange. Even on the new material, there is a concentrated effort at diverse songs.” AM
“Kashmir”
The band treated them “as forays into individual styles, only occasionally synthesizing sounds, notably on the tense…Kashmir,” AM the album’s “signature track” GW and “one of Zeppelin’s greatest songs.” RV It is an “Eastern-influenced melange of a full orchestra,” RV that is “John Paul Jones’ ‘Arabian string symphony.” GW It featured his “thumping bass,” RV “Robert Plant’s wail, Page’s infectious guitar licks,” RV and “John Bonham’s hard-hitting drums.” RV
Plant wrote the “surrealistic lyrics…while driving through the Sahara Desert in Morocco, far from Kashmir, which is located between Central and South Asia.” GW It is “a spellbinding monolith” GW which, “in many ways…distills the essence of Led Zeppelin: dramatic, epic, bewitching and fiery till the end.” GW
Critic Adrian Denning says the song is “more ‘epic’ than ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ more magnificent sounding than anything else they’d done.” AD
“Trampled Underfoot”
“With John Paul Jones’ galloping keyboard, Trampled Underfoot ranks as their funkiest metallic grind.” AM “These guys were on fire, absolutely. As for Robert Plant, apparently his voice was shot from all those years of touring and he had to learn a different method of projecting his vocals. Judging by the damn sexy performance he gives all through ‘Trampled Underfoot,’ with its wacky, funky keyboard sounds – he more than succeeded.” AD
“In My Time of Dying”
“Even the heavier blues – the 11-minute In My Time of Dying,” AM are “some of the heaviest Delta-style blues Zeppelin ever laid down.” GW Critic Adrian Denning calls it “the definitive Zeppelin blues workout.” AD “The sound of the drums, the actual SOUND of the drums! Just so damn good. Bass drum to the fore, so very heavy.” AD
“Custard Pie”
“The tightly wound Custard Pie” AM “carried on from the sound of the more ‘usual’ Zeppelin songs from Houses of the Holy – but my god is the riff good.” AD
“Sick Again” and “Ten Years Gone”
“Most of these heavy rockers are isolated on the first album, with the second half of Physical Graffiti sounding a little like a scrap heap of experiments, jams, acoustic workouts, and neo-covers. This may not be as consistent as the first platter, but its quirks are entirely welcome, not just because they encompass the mean, decadent Sick Again, but the heartbreaking Ten Years Gone.” AM
The former “is as heavy and magnificent as anybody could wish it to be. Jimmy Page goes supernova.” AD On the latter, “Plant shows a rare sensitive side.” RV The song “is built on a multi-layered foundation of Page’s guitars. Plants sings of the passing of time and lost love, delivering one of his most emotion-filled performances. RV
Notes: A 2015 deluxe edition added a bonus disc with rough or alternate mixes of “Brandy & Coke,” “Sick Again,” “In My Time of Dying,” “Houses of the Holy,” In the Light,” “Boogie with Stu,” and “Kashmir.”
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