Physical Graffiti

Rating

Album: Physical Graffiti (Deluxe CD Edition)
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Custard Pie	More Info...
2)	The Rover	More Info...
3)	In My Time Of Dying	More Info...
4)	Houses Of The Holy	More Info...
5)	Trampled Under Foot	More Info...
6)	Kashmir	More Info...
1)	In The Light	More Info...
2)	Bron-Yr-Aur - Yr	More Info...
3)	Down By The Seaside	More Info...
4)	Ten Years Gone	More Info...
5)	Night Flight	More Info...
6)	The Wanton Song	More Info...
7)	Boogie With Stu	More Info...
8)	Black Country Woman	More Info...
9)	Sick Again	More Info...
1)	Brandy & Coke (Trampled Under Foot) [Initial/Rough Mix] - Initial Rough Mix)	More Info...
2)	Sick Again (Early Version)	More Info...
3)	In My Time Of Dying (Initial / Rough Mix)	More Info...
4)	Houses Of The Holy (Rough Mix With Overdubs)	More Info...
5)	Everybody Makes It Through (In The Light) [Early Version/In Transit]	More Info...
6)	Boogie With Stu (Sunset Sound Mix)	More Info...
7)	Driving Through Kashmir (Kashmir Rough Orchestra Mix)	More Info...
4)	Houses of the Holy	More Info...	0:04
5)	Trampled Under Foot	More Info...	0:05
6)	Kashmir	More Info...	0:08
7)	Boogie With Stu	More Info...	0:04
8)	Black Country Woman	More Info...	0:04
9)	Sick Again	More Info...	0:04

Album: Physical Graffiti (Deluxe CD Edition)
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Custard Pie	More Info...
2)	The Rover	More Info...
3)	In My Time Of Dying	More Info...
4)	Houses Of The Holy	More Info...
5)	Trampled Under Foot	More Info...
6)	Kashmir	More Info...
1)	In The Light	More Info...
2)	Bron-Yr-Aur - Yr	More Info...
3)	Down By The Seaside	More Info...
4)	Ten Years Gone	More Info...
5)	Night Flight	More Info...
6)	The Wanton Song	More Info...
7)	Boogie With Stu	More Info...
8)	Black Country Woman	More Info...
9)	Sick Again	More Info...
1)	Brandy & Coke (Trampled Under Foot) [Initial/Rough Mix] - Initial Rough Mix)	More Info...
2)	Sick Again (Early Version)	More Info...
3)	In My Time Of Dying (Initial / Rough Mix)	More Info...
4)	Houses Of The Holy (Rough Mix With Overdubs)	More Info...
5)	Everybody Makes It Through (In The Light) [Early Version/In Transit]	More Info...
6)	Boogie With Stu (Sunset Sound Mix)	More Info...
7)	Driving Through Kashmir (Kashmir Rough Orchestra Mix)	More Info...
4)	Houses of the Holy	More Info...	0:04
5)	Trampled Under Foot	More Info...	0:05
6)	Kashmir	More Info...	0:08
7)	Boogie With Stu	More Info...	0:04
8)	Black Country Woman	More Info...	0:04
9)	Sick Again	More Info...	0:04

Performer Notes

Led Zeppelin: Robert Plant (vocals, harmonica); Jimmy Page (acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, background vocals); John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards, background vocals); John Bonham (drums, background vocals).
Additional personnel: Ian Stewart (piano).
Recorded at Headley Grave, Hampshire, England; Olympic Studios and Islan, London, England; Stargroves, England between 1972 & 1974.
Audio Remasterer: Jimmy Page.
Recording information: Island Studios (01/1971); Olympic Studio No. 1, London, UK (01/1971); Ronnie Lane's Mobile, Headley Grange, UK (01/1971); The Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Stargroves, UK (01/1971); Island Studios (01/28/1974); Olympic Studio No. 1, London, UK (01/28/1974); Ronnie Lane's Mobile, Headley Grange, UK (01/28/1974); The Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Stargroves, UK (01/28/1974); Island Studios (02/15/1974); Olympic Studio No. 1, London, UK (02/15/1974); Ronnie Lane's Mobile, Headley Grange, UK (02/15/1974); The Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Stargroves, UK (02/15/1974); Island Studios (04/12/1972); Olympic Studio No. 1, London, UK (04/12/1972); Ronnie Lane's Mobile, Headley Grange, UK (04/12/1972); The Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Stargroves, UK (04/12/1972); Island Studios (10/25/1973); Olympic Studio No. 1, London, UK (10/25/1973); Ronnie Lane's Mobile, Headley Grange, UK (10/25/1973); The Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Stargroves, UK (10/25/1973).
Illustrator: Dave Heffernan.
Photographers: Elliott Erwitt; Ian Dickson; Ray Harper; Terry O'Neill ; Neal Preston; Pennie Smith; Michael Brennan ; B.P. Fallen.
Led Zeppelin returned from a nearly two-year hiatus in 1975 with the double-album Physical Graffiti, their most sprawling and ambitious work. Where Led Zeppelin IV and Houses of the Holy integrated influences on each song, the majority of the tracks on Physical Graffiti are individual stylistic workouts. The highlights are when Zeppelin incorporate influences and stretch out into new stylistic territory, most notably on the tense, Eastern-influenced "Kashmir." "Trampled Underfoot," with John Paul Jones' galloping keyboard, is their best funk-metal workout, while "Houses of the Holy" is their best attempt at pop, and "Down by the Seaside" is the closest they've come to country. Even the heavier blues -- the 11-minute "In My Time of Dying," the tightly wound "Custard Pie," and the monstrous epic "The Rover" -- are louder and more extended and textured than their previous work. Also, all of the heavy songs are on the first record, leaving the rest of the album to explore more adventurous territory, whether it's acoustic tracks or grandiose but quiet epics like the affecting "Ten Years Gone." The second half of Physical Graffiti feels like the group is cleaning the vaults out, issuing every little scrap of music they set to tape in the past few years. That means that the album is filled with songs that aren't quite filler, but don't quite match the peaks of the album, either. Still, even these songs have their merits -- "Sick Again" is the meanest, most decadent rocker they ever recorded, and the folky acoustic rock & roll of "Boogie with Stu" and "Black Country Woman" may be tossed off, but they have a relaxed, off-hand charm that Zeppelin never matched. It takes a while to sort out all of the music on the album, but Physical Graffiti captures the whole experience of Led Zeppelin at the top of their game better than any of their other albums. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.114) - Ranked #70 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...One of the heaviest records of the 1970s..."

Q (p.106) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he benchmark by which all rock double albums should be judged."

Q (6/00, p.74) - Ranked #32 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums"

Q (7/01, p.87) - Included in Q's "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time".

Q (11/94, p.143) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...a double that warranted its four-side excess with arresting experimentation and spot-on refamiliarisation..."

Paste (magazine) - "[T]he greatest double-LP in rock history -- a sprawling, ambitious masterwork that showcases all of the band's obvious (and not so obvious) strengths."