Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti

This album saved my brain!

This album will indelibly be associated with one of my worst acid trips ever way back in the late 80s. There was this block party in college, and I ended up sitting in a room for four hours, listening to this repeatedly, along with Back In Black by AC/DC. Luckily, my friend had a great record collection.

I remember Kashmir scared me, but, for some reason, In My Time of Dying, calmed me, and made me think that even if I met the Grim Reaper that day, it wouldn't be all that bad. Ten Years Gone is an epic among epics; of which this album basically consists.

So I want to thank Zeppelin for helping through a terrifying 12 or so hours. Right now I'm on a kick where I'm listening to the aforementioned Ten Years, along with Carouselambra from their final, In Through The Out Door, a truly underrated work. It's hard to believe in an age where a band makes one good MP3, just how many truly amazing songs and albums these fellas put out. It staggers the mind. July 1, 2008

Physical Graffiti - Enter into Paradise

They are without question the pinnacle of Rock n' Roll. Each cut on this album is a slice of heaven, especially Kashmir, a Rock n' Roll symphony. I had the honor and the privilege of seeing them in 1977 at Madison Square Garden for their Presence Tour. I sat 6th row on the floor (tickets had to be purchased via mail, for obvious reasons), and when they descended on stage from a platform it was as if the Gods had graced mankind with their Presence (get it?). If you even have a vague interest in Led Zeppelin, this album will be among your all-time favorites. June 24, 2008

Zeppelin's lone double studio album is one of rock's finest double albums ever

Led Zeppelin's sixth album Physical Graffiti was released in February of 1975(coincidentally the same month my older brother was born).
By 1975, Led Zeppelin was the biggest rock band in the world only rivaled by The Who, The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.
After the Houses of the Holy tour ended in 1973, Led Zeppelin formed their own record label Swan Song in conjunction with Atlantic Records and took a break.
In 1974, lead singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bass player/keyboard player John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham returned to Headley Grange (where Led Zeppelin III and IV were recorded) and began work on Physical Graffiti which was comprised of freshly new written material plus outtakes from their previous five albums. Would the result be a masterpiece or a waste, read ahead and find out (as I did when I first got the album on cassette tape on January 9, 1986 and eventually acquired the remastered CD).
We begin with the classic rocker "Custard Pie" which wasn't an ode to pastry baking but you get the picture. Page's riff here just kicked *ss and Plant sings about seducing a woman while getting her away from her folks. Next is another great rocker "The Rover". The track was a holdover from the Houses of the Holy sessions but a great song. Page and Bonham are on fire here. Plant's vocals on this track are superb. We then come to the longest song in the Zep repertoire called "In My Time Of Dying". The epic was inspired from a Bob Dylan song of the same name. The piece is led by some excellent slide guitar from Pagey with Plant's aching vocals, Jonesy's hypnotic bass and Bonzo's maniacal drumming.
The second side of the album kicks off with "Houses Of The Holy" which was an outtake from the album of the same name. This track is an upbeat pop influenced rocker that features some superb playing by the band. The album's only US Top 40 hit "Trampled Underfoot" (penned by Jones/Plant/Page) is next and is a funky number that sounds reminiscent to The Crunge from 1973's Houses Of The Holy as well as Stevie Wonder's classic Superstition. Jonesy's clavinet and Page's riff drives the track. The last song on the first disc and the second side of the original album is the eight and a half minute piece "Kashmir". This piece has a guitar riff that sounds Middle Eastern as it was written by Page/Plant/Bonham. Page's guitar work meshes perfectly with Bonham's heavy handed drumming to create the perfect atmosphere for the lyrics, which detail Page and Plant's travels to Morocco. This is one of rock's greatest epics. What Puff Daddy did to this track in 1998 was blasphemy to the enth degree.
The album's second disc and third side opens with the atmospheric Page/Jones/Plant epic "In The Light" which features superb keyboard work from Jonesy, guitar work from Page and vocals from Percy. The Led Zeppelin III outtake "Bron-Yr-Aur" is next and a great simple instrumental which was used in the Zep movie The Song Remains the Same a year after the track was released. Next is another Zeppelin III outtake "Down By The Seaside" which is upbeat and great use of electric piano and Leslie speaker drenched electric guitar. The third side ends with "Ten Years Gone" which is a bluesy reflection on life and mortality and a great piece.
The album's fourth side opens with a Zeppelin IV outtake "Night Flight" which is stripped own Zeppelin with just drums, bass, vocals and guitar plus an overdubbed organ part. This song has lyrics to it. Next is the Page/Plant rocker "The Wanton Song" which is another great Zeppelin rockerabout a rather bedeviling woman with Plant singing in a phased voice with excellent guitar work by Page. Next is a cover of the Ritchie Valens classic "Ooh My Head" dubbed "Boogie With Stu" which was a jam between Zeppelin and Rolling Stones' unofficial sixth member Ian Stewart (the "Stu" in the title). Next is another Houses of the Holy outtake "Black Country Woman" which is an acoustic number and features great harmonica work by Plant. We end the album with the rocker "Sick Again" which is a sign of things to come with the hard rockers they would record on their next album, 1976's Presence. Page's riff and Plant's lyrics are on fire here. Pagey uses great regular lead work and slide work on this track.
Physical Graffiti became Led Zeppelin's fourth US chart topper hitting #1 on the Billboard album chart after its release and to date has sold an astonishing 17 million copies in the US alone.
The remastering on this CD is astonishing!
RECOMMENDED! May 26, 2008

Maybe the Greatest Rock Album of All Time

Led Zeppelin is the greatest rock band of all time and this may be their greatest album. It is very near the pinnacle of rock music. Buy it and enjoy. May 5, 2008

Zeplin Rocks

Led Zeplin is it. Zeplin is old school. The best rock in my opinion.
My previous Physical Graffiti CD broke. & I thought Amazon will get me a new one fast.
Thank you Amazon. May 4, 2008

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