Physical Graffiti

The sheer weight of tracks like Custard Pie, Kashmir, The Rover would sit well in any band's entire canon but they are here on the first disc! Above all, it's the way the band nail every song in total sympathy with each other. True, Page lays down the guitar overdubs at times like he has to sell them tomorrow, but what a result.

And as an answer to the question 'where is the follow-up to 'Stairway to Heaven?' look no further than Kashmir and Ten Years Gone as worthy replacements.

Usually by side four, bands start to waver and it's true that Zep added some earlier also-rans but they stand up by themselves and only once drop into the realms of 'filler' on the singalong 'Boogie with Stu', but an album that can end on a great rock track after 80 minutes puts that into perspective and 'Sick again' is a worthy closer.

30 years on, it still hits all the right buttons.


Zeppelins Finest Moment.   July 10, 2006
JT (Essex)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

This album shows Zep at there very best. As previous reviews have stated it`s a collection of [then] new recordings mixed with older tracks from previous sessions that didn`t make it onto there previos albums. Some of the best Riffs in Rock/Metaldom reside on this album. "Kashmir" "Rover" "Ten Years Gone" etc. Page was experimenting with Eastern music & incorporated it into this album. "In THe Light" & "Kashmir" show this of brilliantly. The songs that were written for this album are simply the best collection Zep ever wrote. The only down side of this album was that after 2yrs solid touring Plants voice was shot & it shows. Not his best vocal sound but good enough, It`s Page that shines on this album & delivers his finest guitar playing. Check Out the best track on the album "Ten Years Gone" for proof of how good he really was. Bonhams drumming is outstanding to. Jones holds the whole thing together as usual as Page weaves his magic. Page regards this album as Zeps most Honest album, he`s right it`s great. If your New to Zep & Rock / Metal then this album is a great place to start. Highly recommended.


Rock Gods in Their Prime   December 13, 2007
Chuck E (UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

All the hoop-la surrounding the mothership of all reunions had me delving back into my vinyl collection try to recall the impact of the Zep behemoth on an impressionable teenager. Zep I and II set the template, Led Zep III took off in another direction to remind everyone that the band had too much imagination to be ghettoised under the label `heavy metal'. Zep IV then fused the hippie/folk/blues/metal elements into a rock masterclass that would render any attempt at emulation hopeless. Houses of the Holy followed up in the only way possible, by experimenting in new directions/arrangements.

So, by Physical Graffiti the band had scaled the heights and were already gazing down from the rock pantheon - where to go from there? This is where I came in. Of course I'd heard the Top of the Pops theme tune but back then, unless you had an older brother, it was quite possible to never hear or see Led Zeppelin - no singles meant no radio play (unless you knew about John Peel), videos hadn't been invented. So it was purely on seeing a strange but inspired film clip of some 1920s dancing girls flapping to some American singer (as I then thought) wailing away over the megariff of Trampled Under Foot (see YouTube) that prompted me to shell out on a double cassette without having heard of Led Zeppelin. Slapping it into my mono tapedeck, the sublime noise that was Custard Pie cast a spell that has lasted 30 years. The downside is - nothing is ever going to sound that good again. The combination of raw power and stunning musicianship was just irresistible. With twelve rock classics on one album this was the high water mark. Presence had a couple of tracks (Nobody's Fault and Achilles Last Stand) that would hold their own on a `best of', but never again would they be able to compete with a back catalogue that included Custard Pie, In My Time of Dying, Trampled Underfoot, Kashmir, Ten Years Gone. The range of Plant's vocals, Page's riffing, Bonham's murderous drumming and JPJ's bass/keyboard work on this album has no equal.

You'll never spend under a tenner more wisely.



The Best's Best   November 16, 2007
Crazy Bald Heid (Surrey, England)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

In my opinion the high water mark for the greatest rock band. They were clearly at their peak when this was made, creatively bold and exciting.

This sprawling set starts with a straight up riffy rocker Houses of the Holy, title track on the wrong album.

Trampled underfoot is simlarly rocky but Percy comes on all Noddy Holder with his roughest vocal, a really stirring track.

Kashmir, Zeppelins most epic epic. Perennial poll topper on Tommy Vance's Friday Rock show (remember when BBC used to play rock). Whilst the motif is repetetive, it never feels like a repetetive song because it is one hell of a riff. Bonzo's thumping driving drum track as ever is relentless in its intemsity. Exotic, thumping, massive classic. Possibly their finest hour (or 9 minutes anyway), a true ensemble piece.

Custard pie stomps away in a similar fashion to Trampled Underfoot, great rocker.

The Rover is a hidden gem, as with all Zeppelins rock songs driven by great riffs and impossibly tight rhythms.

In My Time of Dying is an old Delta blues reworked, no one does blues rock like these boys. Overlong? I really don't think so. I love it right up to Percy's dying cough at the end. Ace.

In the Light's, multitracked opening vocal and reedy organ sounds otherworldly, but it opens out into a beautiful rock song.

Bron Y Aur Stomp is Jimmy Page showing his virtuosity in a terrific acoustic piece, a change down in gear from the monster riffs that cram this album.

Down by the seaside has a ethereal, trippy quality which belies a melodic beauty. Another of the Zep songs which builds.

Ten Years Gone is another lengthy blues rock work out, beautiful riff.

Night Flight is a return to more straight forward rock, more melodic than the Wanton Song which follows.

Boogie with Stu is a boogie woogie work out with erstwhile "6th Stone" Ian Stewart at the piano. Sounds like a great after hours sing song.

Black Country Woman continues the boogie woogie styling, nothing earth breaking but a good tune nonetheless.

Sick Again a big, blues rocker like no other closes the greatest of albums

This is not to everybodys taste but I never tire of it, in cd form I miss the original New York brownstone building package with the windows, although I have the Japanese replica, it is too small. The remaster is excellent, the original cd release was a little tinny. Everything about this album is epic, the riffs on here would fill most player careers.

Enjoy.