Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 156.34.142.158 (talk) at 20:34, 29 January 2007 (removing vandalism). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Physical Graffiti is a double album by the English hard rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released on February 24, 1975 and was the band's first release on their own Swan Song Records label. The album has proven to be one of the most popular released by the group, having sold 16 million copies in the United States alone. The songs are placed on the album in such a way that they build up, each song acting like an introduction to the next. Jimmy Page's contributions are especially prominent, as the guitarist's style is evident in almost every song. At the same time, each member of the band is at the top of his form, and the album draws strength from the sheer variety of musical influences and styles. Physical Graffiti is frequently cited as one of the greatest hard rock albums ever, with many standout tracks.

The original album jacket for the LP included die-cut windows on the building shown on the cover; as the inner sleeves for the discs were inserted in different orientations, various objects and people would appear in the windows, including photos of the band members in drag. The two buildings photographed for the album cover are located at 96 and 98 St. Mark's Place in New York City .

The album was a massive fiscal and critical success, reaching #1 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. Shortly after the release of Physical Graffiti, all previous Led Zeppelin albums simultaneously re-entered the top-200 album chart.In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Physical Graffiti the 28th greatest album of all time; in 2000 Q placed it at number 32 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever; and in 2001 the same magazine named it as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums Of All Time. In 2003 the TV network VH1 named it the 71st greatest album ever. Rolling Stone ranked it #70 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Recording History

The recording sessions for Physical Graffiti took place in January and February 1974 at Headley Grange. Several of the songs on the album, however, were recorded during the sessions for previous Led Zeppelin albums. The instrumental "Bron-Yr-Aur" was recorded in July 1970 at Island Studios, London, for Led Zeppelin III. "Night Flight" and "Boogie with Stu" were recorded at Headley Grange and "Down by the Seaside" at Island Studios, all for Led Zeppelin IV. "The Rover" and "Black Country Woman" were recorded at the same sessions as "D'yer Mak'er" at Stargroves using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio in May 1972. "Houses of the Holy" was also recorded in May 1972, but at Olympic Studios. The album Houses of the Holy took its title from this song, despite the decision not to include the song on that album.

The remaining eight songs were all recorded during the sessions for Physical Graffiti in early 1974. Additional overdubs were added and the final mixing was performed in October 1974 by Keith Harwood, resulting in the album's consistent overall feel. One noteworthy aspect of this album is the way the individual songs seem to 'fit' together in the playing order and how each track seems to flow naturally after the one before it. This is surprising given the fact that the songs were recorded over a period of four years at different studios.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Custard Pie" (Page/Plant) – 4:13
2. "The Rover" (Page/Plant) – 5:37
3. "In My Time of Dying" (Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham) – 11:05

Side two

1. "Houses of the Holy" (Page/Plant) – 4:02
2. "Trampled Under Foot" (Page/Plant/Jones) – 5:36
3. "Kashmir" (Page/Plant/Bonham) – 8:29

Side three

1. "In the Light" (Page/Plant/Jones) – 8:46
2. "Bron-Yr-Aur"* (Page) – 2:06
3. "Down by the Seaside" (Page/Plant) – 5:13
4. "Ten Years Gone" (Page/Plant) – 6:32

Side four

1. "Night Flight" (Jones/Page/Plant) – 3:36
2. "The Wanton Song" (Page/Plant) – 4:07
3. "Boogie with Stu" (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant/Stewart/Valens-**) – 3:53
4. "Black Country Woman" (Page/Plant) – 4:24
5. "Sick Again" (Page/Plant) – 4:42

-* Some cassette versions of the album place "Bron-Yr-Aur" immediately after "Kashmir," presumably to make each side of the cassette last approximately the same amount of time.

-** Credited to "Mrs. Valens, mother of Ritchie Valens". According to Jimmy Page, since the jam leaned heavily on "Ooh My Head" by the late Ritchie Valens, it was decided to give credit to his mother "because we heard she never received any royalties from any of her son's hits, and Robert did lean on that lyric a bit. So what happens? They tried to sue us for all of the song! We had to say bugger off".

Miscellaneous

• There was a reference to this album in an episode of Sifl and Olly where during a Precious Roy ad Olly appears to be on drugs and is exclaiming gibberish; at one point Olly exclaims, "Can you hear it Sifl? Its Led Zeppelin!" Sifl responds by saying, "Okay, what album is it?" Olly then begins to cry and says, "PHYSICAL GRAFFITI! Its Precious Roy's Favorite!"
• The building on the cover is the same building Mick Jagger is in front of in the Rolling Stones music video "Waiting on a Friend", and is found at 96-98 St. Mark's Place in Manhattan.
• Physical Graffiti contains the shortest and the longest studio recordings by Led Zeppelin: "Bron-Yr-Aur" and "In My Time of Dying", respectively.

Credits

• Led Zeppelin:
  • Jimmy Page - Acoustic and Electric Guitar, Mandolin, Producer
  • Robert Plant - Harmonica, Vocals
  • John Paul Jones - Bass, Keyboards, Mellotron, Guitar, Mandolin
  • John Bonham - Drums, Percussion
• George Chkiantz - Engineer
• Peter Grant - Producer, Executive Producer
• Keith Harwood - Engineer, Mixing
• Andy Johns - Engineer
• Eddie Kramer - Engineer, Mixing
• George Marino - Remastering
• Ron Nevison - Engineer
• Ian Stewart - Piano on "Boogie With Stu"
• Mike Doud - Artwork, Design, Cover Design
• Peter Corriston - Artwork, Design, Cover Design
• Elliot Erwitt - Photography
• Dave Heffernan - Illustrations
• B.P. Fallon - Photography
• Roy Harper - Photography

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Singles - Billboard (North America)

External links

References

1. Stephen Davis (1995). Hammer of the Gods (LPC). pp. 225, 277 ISBN 033043859 .

• Pages with empty short description
• Led Zeppelin albums
• 1975 albums
• Double albums