''Physical Graffiti'' is the sixth studio album by the English
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
. It was released as a
double album
A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...
on 24 February 1975 by the group's new record label,
Swan Song Records
Swan Song Records was a record label launched by the English rock band Led Zeppelin on 10 May 1974. It was overseen by Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant and was a vehicle for the band to promote its own products as well as sign artists who f ...
.
The band wrote and recorded eight new songs for the album in early 1974 at
Headley Grange
Headley Grange is a former workhouse in Headley, Hampshire, England. It is a Grade II listed historic building. It is best known for its use as a recording and rehearsal venue in the 1960s and 1970s, by acts including Led Zeppelin, Genesis a ...
, a country house in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
, which gave them ample time to improvise arrangements and experiment with recording. The total playing time covered just under three sides of an LP, so they decided to expand it into a double by including previously unreleased tracks from the sessions for the earlier albums ''
Led Zeppelin III
''Led Zeppelin III'' is the third studio album by the English rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 5 October 1970. It was recorded in three locations. Much of the work was done at Headley Grange, a country house, using the Rolling St ...
'', ''
Led Zeppelin IV
The untitled fourth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, commonly known as ''Led Zeppelin IV'', was released on 8 November 1971 by Atlantic Records. It was produced by guitarist Jimmy Page and recorded between December 1970 and Fe ...
'' and ''
Houses of the Holy
''Houses of the Holy'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released on 28 March 1973 by Atlantic Records.
The album benefited from two band members installing studios at home, which allowed them to develop mor ...
''. The album covered a range of styles including
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
,
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
,
rock 'n' roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
and
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
. The album was then mixed over summer 1974 and planned for an end-of-year release; however, its release was delayed because the
Peter Corriston Peter Corriston is a Grammy-award winning graphic designer currently based in Greenwich Village, notable for designing the album artwork for several major rock bands and musicians. Corriston has worked internationally with such artists as Billy Idol ...
-designed
die-cut album cover proved difficult to manufacture.
''Physical Graffiti'' was commercially and critically successful upon its release and debuted at number one on album charts in the UK and number three in the US. It was promoted by a successful US tour and a five-night residency at
Earl's Court
Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...
, London. The album has been reissued on CD several times, including an expansive 40th anniversary edition in 2015. ''Physical Graffiti'' was later certified
16× platinum in the United States by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) in 2006, signifying shipments of over eight million copies.
Recording
The first attempt by Led Zeppelin to record songs for ''Physical Graffiti'' took place in November 1973 at
Headley Grange
Headley Grange is a former workhouse in Headley, Hampshire, England. It is a Grade II listed historic building. It is best known for its use as a recording and rehearsal venue in the 1960s and 1970s, by acts including Led Zeppelin, Genesis a ...
in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
, England, where they had previously recorded their
untitled fourth album. The recording equipment consisted of
Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio
Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio, also known as LMS (Lane Mobile Studio), is a mobile recording studio originally owned by Ronnie Lane.
History
Lane acquired the studio in 1972. It was one of the first ever mobile recording studios, and consisted of ...
. Guitarist and producer
Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
and drummer
John Bonham
John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band Led Zeppelin. Esteemed for his speed, power, fast single-footed kick drumming, distinctive sound, and feel for groove,J ...
recorded an instrumental which was later reworked as "
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
" during this visit. However, these sessions came to a halt quickly and the studio time was turned over to
Bad Company
Bad Company are an English rock supergroup that was formed in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs, drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell.Bad Company ''AllMusic'' Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, also ...
, who used it to record songs for
their debut album. The press reported that bassist/keyboardist
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...
was ill and unable to record.
However, he became disillusioned with the group and fed up with touring, and told manager
Peter Grant he was considering quitting. Grant asked him to reconsider and take the rest of the year off to recuperate.
The group reconvened at Headley Grange in January and February 1974, where they recorded eight tracks engineered by
Ron Nevison
Ron Nevison is an American record producer and audio engineer. He started his career in the early 1970s as an engineer on ''Quadrophenia'' by the Who and Bad Company's debut album. He eventually became a producer, working with artists including M ...
. Lead singer
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...
later referred to these eight tracks as "the belters", including "off-the-wall stuff that turned out really nice". As with previous sessions at Headley Grange, the informal atmosphere allowed the group to improvise and develop material while recording. Sometimes the group would rehearse or record a track several times, discuss what went wrong or what could be improved and then realised they had worked out an alternative arrangement for it which was better. Bonham was a driving force at the sessions, regularly suggesting ideas or the best ways in which a complicated arrangement could be played successfully. This led to him getting a lead songwriting credit on several tracks.
The eight songs extended beyond the length of a conventional album, almost spanning three sides of an LP, so the group decided to create a
double album
A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...
, adding material they had recorded for previous albums but never issued. This included various jam sessions such as "Boogie With Stu", which Page thought would be unsuitable as a track on a single album.
Additional overdubs were laid down, and the final mixing of the album was performed in July 1974 by
Keith Harwood
Keith Harwood (1950 – September 3, 1977) was a recording engineer, most notable for his work at Olympic Studios with such musicians as David Bowie (on ''Diamond Dogs'' in 1974), the Pretty Things and Ron Wood. Harwood collaborated on engineer ...
at
Olympic Studios
Olympic Studios was a renowned British independent commercial recording studio based in Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st century, including Jimi Hendr ...
, London. The title "Physical Graffiti" was coined by Page to illustrate the whole physical and written energy that had gone into producing the set.
Songs
![Bron-y-aur - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Bron-y-aur_-_geograph.org.uk_-_21107_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The album spanned several years of recording and covered a range of musical styles, including hard rock ("Custard Pie", "
The Rover", "
The Wanton Song
"The Wanton Song" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their sixth studio album, 1975's ''Physical Graffiti''. It was developed from a jam session during rehearsals.
Recording
For his guitar solo, Page employed a backwards echo (whe ...
", "
Sick Again
"Sick Again" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album '' Physical Graffiti''. It was written by singer Robert Plant. The song is about a group of teen groupies, which Plant referred to as "L.A. Queens", with whom the ba ...
", "
Houses of the Holy
''Houses of the Holy'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released on 28 March 1973 by Atlantic Records.
The album benefited from two band members installing studios at home, which allowed them to develop mor ...
"), eastern-influenced orchestral rock ("
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
"), progressive rock ("
In the Light"), driving funk ("
Trampled Under Foot
"Trampled Under Foot" is a song by English rock group Led Zeppelin. A funk-influenced piece with John Paul Jones on clavinet, it was included on their 1975 album '' Physical Graffiti''. The song was released as a single in several countries an ...
"), acoustic rock and roll ("Boogie with Stu", "Black Country Woman"), love ballad ("
Ten Years Gone
"Ten Years Gone" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album ''Physical Graffiti''. Record producer Rick Rubin has described the song as, "A deep, reflective piece with hypnotic, interweaving riffs. Light and dark, shadow a ...
"), blues rock ("
In My Time of Dying
"In My Time of Dying" (also called "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed" or a variation thereof) is a gospel music song by Blind Willie Johnson. The title line, closing each stanza of the song, refers to a deathbed and was inspired by a passage in the B ...
"), soft rock ("Down by the Seaside"), country rock romp ("Night Flight"), and acoustic guitar instrumental ("Bron-Yr-Aur").
Several tracks from the album became live staples at
Led Zeppelin concerts
From September 1968 until the summer of 1980, English rock band Led Zeppelin were the world's most popular live music attraction, performing hundreds of sold-out concerts around the world.
History
Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, Led Zeppelin ...
. In particular, "In My Time of Dying", "Trampled Under Foot", "Kashmir", "Ten Years Gone", "Black Country Woman", and "Sick Again" became regular components of the band's live concert
set list
A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance.
A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...
s following the release of the album.
Side one
"Custard Pie" was recorded at Headley Grange in early 1974. The first take was played at a faster tempo than the finished version, with various improvised vocals. After a basic run-through, the group then discussed possibilities for rearranging it. Page played the guitar solo through an ARP synthesiser, while Jones overdubbed a
Hohner Clavinet
The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...
part and Plant played harmonica.
"
The Rover" was written in 1970 at
Bron-Yr-Aur
Bron-Yr-Aur (Welsh for "breast of the gold", or by extension, "hill of the gold" or "golden hill"; ) is a privately owned 18th-century cottage, on the outskirts of Machynlleth, in Montgomeryshire, mid-Wales, best known for its association with ...
, a cottage near
Machynlleth
Machynlleth () is a market town, community and electoral ward in Powys, Wales and within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads. At the 2001 Census it had a popul ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. It was first recorded at Headley Grange in May 1970 as an acoustic number for ''
Led Zeppelin III
''Led Zeppelin III'' is the third studio album by the English rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 5 October 1970. It was recorded in three locations. Much of the work was done at Headley Grange, a country house, using the Rolling St ...
''. It was reworked as an electric number in 1972 for ''
Houses of the Holy
''Houses of the Holy'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released on 28 March 1973 by Atlantic Records.
The album benefited from two band members installing studios at home, which allowed them to develop mor ...
'', which formed the basis for the backing track. Page subsequently added guitar overdubs in 1974 with Keith Harwood engineering.
"
In My Time of Dying
"In My Time of Dying" (also called "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed" or a variation thereof) is a gospel music song by Blind Willie Johnson. The title line, closing each stanza of the song, refers to a deathbed and was inspired by a passage in the B ...
" is based on a traditional song that
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
recorded on his
debut album in 1962. The track was recorded live, with Page later adding further
slide guitar
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...
overdubs. The arranging and structuring was led by Bonham, who worked out where the various stop / start sections in the track should be, and how the group would know where to come back in. The very end of the song features his off-mic cough, causing the rest of the group to break down at that point. Bonham subsequently shouted "That's got to be the one, hasn't it?", feeling it was the best take. It was left on the album to show fans that Led Zeppelin were a working band that took care in their recordings.
Side two
"Houses of the Holy" was recorded as the title track for the album of the same name in May 1972 at
Olympic Studios
Olympic Studios was a renowned British independent commercial recording studio based in Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st century, including Jimi Hendr ...
with
Eddie Kramer
Edwin H. Kramer (born 19 April 1942) is a British recording producer and engineer. He has collaborated with several artists now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin ...
engineering. It was left off that album because of its similarity to other tracks such as "Dancing Days", which were felt to be better. Unlike some of the other older material on ''Physical Graffiti'', it required no further overdubbing or remixing.
"
Trampled Under Foot
"Trampled Under Foot" is a song by English rock group Led Zeppelin. A funk-influenced piece with John Paul Jones on clavinet, it was included on their 1975 album '' Physical Graffiti''. The song was released as a single in several countries an ...
" developed from a jam session driven by Jones at the Clavinet. The song went through several arrangement changes before arriving at the version heard on the album, with the group rehearsing various different ideas and arguing about the overall style. Bonham decided the track was too "souly" and rearranged it into a funk style, suggesting that Page should play a guitar riff throughout in place of chords. The lyrics are a series of
double entendres
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially a ...
around driving and cars. The song quickly became a popular live piece that was played at every live show from 1975 onwards, and was later revived by Plant for his solo tours. It was released as a single in the US on 2 April (with "Black Country Woman" as the B-side) and was a top 40 hit.
"
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
" was an idea from Page and Bonham, and was first attempted as an instrumental demo in late 1973. Plant wrote the lyrics while on holiday in Morocco. Jones played
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...
on the track, and arranged strings and brass parts that were played by session musicians. The song was one of the most critically acclaimed on the album, and was played at every gig from 1975 onwards. Page and Plant played it on their 1994 tour, and it was reworked in 1998 by
Sean "Puffy" Combs
Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent direct ...
for his single "
Come With Me" which featured Page on guitar.
Side three
"In the Light" was recorded at Headley Grange in early 1974. It was initially called "In the Morning" and went through several rehearsals and takes to work out a basic structure. A drone / chant introduction was later added to the piece.
"Bron-Yr-Aur" was a solo acoustic piece by Page, named after the cottage where he had composed and arranged much of ''Led Zeppelin III'' with Plant. It was recorded at Island Studios in mid-1970. The track was later used as background music in the group's film ''The Song Remains the Same''.
"Down by the Seaside" was originally written as an acoustic track at Bron-Yr-Aur in 1970, and was influenced by
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...
. It was reworked as an electric track during sessions for the fourth album the following year. Page and Bonham led the arranging, changing tempo from the slow to fast section and then back again.
"Ten Years Gone" was mostly composed by Plant about an old love affair, and was combined with an instrumental piece from Page, featuring overdubbed electric and acoustic guitar parts. When the track was performed live, Jones played a triple-neck guitar featuring mandolin, six- and twelve-string guitars, in order to try to reproduce the various guitar overdubs on the studio recording.
Side four
![Stargrove - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Stargrove_-_geograph.org.uk_-_62433.jpg)
"Night Flight" was recorded at Headley Grange in 1971 for the fourth album. Besides the usual bass, Jones plays
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
on the track, and Page plays guitar through a
Leslie speaker
The Leslie speaker is a combined amplifier and loudspeaker that projects the signal from an electric or electronic instrument and modifies the sound by rotating a baffle chamber ("drum") in front of the loudspeakers. A similar effect is provided ...
. Plant wrote the lyrics after reading a news headline entitled "Nuclear Damage Test Threat" and wondered why there seemed to be little peace and love in the world.
"The Wanton Song" was built around a Page guitar riff. Unlike some of the other tracks recorded at the 1974 Headley Grange sessions, it was straightforward to arrange, with the group building the song around the riffs.
"Boogie with Stu" was a jam session with
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
pianist
Ian Stewart based around the
Ritchie Valens
Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens was killed i ...
song "Ooh My Head". It was recorded in 1971 at Headley Grange during the same session that produced "Rock and Roll" for the fourth album. It did not credit Valens or
Bob Keane
Robert Verrill Kuhn (January 5, 1922 – November 28, 2009), professionally known as Bob Keane, and also sometimes known as Bob Keene, was an American musician, producer and the founder and owner of the record label Del-Fi Records. He was the ...
, instead crediting Valens' mother. Eventually, a lawsuit was filed by Keane, and half of the award went to Valens' mother, although she was not part of the suit.
"Black Country Woman" was recorded in the garden at Stargroves in 1972 for ''Houses of the Holy'', as part of the group's desire to work in "off the wall" locations outside a traditional studio environment. The track was nearly abandoned when an aeroplane cruised overhead, but it was left on the final recording for effect.
"Sick Again" was written by Page and Plant about the 1973 tour and their experience with meeting
groupie
The term groupie is a slang word that refers to a fan of a particular musical group who follows the band around while they are on tour or who attends as many of their public appearances as possible, with the hope of meeting them. The term is usu ...
s. The track was driven by Bonham's drumming and Page's guitar riffs. The arrangement had been worked out before recording, and was straightforward to put down on tape.
Unreleased material
As ''Physical Graffiti'' collected various out-takes from earlier albums, little was left over from the recording sessions that was not eventually released. An early arrangement of "Custard Pie", different from the final version, was reworked as "Hots on For Nowhere" on the following album, ''
Presence''. A number of other outtakes from earlier album sessions that had not been put on ''Physical Graffiti'' were later included on the 1982 album ''
Coda
Coda or CODA may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* Movie coda, a post-credits scene
* ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television
*''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
''.
Artwork and packaging
![Physical Graffiti](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Physical_Graffiti.jpg)
The album was originally released with a die-cut sleeve design depicting a New York City
tenement
A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...
block, through whose windows various cultural icons could be interchangeably viewed. The album designer,
Peter Corriston Peter Corriston is a Grammy-award winning graphic designer currently based in Greenwich Village, notable for designing the album artwork for several major rock bands and musicians. Corriston has worked internationally with such artists as Billy Idol ...
, was looking for a building that was symmetrical with interesting details, that was not obstructed by other objects and would fit the square album cover. He subsequently came up with the rest of the cover based on people moving in and out of the tenement, with various sleeves that could be placed under the main cover and filling the windows with various pieces of information.
Incidentally, the same front doorway and stoop at 96 St. Mark's Place is also the location used by The Rolling Stones for their music video promoting their single "Waiting on a Friend" from their 1981 album ''Tattoo You''.
The two five-storey buildings photographed for the album cover are located at 96 and 98
St. Mark's Place in New York City. The original photograph underwent a number of tweaks to arrive at the final image. The fourth floor of the building had to be cropped out to fit the square album cover format.
Eschewing the usual
gatefold
A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½ inch, or 32.7 centimetre square). The larger gatefo ...
design in favour of a special die-cut cover, the original album jacket included four covers made up of two inners (for each disc), a middle insert cover and an outer cover. The middle insert cover is white and details all the album track listings and recording information. The outer cover has die-cut windows on the building, so when the middle cover is wrapped around the inner covers and slid into the outer cover, the title of the album is shown on the front cover, spelling out the name "Physical Graffiti". Images in the windows touched upon a set of American icons and a range of Hollywood ephemera. Pictures of
W. C. Fields
William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler, and writer. Fields's comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathe ...
and
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...
alternated with the snapshots of Led Zeppelin. Photographs of
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963.
Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 fo ...
,
Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
and
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...
are also featured.
Per the liner notes, package concept and design was by AGI/Mike Doud (London) and Peter Corriston (New York). Photography was by Elliott Erwitt, B. P. Fallon, and
Roy Harper. "Tinting Extraordinaire": Maurice Tate, and window illustration by Dave Heffernan. In 1976 the album was nominated for a
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
in the category of
best album package
The Grammy Award for Best Recording Package is one of a series of Grammy Awards presented for the visual look of an album. It is presented to the art director of the winning album, not to the performer(s), unless the performer is also the art dire ...
.
Release and critical reception
''Physical Graffiti'' was Led Zeppelin's first release on their own
Swan Song Records
Swan Song Records was a record label launched by the English rock band Led Zeppelin on 10 May 1974. It was overseen by Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant and was a vehicle for the band to promote its own products as well as sign artists who f ...
label, which had been launched in May 1974. Until this point, all of Led Zeppelin's albums had been released on
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
, who would distribute Swan Song. The album was first announced to the press on 6 November with a planned release date of 29 November and an
accompanying US tour (the band's tenth) starting in January. Delays in the production of the album's sleeve design prevented its release prior to the commencement of the tour. It was finally released on 24 February 1975.
![LedZeppelinChicago75 2 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/LedZeppelinChicago75_2_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The album was a commercial and critical success, having built up a huge advance order following the delayed release date, and when eventually issued it reached No. 1 in the UK charts. In the US, it debuted at No. 3 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' Pop Albums chart, rising to No. 1 the following week and staying there for six weeks. ''Physical Graffiti'' has since proven to be one of the most popular releases by the group, shipping 8 million copies in the United States. It was the first album to go platinum on advance orders alone. Shortly after its release, all previous Led Zeppelin albums simultaneously re-entered the top-200 album chart.
The group debuted several songs from ''Physical Graffiti'' live for the first time at a warm-up gig in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
, Netherlands on 11 January, a week before the US tour, which lasted until 27 March. The tour was also successful, and was followed up by a
series of shows at
Earl's Court
Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...
, London. Tickets for the shows sold out within four hours, described by promoter Mel Bush as "unprecedented demand in the history of rock music", so a further two dates were added. The shows attracted rave reviews, and critics noted the band enjoyed playing the new material on ''Physical Graffiti'' more than the older songs.
''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
''s
Nick Kent
Nick Kent (born 24 December 1951) is a British rock critic best known for his writing for the ''NME'' in the 1970s, and his books ''The Dark Stuff'' (1994) and ''Apathy for the Devil'' (2010).
Early life
Kent, the son of a former Abbey Road Stu ...
reviewed the album three months before it was released. He speculated it could be the group's best work to date, saying "the album's tonal density is absolutely the toughest, most downright brutal I've heard all year". In March 1975, ''Billboard'' magazine's reviewer wrote: "
'Physical Graffiti''is a tour de force through a number of musical styles, from straight rock to blues to folky acoustic to orchestral sounds." Similarly, Jim Miller stated in ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' that the double album was "the band's ''
Tommy
Tommy may refer to:
People
* Tommy (given name)
* Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film
* ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...
'', ''
Beggar's Banquet
''Beggars Banquet'' is the 7th British and 9th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 6 December 1968 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records in the United States. It was the first ...
'' and ''
Sgt. Pepper'' rolled into one: ''Physical Graffiti'' is Led Zeppelin's bid for artistic respectability".
''
Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...
'' critic
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
was less impressed, writing that except for side two, the material often wanders into "wide tracks, misconceived opi, and so forth", and "after a while Robert Plant begins to grate".
In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it at number 70 on the magazine's list of the "
500 Greatest Albums of All Time."
It was re-ranked at number 73 in a 2012 revised list, and re-ranked at number 144 in 2020.
Plant later felt that ''Physical Graffiti'' represented the band at its creative peak, and has since said that it is his favourite Led Zeppelin album.
Page has also said the album was a "high-water mark" for the group, and the creative energy from jamming and gradually working out song structures together led to some strong material.
Reviewing the album for
BBC Music
BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network.
Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...
in 2007, Chris Jones described it as "a towering monument to the glory of Zeppelin in their high-flying heyday".
(*) designates unordered lists.
Reissues
''Physical Graffiti'' was first issued on CD as a double-disc set in 1987. However, it was done without input from the band, and the first pressing accidentally edited off the studio banter at the end of "In My Time of Dying" (later fixed on repressings). Page was unhappy with his lack of input over the CDs and decided he would produce new versions himself. He booked a week in May 1990 with engineer George Marino to remaster the entire back catalogue. Eight tracks from ''Physical Graffiti'' appeared on the four-disc ''
Boxed Set
A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists and bands ...
'' and three on ''
Remasters
Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...
'', both in 1990; the remainder appeared on ''
Boxed Set 2'' in 1993, while the album was properly reissued in 1994.
An extended remastered version of ''Physical Graffiti'' was reissued on 23 February 2015, almost exactly forty years after the original album was released. The reissue comes in six formats: a standard two-CD edition, a deluxe three-CD edition, a standard two-LP version, a deluxe three-LP version, a super deluxe three-CD plus three-LP version with a hardback book, and as high resolution 24-bit/96k digital downloads. The deluxe and super deluxe editions feature bonus material containing alternative takes and arrangements of songs. The reissue was released with an altered colour version of the original album's artwork as its bonus disc's cover.
Track listing
Original release
8-Track and Cassette Editions The 8-Track and Audio Cassette versions switched "Bron-Yr-Aur" from side three between "In the Light" and "Down by the Seaside" to side two at the end of "Kashmir."
Deluxe edition (2015)
Personnel
Led Zeppelin
*
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...
– vocals, harmonica
*
Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
– electric, acoustic,
lap steel
The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional a ...
and
slide guitar
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...
s,
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
*
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...
– bass guitar,
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
, acoustic guitar, keyboards
*
John Bonham
John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band Led Zeppelin. Esteemed for his speed, power, fast single-footed kick drumming, distinctive sound, and feel for groove,J ...
– drums, percussion
Additional musicians
*
Ian Stewart – piano on "Boogie with Stu"
*Uncredited session musicians – strings and horns on "Kashmir"
Production
*
George Chkiantz
George Chkiantz is a British recording engineer, based in London, who has been responsible for the engineering on a number of well-known albums, many of which are considered classics, owing in part to the quality of the recordings.
Career
Chkiant ...
–
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
at Olympic (1972)
*
Keith Harwood
Keith Harwood (1950 – September 3, 1977) was a recording engineer, most notable for his work at Olympic Studios with such musicians as David Bowie (on ''Diamond Dogs'' in 1974), the Pretty Things and Ron Wood. Harwood collaborated on engineer ...
– engineering at Olympic (1974)
*
Andy Johns
Jeremy Andrew "Andy" Johns (20 May 1950 – 7 April 2013) was a British sound engineer and record producer who worked on several well-known rock albums, including the Rolling Stones' '' Exile on Main St.'' (1972), Television's '' Marquee Moon'' ...
– engineering at Island (1970 & 1971) and Headley Grange (1971)
*
Eddie Kramer
Edwin H. Kramer (born 19 April 1942) is a British recording producer and engineer. He has collaborated with several artists now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin ...
– engineering at Stargroves (1972)
*
Ron Nevison
Ron Nevison is an American record producer and audio engineer. He started his career in the early 1970s as an engineer on ''Quadrophenia'' by the Who and Bad Company's debut album. He eventually became a producer, working with artists including M ...
– engineering at Headley Grange (1974)
*
Peter Grant –
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
*
George Marino
George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s.
Biography
Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He at ...
and Jimmy Page – remastered CD release
Artwork
*
Peter Corriston Peter Corriston is a Grammy-award winning graphic designer currently based in Greenwich Village, notable for designing the album artwork for several major rock bands and musicians. Corriston has worked internationally with such artists as Billy Idol ...
– artwork, design, cover design
*Mike Doud – artwork, design, cover design
*
Elliot Erwitt
Elliott Erwitt (born Elio Romano Erwitt, July 26, 1928) is a French-born American advertising and documentary photographer known for his black and white candid photos of ironic and absurd situations within everyday settings. He has been a member ...
– photography
*B. P. Fallon – photography
*
Roy Harper – photography
*Dave Heffernan – illustrations
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
See also
*
List of best-selling albums in the United States
This is a list of the best-selling albums in the United States based on RIAA certification and Nielsen SoundScan sales tracking. The criteria are that the album must have been published (including self-publishing by the artist), and the album mus ...
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{Use British English, date=January 2012
1975 albums
Albums produced by Jimmy Page
Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios
Led Zeppelin albums
Swan Song Records albums
Albums with cover art by Peter Corriston
Albums recorded at Olympic Sound Studios
Albums recorded in a home studio