Customer Reviews

Physical Graffiti (2CD)

5 star:		(201)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I never heard the majority of the songs on this double album (except for the classics like Kashmir and Ten Years Gone, etc) and I was super impressed! I am in LOVE with Sick Again and Boogie With Stu. All the tracks on this album are good, and have a really great high energy feel! The guitar work in this is phenomanal, really bluesy feeling, and the drumming like always is spot on and really heavy! Plant's vocals are great, althought they can get pretty whiny at times (in a good way though), the lyrics are interesting. Jones has some great bass lines here, and the keyboards in some of the songs are just awesome!
I'm in love with this album! BUY IT!

Com Se Come sa would be the best way to describe this Led Zeppelin CD. The drumming as usual is strong and Jimmy Page has some nice guitar runs. However, Robert Plant's voice and the length of some of these songs just try my patience. In My Time Of Dying bleeds for over eleven minutes of grunting and screaming guitars. The tone varies a little at the beginning which is somewhat creative. However, this song should be about five or six minutes at best. Kashmir is another song that at eight and a half minutes really is annoying as well. Just don't like Plant's tone at all with the ooh yeah hee yeah's here as well as as his caterwailing on the more tolerable Trampled Under Foot.

High Points on this recording include Houses of The Holy, Down By The Seaside, Night Flight, and The Wanton Song. Great riffs on that last tune and some good variations in the melody as well. Night Flight features some cool drumming by Bonham.

Boogie With Stu and Black Country Woman are decent numbers but not first rate material. The music is cool but the lyrics are kind of pedestrian. At least these songs add a little variety to this disc.

Throw in the cool cover design and I'll round up this recording to three stars.

Physical Graffiti (1975.) Led Zeppelin's sixth album.

By 1975, Led Zeppelin had already proven themselves to be gods of rock and roll. What the Beatles were to the sixties, Led Zeppelin was to the seventies. The band had already released five albums, each one of which being excellent. Already they had experimented with a number of sounds, sometimes with excellent results, sometimes with, well, less than stellar results. The band released its sixth album, entitled Physical Graffiti, in 1975. How do Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones measure up this time around? Read on for my review of the album.

This is Led Zeppelin's most lengthy album, and the only one of their studio albums that is long enough to merit a two compact disc release. Many people compare Led Zeppelin to the Beatles, and perhaps this album is one of the greatest parallels between the two bands - it is VERY similar to the Beatles' self-titled "White" album in a number of ways. The first disc features seven hard-rocking instant classics that have since become Led Zepplin fan favorites. Is it humanly possible NOT to enjoy the classic hard rock stylings of Custard Pie and the Rover? Perhaps one of the most interesting songs of all is In My Time Of Dying, a song that Bob Dylan originally recorded on his 1962 self-titled debut album. The band brings new life into an already excellent song - something they proved they could do beautifully on their own debut album. Houses Of The Holy gives us more of that blues-flavored hard rock that the band served up so heavily in the old days, and does a damn good job of it. Trampled Under Foot is one of the band's most memorable rockers of all, mostly due to its catchy beat and instrument stylings. But the most memorable track of all on the album, is by far, the legendary Kashmir. The band's combination of hard rock with a somewhat middle-eastern sound makes for a damn fine tune. The first disc was nothing but masterpieces, no questions asked. Sadly, the second disc isn't fortunate enough to be so lucky. The second disc has many excellent songs, but there are also many of them that fall below the band's usual standard. This is one of the interesting parallels with the Beatles' self-titled album - they are both dual-disc, "hit or miss" albums that would have been better off being a single-disc album of nothing but masterpieces than the dual-disc mixture of masterpieces and fillers. Still, even though many of those songs fall below Led Zeppelin's usual standard, they are still VERY good when compared with other bands of any era. This is NOT a bad album by any means - in fact, it's very good - just not Zeppelin's best.

Like the other Led Zeppelin albums (as of July 19, 2004), the version of the album that is readily available in stores is the most recent remastered version. Sadly though, due to Zeppelin's massive popularity, many stores will jack up the price of their albums. Fortunately, the band offers an alternative to wasting too much money - the Complete Studio Recordings box set. I urge you to buy this set and NOT to buy the albums separately - otherwise you're going to get ripped off - in particular on this album, because it is dual-disc.

Physical Graffiti isn't quite the masterpiece that some Zeppelin fans hold it out to be, but it is still a damn fine album (there is no such thing as a bad Led Zeppelin studio album.) If you're new to the band, DO NOT buy a hits compilation - none of them can do the band justice. Also, don't start with this album. While good, it's bound to give you the wrong impression about the band. As a final verdict, I would have to recommend this album only to die-hard fans of the band due to the dual-disc nature jacking the price up. New fans, I suggest either shelling out the cash and getting the Complete Studio Recordings box set, or starting with the band's untitled fourth album. To put it simply, Physical Graffiti IS a damn good album, it's just not the best starting place.

Physical Graffiti was my second Led Zeppelin album. I enjoyed it immediately, but I had no idea just how much it would later grow on me. Years since listening to it for the first time, it has advanced into probably somewhere around to my third or fifth favorite album.

Songs like "Kashmir" are extremely hyped, and while I wouldn't say it's overrated, there is some really great stuff on here besides it. At first, Disc 1 was largely my favorite. "Custard Pie," "Houses of the Holy," "Trampled Underfoot," and "Kashmir" are instantly likable songs. Disc 2 took its time, but now it is at least as good as disc 1. "In The Light" and "Bron-Yr-Aur" are two of the best songs ever written, and sound absolutely beautiful here performed by Led Zeppelin. The last few minutes of "In The Light" are music heaven.

Best Songs:
In The Light
In My Time of Dying
Bron-Yr-Aur
The Rover
Night Flight

Excellent Songs:
Kashmir
Custard Pie
Down By The Seaside
Ten Years Gone
Houses of the Holy
Wanton Song

When I turned 13, my father gave me Physical Graffiti. Upon listening to it for the first time, I was thinking that it was the dumbest album I had ever heard. I didn't want to dissapoint my dad.
So, as the months went by, I bought Led Zeppelin III, IV and Presence. I was impressed, so I decided to give Physical Graffiti another try.
Boy, am I glad I did. Every song in the album is perfect. On this CD, you get more of a bluesy feel, especially on the second CD.

DISC 1: 1. Custerd Pie: Great start to the CD. Some great riffs by Page.

2. The Rover: Wow... REALLY great song. If you walked into my house, you could see me tearing my hair out trying to play it.
3. In My Time Of Dying: This is my favorite song by Zep (besides Stairway To Heaven). The guitar solos and riffs by Page are simply amazing. Bonham shows some of his greatest drumming in this song. And the lyrics are very neat.
4. Houses of the Holy: Really catchy song with REALLY catchy riffs.
5. Trampled Under Foot: One of my favorites on the album. The keyboards in this song are awesome. When i played the piano, I tried to learn this.
6. Kashmir: If i asked my friends if they liked this song, I'd get a whole lot of "THAT SONG SUCKS!!" Well, i disagree. This is a wonderful melodic song.
DISC 2 1. In The Light: Slow at first, but once you get into it(which is about two minutes in) it gets really catchy.
2. Bron-Yr-Aur: Short song, but wonderful acoustic on Page's part.
3. Down By The Seaside: This was actually one of my favorite songs on the album. It is very catchy and has great solo in the middle of song.
4. Ten Years Gone: Wonderful song... good guitar... like most of the songs on the second cd, this song gets catchy further into the song
5. Night Flight: I really liked this song. It has a touch of the blues, and still sounds like Zeppelin.
6. The Wanton Song: VERY good song. Really catchy right from the start. Makes me wanna get up and dance around. Plant's voice sounds strange (at least to me)
7. Boogie With Stu: blues song all the way. Theres even some great piano. I love this song just because of the soul in it. It makes me wanna listen to blues over and over again.
8. Black Country Woman: good song, but not the best on the cd by far.
9. Sick Again: Great end to a wonderful cd. Has some good guitar playing. Sounds like classic Zep

Still at the creative peak of their powers, Zeppelin unleashed Physical Graffiti - a double set that truly encompassed everything that the band had done to date stylistically. Continuing the trend of Houses of the Holy (and in fact, featuring tracks recorded from those sessions) - Physical Graffiti seemed to delve into almost every rock style available to the band's arsenal from blues to hard rock to rockabilly to folk to middle eastern to funk to just Zep.

Highly original, highly inspiring and highly recommended.

Led Zeppelin returned from a nearly two-year hiatus in 1975 with Physical Graffiti, a sprawling, ambitious double album. Zeppelin treats many of the songs on Physical Graffiti as forays into individual styles, only occasionally synthesizing sounds, notably on the tense, Eastern-influenced "Kashmir." With John Paul Jones' galloping keyboard, "Trampled Underfoot" ranks as their funkiest metallic grind, while "Houses of the Holy" is as effervescent as pre-Beatles 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 subtly shaded, even if they're thunderously loud. Most of these heavy rockers are isolated on the first album, with the second half of Physical Graffiti sounding a little like a scrap-heap of experiments, jams, acoustic workouts, and neo-covers. This may not be as consistent as the first platter, but its quirks are entirely welcome, not just because they encompass the mean, decadent "Sick Again," but the heartbreaking "Ten Years Gone" and the utterly charming acoustic rock & roll of "Boogie With Stu" and "Black Country Woman." Yes, some of this could be labeled as filler, but like any great double album, its appeal lies in its great sprawl, since it captures elements of the band's personality rarely showcased elsewhere -- and even at its worst, Physical Graffiti towers above its hard rock peers of the mid-'70s.

Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham are rock gods. Physical Graffiti is a brilliant combination of blues, hard rock, folk, middle eastern rhythms all rolled into one. Plant's amazing vocals, Page's awe inspiring guitar work, Jone's brilliant bass playing, and Bonham's crazy drumming melded perfectly together. The unique sound of these musicians is what made the band so popular in the 70's and is why they will always be remembered. Physical Graffiti shows them at their best. Go out and buy Physical Graffiti and any other Zeppelin album you can get your hands on. Then lock yourself in your room and just listen...

Led Zeppelin, arguably the greatest rock n'roll band of all time (I actually rate the Stones #1 and Zep 1A whatever that means), released their masterpiece in February 1975. 'Physical Graffiti' is a must have for any hard rock fan of any age. This landmark double LP has it all: Metal, World Music, Blues, Folk, Funk, Country and even Rockabilly. Of the first these are some of the heaviest and best tracks Zep ever recorded, "The Rover", "Sick Again", "Custard Pie" and "In My Time of Dying" can headbang with the best of 70's metal. "Kashmir", the album's magnum opus, is a sprawling, atmospheric gem of Middle Eastern mystery featuring both Jones and Bonham at their greatest powers. "Trampled Underfoot" is incredibly funky and heavy with awesome lyrics as Plant compares his woman to a suped-up automobile. There are many other highlights to choose from, everybody probably has their own favorite. I love this album above all Zep's masterworks and also consider it Jimmy Page's ultimate triumph as a guitarist, songwriter and producer....flawless. 'Graffiti' is THE 1970's hard rock record. By the way, why would someone who doesn't know anything about rock music bother to rate acknowledged masterpieces with one star?? Please stick to your Britany and Justin CD's before you make more of a fool out of yourself.

First of all, I;'m only fourteen and im already into all of the 60's, 70's bands. My dad gave me Phsycial Graffiti so I could hear what Jimmy Page sounded like and so I could learn so new riffs on my new guitar. As it turns out, I learned a couple new songs (The Rover, Custerd Pie, a little of In My Time of Dying) but i also ended up discovering one my favorite bands.
This CD is one of their best, but not their best. IV or How The West Was Won was their best (at least I think...).
Some of the great songs on this album are The Rover (which has one of the catchiest riffs Ive ever heard), In My Time of Dying (LONG yet very great song... my second favorite song by Zep behind Stairway) and Kashmir (very melodic and very great). I didnt think the second disc was all that great but it was still good.
Definitly buy this CD!