Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti" (1 Viewer)

[Ryan L. Bisasky]

i think the main reason they put older material on the disc was because all of hte songs that were from the pg sessions would have been too long for 1 lp, but not quite long enough for 2, so they put older stuff on there.

 

[Rob_D]

I think some of songs that made it on to PG were worked on for III, IV and Houses but, never finalized. The Rover, for instance, was mainly an acoustic tune prior to 1975. It's not like these tracks were throw aways from the earlier albums, they were just works in-process.

 

[Max F]

I love Zeppelin, but Kashmir is one of the most over-rated songs ever. Of course that just my opinion

 

[ScottCHI]

awesome song

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I don't see Kashmir as over-rated. But I do see it as overplayed. This is why it's almost painful for me to listen to the 4th album now. I've heard those songs way too many times on Rock Radio! (Except for When the Levee Breaks. Can always listen to that one, one more time.)

I like the one *after*: Trampled Underfoot. Love the keyboards.

In my Time of Dying rocks too.

 

[Kevin M]

My personal fave has always been III, back when I first heard it many of my friends (circa 1979/1982) agreed and we didn't even know it was underrated at the time, it just had some damn good songs like Out On The Tiles - Friends - Immigrant Song - Since I've Been Loving You - Gallows Pole (my personal fav along with Bron-Y-Aur Stomp) etc. etc. Just a great album IMO.


In The Light is one of my favorites from Physical Graffiti, never seems to get any air play aside from request days.

 

[The Drifter]

As a teen, I used to be a huge fan of Led Zep back in the late '80's (was too young to hear them in their heyday back in the '70's). I used to have all of their albums on cassette, but these cassettes (and my cassette player) are obviously long gone these days. So, a couple of years ago I bought all of the CD remasters (2014-2015).

I re-listened to Physical Graffiti for the first time in many years would have to agree that PG is undoubtedly their best album. Amazing tracks here, including of course Custard Pie, Trampled under foot, Night Flight, Down by the Seaside, Houses of the Holy, In the Light, and the truly sublime Kashmir. It's worth noting that the actual Houses of the Holy song wasn't on the album of the same name, but instead was on this next album, PG. IIRC, Led Zep wanted to put the song on the HOTH album, but there were time/space limitations.

Other comments about the 2014-2015 remastered CD's, as well as the albums themselves - I don't want to start another thread, so will just post here:

The sound quality is amazing re: all of these remastered CD's. I only had these albums on cassette years ago, so this is the first time I've heard them on CD. Incredible. Also, I'm not sure about this - but it seems the 1 CD in the single CD remaster set is identical to the 1st CD in the 2-CD remaster set(s).

I like how the CD's packaging/artwork tries to replicate the original vinyl albums as much as possible - i.e., having the original artwork, etc. Ad it's cool/nostalgic that the physical CD's themselves have elements of the vinyl records from back in the day. Re: the packaging, I especially like:

- The fold-out showing the "Stairway to Heaven" poster in IV w/the old man holding the lantern.
- The psychedelic kaleidoscope effect on the cover of III re: the little wheel you can turn on the side.
- The several insert(s) that you can take out of the Physical Graffiti album sleeve.
- The fold-out artwork in the Houses of the Holy album.
- The brown paper bag "sleeve" w/In Through the Out Door.

Note that the 1 CD remastered sets have less extras than the 2-CD sets, but even the 1 CD sets are much more elaborate than the original cassettes - the packaging on those was extremely minimal, due to the small container.

- I feel that Presence is probably their most underrated album. Extremely solid rock songs like Achilles Last Stand, For Your Life, Nobody's Fault but mine, Candy Store Rock, Hots on for Nowhere, etc. are all amazing songs, with some fantastic drum work. Unfortunately, this album has never really gotten a lot (if any) radio play.

- The 3-CD deluxe version of Coda (2015 remastered) is fantastic. I wasn't too impressed when I first heard this on cassette years ago since it's basically a collection of B-sides. However, the additional 2 CD's in this newer set sold it for me - especially the inclusion of Travelling Riverside Blues - which previously was only available on the LZ boxed set from around 1990 (now long OOP). I've always wanted to have a physical copy of this song, and never got the '90 boxed set.

 

[Jeffrey D]

My favorite Zeppelin album is Houses Of The Holy. Graffiti does have great songs (Down By The Seaside, The Rover, Custard Pie), but there are other songs on that album that aren’t as good (I’ve never been a fan of Kashmir). IV has songs that have been played too often on the radio (my favorites from that album are Going To California and When The Levee Breaks). Sirius/XM Deep Tracks played Carouselambra the other day- one of their best songs.

 

[Jim517]

I saw Zeppelin in the 70's. It was the best concert I've ever been to ! They were always my favorite growing up.

 

[Lord Dalek]

LZ II is probably my favorite of theirs. Never really cared much for Physical Graffiti. Not much cohesion in what was literally an odds & sods collection, for which they had way too much of.

EDIT: gotta love the early responses to this ancient thread thinking this was some sort of original album and not a collection of leftovers with a handful of new tracks thrown in. At least it's better than Presence? I...guess?

 

[skylark68]

"First of all Rat, you never let on how much you like a girl. "Oh, Debbie. Hi." Two, you always call the shots. "Kiss me. You won't regret it." Now three, act like wherever you are, that's the place to be. "Isn't this great?" Four, when ordering food, you find out what she wants, then order for the both of you. It's a classy move. "Now, the lady will have the linguini and white clam sauce, and a Coke with no ice." And five, now this is the most important, Rat. When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV."

Rat proceeds to play Kashmir off of PG. One of my favorite sequences of Fast Times. Was it because Rat had no clue about music, or did he just prefer PG to IV?

BTW, Kashmir is my favorite LZ song of all time. My favorite album though is LZ 1.

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

I think he was clueless about girls, music, everything. I laugh so hard at that bit because I get it... that’s me. Oblivious. All he heard was “Led Zeppelin” but a flurry of other panicked thoughts drowned out the details. Also hilarious because who, honestly, could make out to Kashmir?

 

[BobO'Link]

My favorite Zeppelin album is whichever one I happen to be listening to at the time.

That said, I play III more than any other.

 

[MielR]

For packaging alone, this album makes me lament the death of vinyl. I loved the "windowpanes" on the LP.

Yes, I remember when my uncle gave me his copy many years ago when I was in my early teens and expressed fascination in the cover (even though at the time I had no idea what the music sounded like). For that reason alone, I could never part with it.