Led Zeppelin’s “Physical Graffiti” is the band’s most excessive album
<!–
–>
<!–
–>
Yes, it might be the greatest rock album of all time. And yes, it frays a bit at the latest on the fourth page, like all double albums it’s a bit too full. But what the fuck! Nowhere does hard rock swing more seductively than on 1975’s monolith.
And never has the rock rhythm machine Led Zeppelin sounded more convincing: How powerful and smooth at the same time John Bonham works the skins, how sexy Jimmy Page plays his relaxed bottleneck riffs, how soft Robert Plant’s hysterical macho voice basically sounds – there were no gloomy men and Powerheads at work (okay, the latter of course, but also so wonderfully louche and curly-headed), here a sound grounded in rhythm’n’blues vibrated, which was more than hard and heavy.
He was also warm, funky, lascivious. And similar to Nirvana’s “Nevermind”, another album that made good old hard rock swing sexy. “After a long break, the hard rock group no. 1 back at the start. Don’t forget to get in! It’s worth it!” wrote the Swiss distributor 40 years ago on the occasion of the return of what was then the world’s biggest rock band.
Important re-release
That could be said again in view of the re-release a few years ago. These are available in various formats, from simple double CDs to elaborate deluxe box sets with heavy vinyl and CDs and downloads and cover art prints and a bound accompanying illustrated book.
The two original albums sound a bit more transparent in the version remastered by Jimmy Page, and a little less shrill in the highs. However, the bonus tracks on the third LP or CD are really interesting. How strange Plant’s singing suddenly jumps from box to box on “Trampled Under Foot” in brute stereo, how Page can really dangle on “In My Time Of Dying” and a harpsichord dominates “In The Light”, which in this demo version still sounds a lot more like blues rock than it actually does on the real album. Great!
But, of course, you have to be a fan to enjoy these little variations. The double album will suffice for everyone else. A funky rock monolith like no other.
More highlights
<!–
–>
<!–
–>