Throwback Thursday: Physical Graffiti, by Led Zeppelin

In 1975, hard rock pioneers Led Zeppelin released what many people consider to be their last truly great album, Physical Graffiti. It had taken years to do as the band kept having this, that, and the other interruption but over the course of the years they took to do this they had come up with two album's worth of music by also including outtakes and other songs that had not made it to previous albums, which they released as a double album.

Physical Graffiti as you can imagine varies in terms of style. There is no one clearly defining overall sound of the album because things range from straight up hard rock, to eastern influenced orchestral rock, to funk, to acoustic, to ballad, and so much more. Some of the best known tunes from this album are "Kashmir", "Houses of the Holy", "Trampled Under Foot", etc. There are so many well known songs on this record that it went 16x platinum.

"Kashmir" is in my opinion one of the single most epic songs in all of rock n' roll. It has this steady walking rhythm that thunders with that iconic climbing guitar riff heavily influenced by Arabic musical techniques. Having an orchestra in the background only adds an extra layer of grand epic sound. Actually, for those who know anything about guitar this song was written in a pretty odd tuning (as Jimmy Page was known to do). Instead of the standard EADGBe he went with DADGAd. In terms of timing, the drums and guitar were written in different signatures yet still meshed.

"Ten Years Gone" is one of my personal favorite Led Zeppelin tunes of all time. That clean guitar intro just has this lonely feeling of melancholy to it that seems to line up perfectly with a great many experiences I have had. It does pick up a bit more in certain sections with some distorted guitars and full band, so it's not a sad song all the way through. In fact, it's actually dedicated to an old flame of Robert Plant's.

Honestly, Physical Graffiti is a MUST for any fan of Led Zeppelin or rock n' roll in general. So many of its songs became big radio hits that still get over played (for good reason) to this very day. I'm not sure if I would start anyone off with this as their first Zeppelin album, but it would at the very least be among the first. It has so much to explore and discover. So much to take in, appreciate, and carry with you in some way or another for the rest of your life.

Physical Graffiti, by Led Zeppelin receives 4 out of 5 stars.

Track List:

Disc 1

1. Custard Pie
2. The Rover
3. In My Time of Dying
4. Houses of the Holy
5. Trampled Under Foot
6. Kashmir

Disc 2

1. In the Light
2. Bron-Yr-Aur
3. Down by the Seaside
4. Ten Years Gone
5. Night Flight
6. The Wanton Song
7. Boogie with Stu
8. Black Country Woman
9. Sick Again

Buy the album on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Physical-Graffiti-Remastered-Led-Zeppelin/dp/B00TLKOILW/ref=ice_ac_b_dpb?ie=UTF8&qid=1527835651&sr=8-1&keywords=physical+graffiti