Physical Graffiti
Encyclopedia
Physical Graffiti is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin
, released on 24 February 1975 as a double album. Recording sessions for the album were initially disrupted when bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones
considered leaving the band. After reuniting at Headley Grange
, the band wrote and recorded eight songs, the combined length of which stretched the album beyond the typical length of an LP. This prompted the band to make Physical Graffiti a double album by including previously unreleased tracks from earlier recording sessions.
Physical Graffiti was commercially and critically successful; the album went 16x platinum (though this signifies shipping of eight million copies, as it is a double album) in the US alone, and has come to be regarded as one of Led Zeppelin's defining works.
, England. For these recordings, the band used Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio
. However, these sessions came to a halt quickly and the studio time was turned over to the band Bad Company
, who used it to record songs for their debut album, Bad Company
. In an interview he gave in 1975, guitarist and album producer Jimmy Page
explained the reason for this abrupt cessation of recording:
However, according to Led Zeppelin archivist Dave Lewis:
Once they had reconvened, the band recorded eight tracks at Headley Grange in January and February 1974, which were engineered by Ron Nevison
. Singer Robert Plant
later referred to these eight tracks as "the belters":
Similar to the sessions for the previous two albums, the decision to record at the informal surroundings of Headley Grange provided a welcome opportunity for the band to improvise and develop material along the way. As Plant commented:
Because the eight tracks extended beyond the length of a conventional album, it was decided to include several unreleased songs which had been recorded during the sessions for previous Led Zeppelin albums. The instrumental "Bron-Yr-Aur" was recorded in July 1970 at Island Studios, London, for Led Zeppelin III
. It was named after Bron-Yr-Aur
, a cottage in Gwynedd
, Wales where the members of Led Zeppelin spent time during the recording of Led Zeppelin III. "Night Flight
" and "Boogie with Stu
" were recorded at Headley Grange and "Down by the Seaside
" at Island Studios, all for Led Zeppelin IV
. "The Rover
" and "Black Country Woman
" were recorded at the same sessions as "D'yer Mak'er
" at Stargroves
using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio
in May 1972. "Houses of the Holy
" was also recorded in May 1972, but at Olympic Studios
. The group's fifth album, Houses of the Holy
, took its title from this song despite the decision not to include the song on that album. Page explained:
According to engineer Nevison, the decision to expand the album to include songs from previous sessions was not part of the original planning:
Additional overdubs were laid down and the final mixing of the album was performed in October 1974 by Keith Harwood
at Olympic Studios
, London. The title "Physical Graffiti" was coined by Page to illustrate the whole physical and written energy that had gone into producing the set.
Spanning several years of recording, the album featured forays into a range of musical styles, including hard rock ("The Rover", "The Wanton Song
", "Sick Again
", "Houses of the Holy"), eastern-influenced orchestral rock ("Kashmir
"), driving funk ("Trampled Under Foot
"), acoustic rock and roll ("Boogie With Stu
", "Black Country Woman
"), love ballad ("Ten Years Gone
"), blues rock ("In My Time of Dying"), and acoustic guitar instrumental ("Bron-Yr-Aur"). The wide range of Physical Graffiti is also underlined by the fact that it contains both the longest and shortest studio recordings by Led Zeppelin. "In My Time of Dying" clocks in at eleven minutes and five seconds, and "Bron-Yr-Aur" is two minutes and six seconds. With the exception of "The Battle of Evermore
" on their fourth album, it is also the only Led Zeppelin album to feature John Paul Jones playing additional guitar on some tracks.
Several tracks off the album became live staples at Led Zeppelin concerts
. In particular, "In My Time of Dying", "Trampled Under Foot", "Kashmir", "Ten Years Gone", and "Sick Again" became regular components of the band's live concert set list
s following the release of the album.
According to Robert Plant, of all the albums Led Zeppelin released, Physical Graffiti represented the band at its most creative and most expressive. He has commented that it is his favourite Led Zeppelin album. Similarly, guitarist Jimmy Page considers this album to be a "high watermark" for Led Zeppelin.
, 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 said:
The two five-story buildings photographed for the album cover are located at 96 and 98 St. Mark's Place in New York City. To enable the image to fit properly with the square format of the album cover, the fourth floor (of five) had to be cropped out, making them appear as four-story buildings in the image. The whole image underwent a number of small tweaks to arrive at the final image. The buildings to the left and right were also changed to match the style of the double front. Tiles were added on the roof section along with more faces. Part of the top right railing balcony was left out for a whole window frame to be visible. The front cover is a daytime image, while the back cover (above) is the same image but at nighttime.
Mike Doud is listed as the cover artist on the inner sleeve, and either the concept or design or both were his. He passed away in the early 1990s, and this album design was one of his crowning achievements in a lifetime of design–he was later to win a Grammy for best album cover of the year 1978.
The buildings on the album cover were the same ones that Keith Richards
and Mick Jagger
were filmed in front of in The Rolling Stones
music video "Waiting on a Friend
". There was a used clothing store in the basement of 96 St. Mark's Place called Physical Graffiti. There is currently a shop called Physical Graffitea. The building has been profiled on the television show, Rock Junket.
The original album jacket for the LP album
included four covers made up of two inners (for each disc), a middle insert cover and an outer cover. The inner covers depict various objects and people (including photos of Plant and Richard Cole in drag
) on each window. 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".
In 1976 the album was nominated for a Grammy Award
in the category of best album package
.
of North America. Delays in the production of the album's sleeve design prevented its release prior to the commencement of the tour.
Physical Graffiti was the band's first release on their own Swan Song Records
label, which had been launched in May 1974. Until this point, all of Led Zeppelin's albums had been released on Atlantic Records
. The album was a commercial and critical success, having built up a huge advance order, and when eventually released it reached #1 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. It has since proven to be one of the most popular releases by the group, shipping 8 million copies in the United States alone (which has made it 16 times platinum as it is a double album). Physical Graffiti 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.
Billboard magazine's 5 star review of the album stated: "[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
that the double album was "the band's Tommy, Beggar's Banquet and Sgt. Pepper
rolled into one: Physical Graffiti is Led Zeppelin's bid for artistic respectability."
In 1998 Q readers voted Physical Graffiti the 28th-greatest album of all time; in 2000 Q placed it at number 32 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever; and in 2001 the same magazine named it as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time. In 2003, the TV network VH1
named it the 71st-greatest album ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 70 on Rolling Stone
magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
". The album is also listed in Robert Dimery and Stevie Chick's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005).
(*) designates unordered lists.
Singles
Additional personnel
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, released on 24 February 1975 as a double album. Recording sessions for the album were initially disrupted when bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (musician)
John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
considered leaving the band. After reuniting at Headley Grange
Headley Grange
Headley Grange is a former poorhouse in Headley, East Hampshire, England, UK. It is best known as a recording and rehearsal venue in the 1960s and 1970s for bands such as Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, Fleetwood Mac, Genesis, Peter Frampton, the Pretty Things, Ian Dury and Clover.-Early history:Built...
, the band wrote and recorded eight songs, the combined length of which stretched the album beyond the typical length of an LP. This prompted the band to make Physical Graffiti a double album by including previously unreleased tracks from earlier recording sessions.
Physical Graffiti was commercially and critically successful; the album went 16x platinum (though this signifies shipping of eight million copies, as it is a double album) in the US alone, and has come to be regarded as one of Led Zeppelin's defining works.
Recording session
The recording sessions for Physical Graffiti initially took place in November 1973 at Headley Grange in East HampshireEast Hampshire
East Hampshire is a local government district in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in Petersfield. Other towns are Alton, Horndean and Whitehill-Bordon....
, England. For these recordings, the band used Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio
Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio
Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio, also known as LMS, is a mobile recording studio originally owned by Ronnie Lane.Lane acquired the studio in 1972. It was one of the first ever mobile recording studios, and consisted of a 16 track studio housed in a 26' Airstream trailer, with a Helios mixing console,...
. However, these sessions came to a halt quickly and the studio time was turned over to the band Bad Company
Bad Company
Bad Company were an English rock supergroup founded in 1973, consisting of two former Free band members — singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke — as well as Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who, in years prior, was a key component of...
, who used it to record songs for their debut album, Bad Company
Bad Company (album)
Bad Company is the eponymous debut studio album by hard rock band Bad Company.The album was recorded at Headley Grange with Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio in November 1973....
. In an interview he gave in 1975, guitarist and album producer Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
explained the reason for this abrupt cessation of recording:
It took a long time for this album mainly because when we originally went in to record it, John Paul Jones wasn't well and we had to cancel the time... everything got messed up. It took three months to sort the situation out.
However, according to Led Zeppelin archivist Dave Lewis:
It later emerged that Jones had wanted to quit the band and take up a position as choirmaster at Winchester CathedralWinchester CathedralWinchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe...
. [Manager] Peter Grant urged caution, suggesting that Jones was overwrought from the incessant touring and should take a rest from Zeppelin for a few weeks. Jones changed his mind and sessions resumed at Headley Grange after the Christmas holidays.
Once they had reconvened, the band recorded eight tracks at Headley Grange in January and February 1974, which were engineered by Ron Nevison
Ron Nevison
Multi-platinum record producer Ron Nevison, throughout his career, has operated much like a surgeon, brought in during a critical point in a band's career to bring them back to the top from the commercial brink...
. Singer Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
later referred to these eight tracks as "the belters":
We got eight tracks off... and a lot of them were really raunchy. We did some real belters with live vocals, off-the-wall stuff that turned out really nice.
Similar to the sessions for the previous two albums, the decision to record at the informal surroundings of Headley Grange provided a welcome opportunity for the band to improvise and develop material along the way. As Plant commented:
Some of the tracks we assembled in our own fashioned way of running through a track and realising before we knew it that we had stumbled on something completely different.
Led Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin III is the third studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded between January and July 1970 and released on 5 October 1970 by Atlantic Records. Composed largely at a remote cottage in Wales known as Bron-Yr-Aur, this work represented a maturing of the band's...
. It was named after Bron-Yr-Aur
Bron-Yr-Aur
Bron-Yr-Aur , sometimes misspelled as Bron-Y-Aur, is an 18th century cottage in South Snowdonia, Wales, best known for its association with the English rock band Led Zeppelin....
, a cottage in Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
, Wales where the members of Led Zeppelin spent time during the recording of Led Zeppelin III. "Night Flight
Night Flight (song)
"Night Flight" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti. Originally recorded at Headley Grange in 1971, it was intended for Led Zeppelin IV but was held over and placed on Physical Graffiti to fill up the double album.It was written largely by John Paul...
" and "Boogie with Stu
Boogie with Stu
"Boogie with Stu" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti. It was a jam recorded in 1971 at Headley Grange, where the band had done most of the recording for their fourth album...
" were recorded at Headley Grange and "Down by the Seaside
Down by the Seaside
"Down by the Seaside" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.-Overview:The song was originally written as an acoustic piece by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant at Bron-Yr-Aur, the cottage in Wales where they went after their 1970 concert tour of the United...
" at Island Studios, all for Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin IV
The fourth album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin was released on 8 November 1971. No title is printed on the album, so it is generally referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, following the naming standard used by the band's first three studio albums...
. "The Rover
The Rover (song)
"The Rover" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.The song was originally meant to be an acoustic piece, being written at Bron-Yr-Aur in 1970 and then recorded at Stargroves during the Houses of the Holy sessions in 1972...
" and "Black Country Woman
Black Country Woman
"Black Country Woman" is the fourteenth song on English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1975 album Physical Graffiti. It was originally intended to be part of the Houses of the Holy album, which had been released two years earlier....
" were recorded at the same sessions as "D'yer Mak'er
D'yer Mak'er
"D'yer Mak'er" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, from their 1973 album Houses of the Holy.-Overview:...
" at Stargroves
Stargroves
Stargroves is a manor house and associated estate at East Woodhay in the English county of Hampshire. It best known for being the home of Mick Jagger during the 1970s and a recording venue for The Rolling Stones and various other rock bands.-History:...
using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio
Rolling Stones Mobile Studio
The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio is a mobile recording studio owned by the musical group the Rolling Stones. Numerous bands and artists have recorded music using it, including Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Lou Reed, Bob Marley, Horslips, Fleetwood Mac, Bad Company, Status Quo, Iron Maiden, Mola Mola...
in May 1972. "Houses of the Holy
Houses of the Holy (song)
"Houses of the Holy" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album, Physical Graffiti. The track is a mid-tempo rock song, heavy on bass and featuring a distinctive Jimmy Page guitar riff. In order to create the layered guitar introduction and fade-out, Page used a Delta T...
" was also recorded in May 1972, but at Olympic Studios
Olympic Studios
Olympic Studios was a renowned independent commercial recording studio located at 117 Church Road, Barnes, South West London, England. The studio is best known for the huge number of famous rock and pop recordings made there from the late 1960s onward....
. The group's fifth album, Houses of the Holy
Houses of the Holy
Houses of the Holy is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released by Atlantic Records on 28 March 1973. The album title is a dedication by the band to their fans who appeared at venues they dubbed "Houses of the Holy". It was the second Led Zeppelin album to not...
, took its title from this song despite the decision not to include the song on that album. Page explained:
We had more material than the required 40-odd minutes for one album. We had enough material for one and a half LPs, so we figured let's put out a double and use some of the material we had done previously but never released. It seemed like a good time to do that sort of thing, release tracks like "Boogie With Stu" which we normally wouldn't be able to do... [T]his time we figured it was better to stretch out than to leave off.
According to engineer Nevison, the decision to expand the album to include songs from previous sessions was not part of the original planning:
I never knew that Physical Graffiti was going to be a double album. When we started out we were just cutting tracks for a new record. I left the project before they started pulling in songs from Houses of the Holy and getting them up to scratch. So I didn't know it was a double [album] until it came out.
Additional overdubs were laid down and the final mixing of the album was performed in October 1974 by Keith Harwood
Keith Harwood
Keith Harwood was a recording engineer, most notable for his work at Olympic Studios with such musicians as David Bowie: , the Pretty Things and Ron Wood. Harwood collaborated on engineering the Rolling Stones albums It's Only Rock 'n' Roll and Black and Blue with brothers Andy and Glyn Johns,...
at Olympic Studios
Olympic Studios
Olympic Studios was a renowned independent commercial recording studio located at 117 Church Road, Barnes, South West London, England. The studio is best known for the huge number of famous rock and pop recordings made there from the late 1960s onward....
, London. The title "Physical Graffiti" was coined by Page to illustrate the whole physical and written energy that had gone into producing the set.
Music
In the opinion of Lewis, Physical Graffiti:was a massive outpouring of [Led] Zeppelin music that proved to be the definitive summary of their studio work... Given the luxury of a double format, Physical Graffiti mirrors every facet of the Zeppelin repertoire. The end result is a finely balanced embarrassment of riches.
Spanning several years of recording, the album featured forays into a range of musical styles, including hard rock ("The Rover", "The Wanton Song
The Wanton Song
"The Wanton Song" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti. The song came about as the result of a jam session at rehearsals and features a sharp, aggressive riff from guitarist Jimmy Page, which like "Immigrant Song" found Page switching back and forth...
", "Sick Again
Sick Again
"Sick Again" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.This song was written by Robert Plant about teenage groupies, or as he called them, the "L.A. Queens", with whom the band were acquainted on their 1973 US Tour. He took pity upon these girls who would...
", "Houses of the Holy"), eastern-influenced orchestral rock ("Kashmir
Kashmir (song)
"Kashmir" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their sixth album Physical Graffiti, released in 1975. It was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant over a period of three years, with the lyrics dating back to 1973.-Overview:The song centres around a signature chord progression...
"), driving funk ("Trampled Under Foot
Trampled Under Foot
"Trampled Under Foot" is a song by English rock group Led Zeppelin, featured on their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.-Overview:The song was written by Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, and evolved out of a jam session in 1972...
"), acoustic rock and roll ("Boogie With Stu
Boogie with Stu
"Boogie with Stu" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti. It was a jam recorded in 1971 at Headley Grange, where the band had done most of the recording for their fourth album...
", "Black Country Woman
Black Country Woman
"Black Country Woman" is the fourteenth song on English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1975 album Physical Graffiti. It was originally intended to be part of the Houses of the Holy album, which had been released two years earlier....
"), love ballad ("Ten Years Gone
Ten Years Gone
"Ten Years Gone" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.-Overview:Originally intended to be an instrumental piece, Jimmy Page used some 14 guitar tracks to overdub the harmony section. Robert Plant later added lyrics, which are dedicated to an old...
"), blues rock ("In My Time of Dying"), and acoustic guitar instrumental ("Bron-Yr-Aur"). The wide range of Physical Graffiti is also underlined by the fact that it contains both the longest and shortest studio recordings by Led Zeppelin. "In My Time of Dying" clocks in at eleven minutes and five seconds, and "Bron-Yr-Aur" is two minutes and six seconds. With the exception of "The Battle of Evermore
The Battle of Evermore
"The Battle of Evermore" is a folk rock duet sung by Robert Plant and Sandy Denny, by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, featured on their untitled fourth album , released in 1971...
" on their fourth album, it is also the only Led Zeppelin album to feature John Paul Jones playing additional guitar on some tracks.
Several tracks off the album became live staples at Led Zeppelin concerts
Led Zeppelin concerts
From September 1968 through the summer of 1980, English rock group Led Zeppelin were one of the world's most popular live music attractions, performing hundreds of sold-out concerts around the world.-History:...
. In particular, "In My Time of Dying", "Trampled Under Foot", "Kashmir", "Ten Years Gone", and "Sick Again" became regular components of the band's live concert set list
Set list
A set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...
s following the release of the album.
According to Robert Plant, of all the albums Led Zeppelin released, Physical Graffiti represented the band at its most creative and most expressive. He has commented that it is his favourite Led Zeppelin album. Similarly, guitarist Jimmy Page considers this album to be a "high watermark" for Led Zeppelin.
Album sleeve design
The album's sleeve design features a photograph of a New York City tenement block, with interchanging window illustrations. The album designer, Peter CorristonPeter Corriston
Peter Corriston is a Grammy-nominated 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, Chick Corea, Carole King, Debbie Harry, George...
, 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 said:
We walked around the city for a few weeks looking for the right building. I had come up [with] a concept for the band based on the tenement, people living there and moving in and out. The original album featured the building with the windows cut out on the cover and various sleeves that could be placed under the cover, filling the windows with the album title, track information or liner notes.
The two five-story buildings photographed for the album cover are located at 96 and 98 St. Mark's Place in New York City. To enable the image to fit properly with the square format of the album cover, the fourth floor (of five) had to be cropped out, making them appear as four-story buildings in the image. The whole image underwent a number of small tweaks to arrive at the final image. The buildings to the left and right were also changed to match the style of the double front. Tiles were added on the roof section along with more faces. Part of the top right railing balcony was left out for a whole window frame to be visible. The front cover is a daytime image, while the back cover (above) is the same image but at nighttime.
Mike Doud is listed as the cover artist on the inner sleeve, and either the concept or design or both were his. He passed away in the early 1990s, and this album design was one of his crowning achievements in a lifetime of design–he was later to win a Grammy for best album cover of the year 1978.
The buildings on the album cover were the same ones that Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
and Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
were filmed in front of in The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
music video "Waiting on a Friend
Waiting On A Friend
"Waiting on a Friend" is a song by The Rolling Stones from their 1981 album Tattoo You. Released as the album's second single, it reached #13 on the US singles chart.-History:...
". There was a used clothing store in the basement of 96 St. Mark's Place called Physical Graffiti. There is currently a shop called Physical Graffitea. The building has been profiled on the television show, Rock Junket.
The original album jacket for the LP album
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
included four covers made up of two inners (for each disc), a middle insert cover and an outer cover. The inner covers depict various objects and people (including photos of Plant and Richard Cole in drag
Drag (clothing)
Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...
) on each window. 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".
In 1976 the album was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in the category of best album package
Grammy Award for Best Recording 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, except if the performer is also the art director....
.
Release and critical reception
The album was released on 24 February 1975, at a time when Led Zeppelin were undertaking their tenth concert tourLed Zeppelin North American Tour 1975
Led Zeppelin's 1975 North American Tour was the tenth concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour was divided into two legs, with performances commencing on January 18 and concluding on March 27, 1975...
of North America. Delays in the production of the album's sleeve design prevented its release prior to the commencement of the tour.
Physical Graffiti was the band's first release on their own Swan Song Records
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 found it difficult to win contracts with other major labels...
label, which had been launched in May 1974. Until this point, all of Led Zeppelin's albums had been released on Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
. The album was a commercial and critical success, having built up a huge advance order, and when eventually released it reached #1 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. It has since proven to be one of the most popular releases by the group, shipping 8 million copies in the United States alone (which has made it 16 times platinum as it is a double album). Physical Graffiti 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.
Billboard magazine's 5 star review of the album stated: "[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
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
that the double album was "the band's Tommy, Beggar's Banquet and Sgt. Pepper
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
rolled into one: Physical Graffiti is Led Zeppelin's bid for artistic respectability."
In 1998 Q readers voted Physical Graffiti the 28th-greatest album of all time; in 2000 Q placed it at number 32 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever; and in 2001 the same magazine named it as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time. In 2003, the TV network VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
named it the 71st-greatest album ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 70 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
". The album is also listed in Robert Dimery and Stevie Chick's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005).
Accolades
| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grammy Award Grammy Award A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry... |
USA | "Grammy Award for Best Recording Package Grammy Award for Best Recording 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, except if the performer is also the art director.... " |
1976 | Nominee |
| Rolling Stone | USA | The Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:... |
2003 | 70 |
| Mojo Mojo (magazine) MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music... |
UK | "The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made" | 1996 | 47 |
| Classic Rock Classic Rock (magazine) Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to the radio format of classic rock, published by Future Publishing, who are also responsible for its "sister" publication Metal Hammer. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it also includes articles and reviews of... |
UK | "100 Greatest Rock Album Ever" | 2001 | 5 |
| Q Q (magazine) Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology... |
UK | "100 Greatest Albums Ever" | 2003 | 41 |
| Record Collector Record Collector Record Collector is the United Kingdom's longest-running monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.-The early years:... |
UK | "Classic Albums from 21 Genres for the 21st Century" | 2005 | * |
| Robert Dimery | USA | 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a musical reference book edited by Robert Dimery, first published in 2005. The most recent edition consists of a list of albums released between 1955 and 2010, part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd... |
2005 | * |
| Q | UK | "100 Best Albums Ever" | 2006 | 57 |
| Classic Rock | UK | "100 Greatest British Rock Album Ever" | 2006 | 7 |
| Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,... |
USA | "The Definitive 200: Top 200 Albums of All-Time" | 2007 | 93 |
| Guitar World Guitar World Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year... |
USA | "Reader's Poll: 100 Greatest Guitar Albums" | 2006 | 9 |
(*) designates unordered lists.
Track listing
- Some cassette versions of the album place "Bron-Yr-Aur" immediately after "Kashmir", presumably to make each side of the cassette last approximately the same amount of time.
- 8-track versions of the album place "Bron-Yr-Aur" immediately after "Kashmir", presumably to make each program of the 8-track last approximately the same amount of time.
- The running times listed for "Kashmir" and "Ten Years Gone" on original LP pressings of the album were significantly in error; "Kashmir" was listed at 9:41, "Ten Years Gone" at 6:55.
- "Boogie with Stu" is credited to "Mrs. Valens, mother of Ritchie ValensRitchie ValensRitchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....
". The credit came about after the band had heard Valens' mother never received any royalties from any of her son's hits.
Sales chart performance
Album| Chart (1975) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Japanese Albums Chart | 13 |
| UK Albums Chart | 1 |
| US Billboard The 200 Albums Chart | 1 |
| US Cash Box Top 100 Albums Chart | 1 |
| US Record World Top Pop Albums Chart | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Albums Chart | 1 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 4 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 2 |
| Australian Kent Music Report Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998... Albums Chart |
2 |
| New Zealand Top 50 Albums Chart | 3 |
| German Albums Chart | 17 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 2 |
| French Albums Chart | 2 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | "Trampled Under Foot" | Billboard Pop Singles (Billboard Hot 100) | 38 |
Sales certifications
Personnel
Led Zeppelin- Jimmy PageJimmy PageJames Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
– electricElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, acousticAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, lap steelLap steel guitarThe lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fingerboard....
, and slide guitarSlide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, production - Robert PlantRobert PlantRobert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
– lead vocals, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
on "Boogie with Stu" - John Paul JonesJohn Paul Jones (musician)John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, acoustic and electric pianoElectric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
, MellotronMellotronThe Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, VCS3 synthesiserSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, clavinetClavinetA Clavinet is an electrically amplified keyboard instrument manufactured by the Hohner company. It is essentially an electronically amplified clavichord, analogous to an electric guitar. Its distinctive bright staccato sound has appeared particularly in funk, disco, rock, and reggae songs.Various...
, hammond organHammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard... - John BonhamJohn BonhamJohn Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
Additional personnel
- Ian StewartIan Stewart (musician)Ian Andrew Robert Stewart was a Scottish keyboardist, co-founder of The Rolling Stones and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
– piano on "Boogie with Stu" - George ChkiantzGeorge ChkiantzGeorge Chkiantz is a 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 high quality of the recordings....
– engineeringAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including... - Peter CorristonPeter CorristonPeter Corriston is a Grammy-nominated 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, Chick Corea, Carole King, Debbie Harry, George...
– artwork, design, cover design - Barry Diament – masteringAudio masteringMastering, 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 source from which all copies will be produced...
(original Compact Disc release) - Mike Doud – artwork, design, cover design
- Elliot Erwitt – photography
- B. P. Fallon – photography
- Peter Grant – producer, executive producerExecutive producerAn executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
- Roy HarperRoy HarperRoy Harper is an English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist who has been a professional musician since the mid 1960s...
– photography - Keith HarwoodKeith HarwoodKeith Harwood was a recording engineer, most notable for his work at Olympic Studios with such musicians as David Bowie: , the Pretty Things and Ron Wood. Harwood collaborated on engineering the Rolling Stones albums It's Only Rock 'n' Roll and Black and Blue with brothers Andy and Glyn Johns,...
– engineering, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Dave Heffernan – illustrations
- Andy JohnsAndy JohnsAndy Johns is an engineer and producer who worked on well-known rock albums such as Led Zeppelin's IV and The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street. His sound is exemplified by Free's album Highway, which he engineered and produced....
– engineering - Eddie KramerEddie KramerEdwin H. Kramer is an audio engineer and producer who has worked with, among others, Led Zeppelin, Triumph, Kiss , Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Spooky Tooth, Peter Frampton, Curtis Mayfield, Santana, Anthrax, Carly Simon, Loudness, and Robin Trower.-1960s:Eddie...
– engineering, mixing - George Marino – remasteredAudio masteringMastering, 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 source from which all copies will be produced...
Compact Disc release - Ron NevisonRon NevisonMulti-platinum record producer Ron Nevison, throughout his career, has operated much like a surgeon, brought in during a critical point in a band's career to bring them back to the top from the commercial brink...
– engineering