Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti (2LP) [2015] Vinyl

Physical Graffiti is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released as a double album on 24 February 1975 in the United States and on 28 February 1975 in the United Kingdom. It was the first record issued on the band's own Swan Song label.

The Album

The band wrote and recorded eight new songs in early 1974 at Headley Grange, a country house in Hampshire, which gave them time to improvise arrangements and experiment with recording. Those songs ran to just under three sides, so the group expanded the record into a double album by adding seven previously unreleased tracks from the sessions for Led Zeppelin III (1970), Led Zeppelin IV (1971) and Houses of the Holy (1973). The result ranges across hard rock, progressive rock, rock and roll and folk.

Robert Plant sang and played harmonica, Jimmy Page covered electric, acoustic, lap steel and slide guitars and produced the record, John Paul Jones played bass guitar, keyboards, mandolin and acoustic guitar, and John Bonham played drums and percussion. Ian Stewart guested on piano for "Boogie with Stu", and uncredited session musicians provided the strings and horns on "Kashmir". Peter Grant was executive producer.

The album was mixed over the summer of 1974 and planned for an end of year release, but it was delayed because the die-cut cover designed by Peter Corriston proved difficult to manufacture. On release it debuted at number one on the UK album chart and number three in the United States, and it was promoted with a US tour and a five night residency at Earl's Court in London. The RIAA certified it 16 times platinum in 2006.

The Sleeve

The cover shows the two five-storey tenement buildings at 96 and 98 St. Mark's Place in New York, with the fourth floor cropped out so the facade fitted the square album format. Windows are die-cut through the outer jacket: when the middle cover and inner sleeves are slid into place, the windows spell out the album title on the front and fill with a set of American icons and Hollywood ephemera, among them W. C. Fields, Buzz Aldrin and the band themselves. The package concept and design were by AGI with Mike Doud in London and Peter Corriston in New York, photography was by Elliott Erwitt, B. P. Fallon and Roy Harper, and the window illustrations were by Dave Heffernan. The sleeve was nominated for a Grammy Award for best album package in 1976.

This Pressing

This is the standard double LP from the 2015 reissue programme, released on 23 February 2015, almost exactly forty years after the original. Jimmy Page remastered the album himself, the lacquers were cut by John Davis at Metropolis Mastering, and the records were pressed by Optimal Media GmbH on 180g vinyl. It is issued on Swan Song under catalogue number 8122796578, housed in the die-cut single pocket jacket with two printed inner sleeves and a folded large format inlay carrying the track list, credits and recording information.

Track Listing

Side One

1. Custard Pie (4:15)
2. The Rover (5:39)
3. In My Time of Dying (11:08)

Side Two

1. Houses of the Holy (4:04)
2. Trampled Under Foot (5:36)
3. Kashmir (8:37)

Side Three

1. In the Light (8:47)
2. Bron-Yr-Aur (2:06)
3. Down by the Seaside (5:15)
4. Ten Years Gone (6:34)

Side Four

1. Night Flight (3:38)
2. The Wanton Song (4:08)
3. Boogie with Stu (3:52)
4. Black Country Woman (4:24)
5. Sick Again (4:42)