Physical Graffiti [Remaster] - Led Zeppelin (CD 1994)

Despite its double disc length, I find Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti to be remarkably consistent, which is saying something considering that half of this album was comprised of previously unreleased material that had not been deemed good enough for inclusion on earlier albums. The rest of the songs were recorded in the mid-'70s, an era when the temptation to do out-and-out bombast must have been strong. After all, Led Zeppelin really had nothing to prove. Commercially successful from the get-go and critically accepted since their seminal fourth album, they could have easily mailed this one in. Instead, they consolidated their hard-rock style by offering up surprisingly tasty leftovers, while simultaneously stretching out to incorporate other musical elements on the newly written pieces. Not everything works, and the last fourth of the album is mostly filler, but the boys earn points for not resting on their laurels.

In his lyrics, lead singer Robert Plant had matured from a Dungeons and Dragons folk hippie into more of a lusty bluesman persona, where sexual chase and conquest is the name of the game. However, on most of the tracks, his vocals were buried beneath the band. There are snippets of audible lyrics here and there, but Physical Graffiti is best enjoyed when you focus primarily on the music.

Applying the group's strengths of Jimmy Page's searing guitar, John Bonham's sledgehammer drumming, and bass/keyboard player John Paul Jones' jack-of-all-trades musicianship, the funky blues "Custard Pie" opens the album with a great stuttering beat over Plant's salacious singing. Once again, Plant squeezes into a pair of nut-pinching leather trousers to deliver a series of saucy yelps and screams along the lines of: "Put on your night shirt and your morning gown/You know by night I'm gonna shake 'em down."

Two songs recorded during the Houses of the Holy sessions, but left off that album, are "The Rover" and "Houses of the Holy." They continue the familiar sound from that album, with Page layering melodic guitars over a meaty beat. I have wondered why "Houses of the Holy" was not included on the album of the same name as its good-time feel would have fit right in (think "Dancing Days"). For that matter "The Rover," with its spirited chorus "If we could just join hands," would have also worked well on their previous album.

Originally released as a two record set, the first three sides of Physical Graffiti each contain a lengthy song on them, which could prove either sublime or boring to listeners, depending on one's patience.

"In My Time of Dying" is an eleven minute blues jam that goes on too long, though the ending (a background cough and some studio chatter) helps to deflate it. Overall I like this song for Page's nasty slide guitar and Bonham's thunderclap drums, but I don't like the group taking credit for writing it. It's a traditional folk number--Bob Dylan sang it on his 1961 debut and I'm sure as hell the names Bonham, Jones, Page, and Plant were not listed as the composers.

The droning "In the Light," musically a showpiece for Jones' keyboard work, is probably the weakest of the three, though it isn't a bad song and contains an uplifting message to keep your chin up when things look bleak. This song opens Side 3 (or the second CD), a pastoral side that serves as a cool down to the first disc.

The third and best of the lengthy numbers is "Kashmir." It is a tight, tense, repetitive piece, not unlike Ravel's "Bolero." With its use of strings, courtesy of Jones' orchestration, and a definite Middle Eastern bent to it, "Kashmir" stands out on the album and is a satisfying close to the first disc.

Other than the worldly influence of "Kashmir," Led Zeppelin branches out with a bit of funk on "Trampled Under Foot," gets into some boogie-woogie on the spontaneous "Boogie With Stu" (named for Ian Stewart, who was jamming with them on piano when the tape was rolling), and dips ever so slightly into country music thanks to Page's twangy steel guitar on "Down by the Seaside." I imagine it could be strummed at a campfire along the Gulf Shore.

A bit of country blues on "Black Country Woman" harkens back to their earlier records, most notably Led Zeppelin III. "Ten Years Gone," which concludes Side 3, is in the same mold as "The Rain Song" from Houses of the Holy. It is a tender, positive love song where Plant reflects on a long ago relationship.

The songs on Side 4 are shorter and not quite as good as the rest of the album. "Night Flight," "The Wanton Song" and especially "Sick Again" sound like retreads of Led Zeppelin's crunchy hard-rock sound. It's the one side of the four that gets the least play from me, though after hearing it again recently there are some songs I enjoy, like the above-mentioned "Boogie With Stu" and "Black Country Woman."

If Physical Graffiti is not as good as the albums Led Zeppelin made immediately before it, it's still good quality and would prove to be their last truly impressive work.