Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
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Free Music Notes for Physical Graffiti
Free Music Review: Led Zeppelin - Inconsistant Two Disc Set
Hit: 4 Stars
This two disc set was released smack dab in the middle of the decade of the 70's. The album is a tour de force where the band pulled out all the stops covering just about every musical style in their repertoire. For me the album is rather inconsistent. Some of the tracks here were leftovers from sessions from earlier albums and in some cases it is easy to see why they were left off. This is the first Zep album where there seems to be some filler here and there. None of it is bad, but all of the material here is not necessarily up to the standards of the albums that came before. That being said the album does contain some all time Zeppelin classics. "Kashmir" is the albums highlight and a staple of classic rock radio to this day. "Custard Pie", "In My Time Of Dying", "Houses Of The Holy" are all great as well. Overall I think if this album had been paired down to a single disc it could have been another great Zeppelin outing, but as it is the album remains just a good effort from the band.Free Music Review: (3.5 stars) moments of interest and moments of excess
Hit: 3 Stars
Physical Graffiti is one of Led Zeppelin's most treasured recordings (then again, given this group's popularity even tripe like Presence is revered in some circles). It is also arguably the most bloated, indulgent, excessive double-album ever made. There are a mere fifteen songs on this album, and it runs over eighty minutes: 82:15, to be precise. And found within this double-album is a good single-album, too: some of these songs really are brilliant. I'll get to those. First, I'd like to dish out some criticism.
It should come as no surprise that two songs on this album take up about twenty minutes combined, and that they are the two worst songs on the album. First is In My Time of Dying, which breaks eleven minutes. I don't mind extremely long songs if they fulfill at least one of four criteria: intelligent, thought-provoking lyrics (Dylan's Desolation Row, Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, Brownsville Girl and Highlands), create excellent atmosphere (Van Morrison's Madame George and T.B. Sheets), have virtuoso performances (Frank Zappa's Gumbo Variations and Watermelon in Easter Hay; several jazz songs), or have an arrangement that keeps you guessing (Isaac Hayes' late '60s-early '70s reinterpretations of pop hits; Yes' Close to the Edge). Occasionally, a song will fulfill all four: take either extended piece by the Doors (We'll use When the Music's Over simply because The End is overdiscussed). The lyrics are some of Morrison's best; the groove is the tightest and funkiest the band ever reached, and their chemistry is perfect; the drumming, organ playing and guitar playing are exceptional; and the song uses many unexpected dynamic shifts. In My Time, on the other hand, is just a bloated mess that would've made an enjoyable two-minute song. Sadly, the group indulges themselves completely with Jimmy Page playing repetitive, unimpressive guitar solos that are pure flash without any substance to back them up (a trap Page occasionally fell into, much as I respect him as a guitarist), not even bothering to shift tempos or keys. John Bonham's varied drumming does add interest, but it doesn't matter: I often zone out about five minutes before the piece ends. It used to impress me, but now I can see it for what it is: a rudimentary tune stretched to the breaking point. If I wanted to hear Zeppelin go for epic lengths, I'd much rather play Achilles Last Stand, which is one of the group's best songs ever thanks to Page's downright inspired guitar playing. On the other hand, his playing on In My Time is simply inspid, as is Plant's monotonous delivery (come on, how many times does he say "Jesus gonna make up my dying bed"? Sure, it's a chorus, but does it really warrant THAT much repetition? Of course not). The other of the two is In the Light, which drags on for a similarly ludicrous nine minutes: a pretentious mix of pseudo-mystical lyrics, laughably bad "Eastern" synth parts, and boring guitar playing. This is simply the worst song Zeppelin ever made: again, only Bonzo's drumming is interesting, but that's not enough to lift it from the depths it sinks to. On a scale of zero to ten, I'd give it a 0.2, and that's only for the drumming. It blows.
So two songs are thouroughly awful, and several others are just bad: The Wanton Song has a special place in a lot of Zep fan's hearts, but I see it as boring macho posturing from my least favorite wannabe sex-god, Robert Plant. What else... let's see, Sick Again is a boring hard-rock song with no redeeming facets whatsoever; and Down By the Seaside is a pathetic attempt at country-rock by a band who shouldn't have explored the genre. Black Country Woman is okay, but it would've been made much better had someone besides Robert Plant sang it.
Now, for the goods. There is solid material here: Shake 'em on Down (Oops, I mean Custard Pie) is a fun brainless funk-rocker; Trampled Underfoot is another one, even if the clavinet riff is lifted straight from Superstition and (of course) uncredited. Kashmir is superb: I love the unpredictable, Indian-influenced arrangement and the metronome-like drumming: not even Plant's downright silly lyrics can stop it from being a good tune. Ten Years Gone is even better: my favorite on the album, a longing, symphonic, soulful guitar epic with some of Plant's more convincing vocals. My favorite part is the coda, where Page's guitar almost sounds like it's crying. Another fine one is Houses of the Holy, this one a straightahead rocker with an interesting riff and admittedly dumb lyrics. So, what else is new? Anyway, there are also some underrated songs here: the wistful acoustic guitar instrumental Bron-Yr-Aur should take up more of the airplay given to the infinitely inferior Communications Breakdown, and the mellow, organ-driven Night Flight should take up more of the airplay granted to the dreadfully dull Wanton Song. And Boogie with Stu is a lot of fun: indeed, the group gets down and boogies.
So this isn't brilliant or anything, but it has its moments. Would've made a great single album, though.
Free Music Review: Zep's Physical Graffiti
Hit: 3 Stars
This was good, but just didn't have enough Zep for two CD's.
Lots of highlights, however. Great example of the glitter rock era.
Free Music Review: zep's "white album"
Hit: 4 Stars
the beatles had their white album, the clash sandinista, the stones exile on main street. for me, this is zep's addition to that list of looser, longer, experimental, eclectic albums.
those who prefer the ultra-tight & efficient blues metal attack of other zep albums, this will be interesting but not a favorite. As with the other albums i mentioned above, i found myself hitting the skip button throughout. of course, there are still classics -- kashmir, trampled underfoot, ten years gone etc
but my experience with these albums is they take time & patience to appreciate. for instance, exile is now my favorite stones album. ditto for sandinista although at first i didn't like it so much.
so i will give this album time to sink in and suggest others do same.
Free Music Review: Good material mixed in the muddle....
Hit: 3 Stars
Before I go any further, a fair warning. I've never been one for (a) collections of outtakes and (b) double albums. The former tends to consist of the b-grade material that was left off of previous records, the latter has a habit of dredging up material that probably should have been left off the album. I'd rather have half an hour of quality music than two hours with only a quarter of it worth listening to. Worst still is the tendency of double albums to dredge up self-indulgent and overlong performances. In this regard, I'll discuss "Physical Grafitti", Led Zeppelin's double album, a mix of new recordings and leftovers from previous sessions. And while it seems ok to pan "Coda" as a collection of leftovers for some reason, "Physical Grafitti" gets universally praised. I'll offer this comment-- there's a fine single record in here, maybe even a fantastic one.
The problem of course is that it does fall into the traps of double albums. No less than seven of the fifteen tracks come from earlier sessions-- admittedly some of it is decent enough-- "Houses of the Holy" (from the sessions that produced the album of the same name), a bouncey pop song that was clearly left off the original in deference to other cuts in the same vein, is a catchy piece and a good listen, "Bron-Yr-Aur", recorded for "Led Zeppelin III" is a decent enough acoustic guitar solo, not essential but hard to think poorly of. But the rest of the leftovers have their issues-- "The Rover" has a great muscular riff but finds vocalist Robert Plant a bit on the shrill side, "Down By the Seaside" seems to come apart at the seams about halfway through.. they just feel like outtakes. None of them are horrible (ok, well "Night Flight" is downright awful), but a lot of them aren't fantastic.
Self indulgence and overlong songs also abound nicely-- second disc opener "In the Light" is the best example of this. Nearly nine minutes of processed vocals and descending Middle Eastern riffs loses interest about halfway through, likewise "In My Time of Dying", an eleven minute slide guitar workout, dribbles on and on to seeming no end. The only time they escape self-indulgence as a negative proves to be "Kashmir"-- featuring its famed ascending riff, a great, powerful vocal from Plant and a great swirl of strings softening the grind the piece creates naturally. Even "Ten Years Gone", a nice motif of quiet guitar passages and churning band performances seems to get old after three minutes or so (and goes on for over six). There's are a few other tunes that work out ok-- "Custard Pie" has a great chugging guitar riff and arpeggiated keyboard with Plant downright hoarse and aggressive on his vocal, is energetic, catchy and exciting and "The Wanton Song" has been a longtime fan favorite for a reason-- it's a great slice of riff-based rock.
Admittedly, I was pretty critical. In trying to provide a balanced account of this one, I did dig in a bit hard, but I found that double albums almost universally meet with blind praise by folks who are a bit too impressed by its presentation. A single album "Physical Grafitti" would have been fantastic. This record's got way too much fluff on it.