Physical Graffiti review

The sixth and longest album from Led Zeppelin. This massive double album was a huge commercial success and contains a large variety of songs and musical styles.

Tracks:

1. Custard Pie: 7/10 low on substance and memorability but undeniably fun.

2. The Rover: 9/10 a truly mad and brilliantly written rock song full of amazing guitar playing and Robert Plant's typically wonderful vocals.

3. In My Time of Dying: 9/10 it's beautifully played and wonderfully, overwhelmingly heavy but was there any need for it to be 11 minutes?

4. Houses of the Holy: 9/10 here, the confusing lyrics only make the song more intriguing and fascinating, and it has some great guitar riffs.

5. Trampled Under Foot: 9/10 essentially just a series of sex metaphors, but they are supported by a fantastic instrumental and plenty of lyrical sharpness.

6. Kashmir: 10/10 an epic, insane and utterly exhilarating 8 minute odyssey into hard-rock heaven.

7. In the Light: 8/10 the unique instrumentals at the beggining and middle of the song, composed by John Paul Jones, is so completely brilliant that when it moves to the more typical Led Zeppelin instrumentals it's almost disappointing.

8. Bron-Yr-Aur: 8/10 a delightful acoustic guitar instrumental.

9. Down By the Seaside: 8/10 forgettable, but still an enjoyable and pleasant listen.

10. Ten Years Gone: 9/10 an excellent love song which is one of the most touching things Led Zeppelin have ever done and shows they're focused on more than just heavy guitar riffs.

11. Night Flight: 8/10 lyrical confusion doesn't make this any less entertaining.

12. The Wanton Song: 8/10 yet another sex song and a good one at that, with some awesome riffs.

13. Boogie With Stu: 9/10 a light and substance-free, yet also awesomely entertaining and criminally underrated song.

14. Black Country Woman: 5/10 an adequately-played but woefully forgettable song, which they were wise to hide so far back in the album.

15. Sick Again: 8/10 it's a bit confusing, but still makes for a highly enjoyable album ending.

Best song: Kashmir
Worst song: Black Country Woman

Summary: A truly superb album. A vast, ginormous epic circling through a diverse range of musical styles and sounds and delivering aural art during nearly every moment of its enormous 82 minute run-time, this is one of Led Zeppelin's best achievements. It's not quite as good as Led Zeppelin I or IV, but then again few albums are. There aren't any bad songs, and all in all it's just one artful, heavy and epic blast after another. Brilliant album title as well.




Final rating: 9/10