Album of the week!!! Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti.
Oct 11, 2015 21:49:52 GMT
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Post by jefflynnenut on Oct 11, 2015 21:49:52 GMT
Physical Graffiti is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released as a double album on 24 February 1975. The band wrote and recorded eight new songs for the album at Headley Grange. These eight songs stretched the total time of the record beyond the typical length of a single LP, so the band decided to make Physical Graffiti a double album by including unreleased tracks from earlier recording sessions: one outtake from Led Zeppelin III, three from Led Zeppelin IV, and three from Houses of the Holy, including the unused title track.
Physical Graffiti was commercially and critically successful; the album went 16x platinum in the US in 2006, signifying shipments of eight million copies, and was a number one album in both the US and UK.[2]
The first attempt to record songs for Physical Graffiti took place in November 1973 at Headley Grange in East Hampshire, England. The recording equipment consisted of 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 eponymous debut album.[3] In an interview he gave in 1975, guitarist and album producer 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."[4]
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 Cathedral. [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."[3]
Once they had reconvened, the band recorded eight tracks at Headley Grange in January and February 1974, which were engineered by Ron Nevison. Lead singer Robert Plant 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."[3]
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.[3] 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."[3]
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.
"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."[5]
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."[6]
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.[3]
Title Date recorded Length
1. "Custard Pie" January–February 1974 4:15
2. "The Rover" May 1972 (Houses of the Holy outtake) 5:39
3. "In My Time of Dying" (John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Page, and Plant) January–February 1974 11:08
Side two
No. Title Date recorded Length
4. "Houses of the Holy" May 1972 (Houses of the Holy outtake) 4:04
5. "Trampled Under Foot" (Jones, Page, and Plant) January–February 1974 5:36
6. "Kashmir" (Bonham, Page, and Plant) January–February 1974 8:37
Side three
No. Title Date recorded Length
7. "In the Light" (Jones, Page, and Plant) January–February 1974 8:47
8. "Bron-Yr-Aur" (Page) July 1970 (Led Zeppelin III outtake) 2:06
9. "Down by the Seaside" February 1971 (Led Zeppelin IV outtake) 5:15
10. "Ten Years Gone" January–February 1974 6:34
Side four
No. Title Date recorded Length
11. "Night Flight" (Jones, Page, and Plant) December 1970 – January 1971 (Led Zeppelin IV outtake) 3:38
12. "The Wanton Song" January–February 1974 4:08
13. "Boogie with Stu" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant, Ian Stewart) December 1970 – January 1971 (Led Zeppelin IV outtake) 3:52
14. "Black Country Woman" May 1972 (Houses of the Holy outtake) 4:24
15. "Sick Again" January–February 1974
Physical Graffiti was commercially and critically successful; the album went 16x platinum in the US in 2006, signifying shipments of eight million copies, and was a number one album in both the US and UK.[2]
The first attempt to record songs for Physical Graffiti took place in November 1973 at Headley Grange in East Hampshire, England. The recording equipment consisted of 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 eponymous debut album.[3] In an interview he gave in 1975, guitarist and album producer 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."[4]
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 Cathedral. [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."[3]
Once they had reconvened, the band recorded eight tracks at Headley Grange in January and February 1974, which were engineered by Ron Nevison. Lead singer Robert Plant 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."[3]
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.[3] 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."[3]
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.
"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."[5]
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."[6]
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.[3]
Title Date recorded Length
1. "Custard Pie" January–February 1974 4:15
2. "The Rover" May 1972 (Houses of the Holy outtake) 5:39
3. "In My Time of Dying" (John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Page, and Plant) January–February 1974 11:08
Side two
No. Title Date recorded Length
4. "Houses of the Holy" May 1972 (Houses of the Holy outtake) 4:04
5. "Trampled Under Foot" (Jones, Page, and Plant) January–February 1974 5:36
6. "Kashmir" (Bonham, Page, and Plant) January–February 1974 8:37
Side three
No. Title Date recorded Length
7. "In the Light" (Jones, Page, and Plant) January–February 1974 8:47
8. "Bron-Yr-Aur" (Page) July 1970 (Led Zeppelin III outtake) 2:06
9. "Down by the Seaside" February 1971 (Led Zeppelin IV outtake) 5:15
10. "Ten Years Gone" January–February 1974 6:34
Side four
No. Title Date recorded Length
11. "Night Flight" (Jones, Page, and Plant) December 1970 – January 1971 (Led Zeppelin IV outtake) 3:38
12. "The Wanton Song" January–February 1974 4:08
13. "Boogie with Stu" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant, Ian Stewart) December 1970 – January 1971 (Led Zeppelin IV outtake) 3:52
14. "Black Country Woman" May 1972 (Houses of the Holy outtake) 4:24
15. "Sick Again" January–February 1974