“Physical Graffiti” by Led Zeppelin

One of the greatest rock records ever made turns 50.

This album review gives one of hard rock’s towering sonic achievements its due to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

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Genre: Hard Rock, Blues Rock, Folk

Label: Swan Song

Release Date: February 24, 2025

Vibe: 💯

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👉 Click the GIF to stream the album on your favorite platform

Picture this: I sit down to start outlining this review of Led Zeppelin’s remarkable double LP, Physical Graffiti, and attempt to wrap my arms around its greatness. At this point in this newsletter’s history, I’m hundreds of reviews in, and the process of completing of these posts takes a lot less time than it used to. In my opinion, my qualitative batting average has increased proportionally, so that’s a bonus. Bit by bit, it’s become easier to write about albums and artists that have left a lasting impact on my life and articulate the “why” and “how” behind it all. I remind myself I’ve done this before and, occasionally, do it pretty well. But some titles give me pause because of how large they loom in my consciousness. No, in my soul. Purple Rain was like that. So were Rhythm Nation, Paul’s Boutique, and Get Up With It. What else can you say about perfection?

That’s how I started this review—by asking myself what was left to say about Led Zeppelin. If not the greatest rock band ever, they’re unquestionably one of the most influential. Their in-your-face, riff-driven sound that initially borrowed heavily from the blues changed how rock music was produced, marketed, and played live. Without Zeppelin, I’m not sure album-centric rock mythology exists in quite the same way as it does now. It’s easy to forget now, but “Stairway to Heaven” was never released as a single, and yet it remains inescapable on rock radio and in classic rock playlists worldwide. You could say the same for blowing the doors off stadium rock’s commercial potential, obliterating record and ticket sales benchmarks. Heavy metal, prog rock, grunge, and new wave—an unfathomable amount of rock history owes a massive debt to this British foursome.

Having said all that, plenty of fans have a weird relationship with everything that comes after Led Zeppelin IV. I get it. Much of their work post-1971 isn’t as full-throttle as tracks like “Good Times Bad Times” and “Whole Lotta Love.” Those are all classics in their own right, but they’re far from representative of the band’s capabilities. Beginning with Houses of the Holy, their sound got much weirder, and I mean that in the best possible way. That album sees them trying their hand at funk and reggae with wildly uneven results, not unlike what Elton John did on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. More importantly, they were toying with the notion of what a Zeppelin LP was “supposed” to sound like. They didn’t leave the previous recipe behind but were updating the spice blend, as it were. It’s an approach they continued to refine and worked legitimate magic with on Physical Graffiti.

“We began as always, playing around and fooling about for two days, playing anything we wanted,” said Robert Plant of the recording process. “[That included] standards, our own material or anything that comes to us, and slowly but surely we develop a feel that takes us on to the new material. Some of the new stuff came directly from this approach […] and some comes from Jonesy or Pagey or myself—seldom myself—bringing along some structure which needs working on. Then the four of us inflict our own venom on it to develop the idea.” Part of Graffiti’s brilliance is that the group also found time to resurrect unreleased material that, until then, had been relegated to the cutting room floor. It’s a staggering notion. These guys were in such a zone by the mid-70s that every table scrap they picked up and polished turned into something memorable.

“We recorded as much fresh stuff as we could before looking back at some things we hadn’t recorded,” added Plant. “Then we saw that there was a lot of stuff we’d put down and we thought ‘Why not put a double album out.’ There’s a lot of variation of material so it gives people a whole spectrum of style […] It goes from one extreme to the other but at the same time it’s very evident that it’s Zeppelin. You could play a track on the radio that you’d think would never ever be us, but then when you listened you’d hear little things that couldn’t be anyone else.” That last assertion is what keeps me going back to Graffiti, even though I know every track like the back of my hand. It represents them not just at the peak of their considerable powers but also operating on their wisest, most refined musical wavelength.

It’s telling that, if you look at every album they released after Led Zeppelin IV, they never tried to drink out of that sonic well ever again. There wasn’t a shameless sequel to “Stairway to Heaven.” Instead, they proved they could interpolate seemingly incongruous genres and cultural mysticism without losing the essence of what makes their sound so distinctive. You get everything from a disco-inspired stomper in “Trampled Under Foot” to full-on guitar pop in “House of the Holy” and lilting country-folk in “Down by the Seaside.” Whatever criticisms hardliners would’ve had after Houses, it’s clear that Zeppelin didn’t cave to those objections. If anything, any cries of discontent seemed to embolden them creatively.

Across 82 minutes, the most arresting moments Graffiti has to offer are the bluesier extended cuts. They’re true album cuts, crafted to be thoughtful, intense widescreen listening experiences. I don’t think you’re meant to “get” them all in one sitting, which isn’t to say they’re purely for the intelligentsia wing of the music nerd community. With repeated listens, you pick up on new textural and tonal notes you may have missed the first couple of times through the record. Take “In My Time of Dying,” a gospel cover they turned into an 11-minute blues opus that’s become one of Zeppelin’s defining moments. It’s so deliberate in its choices and yet sounds so spontaneous in several spots, most of which come from John Paul Jones’ unpredictable performance on bass. It’s urgent and haunting and fatalistic without ever affecting its pacing. You have to meet it where it is, and it is all the more impressive for it.

“Ten Years Gone” is another standout moment, one that was originally supposed to be an instrumental piece. Jimmy Page had laid down 14 (!) separate guitar tracks to overdub the harmony before Plant’s vocals were added. The lyrics pay homage to one of the singer’s former girlfriends who made him decide between her and his work before Zeppelin hit it big. I’ve always considered it a bittersweet reminiscence than an acerbic takedown, with lines like, “Kind of makes me feel sometimes, didn’t have to go/ But as the eagle leaves the nest, got so far to go.” The other musical components help the song walk that fine line, combining bright and murky elements beautifully. It’s no wonder Rick Rubin described it as a “deep, reflective piece with hypnotic, interweaving riffs.”

The most enduring cut off this double LP is “Kashmir,” a lush, menacing epic that’s influenced countless prog rock and heavy metal songs for half a century. It’s a mind-blowing feat of chemistry in the studio, with different rhythmic meters swirling around each other but never colliding or jarring the listener. The well-known guitar riff is played at three beats per bar, while Plant’s vocal soars and sways at four beats per bar. Meanwhile, Bonham’s sludgy drumming is steely and steadfast, apparently heeding Plant’s request to avoid any overplaying. Add in those strings, horns, and Mellotron, and you’ve got the most experimental Zeppelin track ever recorded, yet arguably their most impressive feat.

According to Cameron Crowe’s liner notes for The Complete Studio Recordings box set, none of the band members had ever been to Kashmir. Instead, the lyrics were inspired by Plant’s trip to Morocco and, more specifically, a long drive through a mostly uninhabited part of the desert in the country’s southern region. “The whole inspiration came from the fact that the road went on and on and on. It was a single-track road which neatly cut through the desert. Two miles to the East and West were ridges of sandrock. It basically looked like you were driving down a channel, this dilapidated road, and there was seemingly no end to it,” he explained.

Physical Graffiti is rightly hailed as the last great Led Zeppelin album (though to be fair, there’s still plenty of good material on Presence and In Through the Out Door, the final two records they released before John Bonham’s passing). But, the more I listen to the Zeppelin discography and, in some ways, the more nuanced my tastes become, the more I have a hard time putting any of their other LPs ahead of this one in terms of quality. Sure, there are flashier tracks that deliver searing guitar or drum solos. There are also dreamier, stranger descents into epic stadium rock territory. I don’t dislike records like “No Quarter” or “Black Dog”—far from it. However, when you stand back and admire the sprawl, swagger, and craftsmanship on display here, I routinely come away from Graffiti thinking it’s a hard rock masterpiece that may still be underappreciated despite all the praise out there in the world.