Physical Graffiti - The Led Zeppelin Magnum Opus

by Marc de Jong
(Sweden)

Physical Graffiti is the one for me. It's the most complete Zep album.

The first one was the product of a blues-influenced band working frantically on its own style. A rough diamond, but not a masterpiece. Led Zeppelin II showed the results of this development in all its glory.

With the following trio Led Zeppelin III, IV (or whatever you call this one) and Houses of the Holy the band broadened its music impressively, adding folk and world music to its resources while at the same time refining its heavy rock sound. But to me, none of these three albums were brilliant from start to end (though IV comes close).

PG is different. If Stairway to Heaven sums up about all their influences in just one song, Physical Graffiti does it on four sides (or two cds, if you wish) and shows a self confidence seldom heard in rock history. The album presents an exciting, hard rocking and triumphant sound, but at the very same time it's sophisticated and subtle, crafted with a stunning eye for detail.

Highlights? Too many to mention. But if you insist... Trampled Underfoot, Kashmir, In My Time of Dying, The Wanton Song, The Rover. But hey, if you ask me tomorrow again, I might give you different titles.

Physical Graffiti is the Led Zeppelin album that sounds still as fresh as it sounded over 30 years ago, which cannot be said of their earliest efforts. It's their magnum opus, the one that will ever last. It's not the stairway to heaven, it's heaven itself.