'Physical Graffiti' Turns 40: Ranking All 15 Songs On Led Zeppelin's Epic Masterpiece
40 years ago today hard rock overlords Led Zeppelin released their landmark double album Physical Graffiti. The band had already cemented its place in classic rock's premiership league on previous releases, but in many ways Physical Graffiti is the quintessential Zeppelin record. Everything about it is epic, from its double LP length, to its intricate packaging - featuring the cutout windows of a Lower East Side tenement, to the breathe of the material itself. Both guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant assess it as the band's most important work, an opinion which is backed up by its tremendous commercial success and the reputation it holds amongst other musicians.
The group recorded the bulk of Physical Graffiti, including such future Zeppelin standards as "Kashmir" and "Trampled Under Foot," in early 1974, however, the finished recordings went well over the single LP mark. The decision was then made to clean out the vaults of unreleased material, some going back to sessions from 1970's Led Zeppelin III, to fill it out and make it a double LP. Rather than being mere filler, the quality of the unused tracks gave the final release a grandoise scope, which included some of the group's heaviest riffs alongside casually tossed off folk and blues exercises and some of their most accomplished instrumental passages. In honor of the album's 40th anniversary we've ranked all 15 of its songs, however, keep in mind there are really no bad tracks, which is quite a feat considering it's running time goes over 80 minutes.
Boogie With Stu
The closest thing to a filler track on Physical Graffiti, this outtake from the band's eponymous fourth album finds Zeppelin jamming on Ritchie Valens' "Ooh, My Head" with famed Rolling Stones road manager and sometime pianist Ian Stewart, who was on site while the band used the famed Rolling Stones Mobile Studio.
Bron-Yr-Aur
This delicate instrumental acoustic guitar piece was recorded for Led Zeppelin III and is named after the cottage in Wales where most of the album's music was written.
Night Flight
Another Led Zeppelin IV outtake, this song has a great early '70s boogie rock feel. If another lesser band wrote it, it would be considered a classic, but when competing with the other tracks off this album, it comes up short. Such is the price of greatness.
Down By The Seaside
One of Zeppelin's mellower outings, this song's country rock vibe was influenced by the band's love of California hippy rockers such as Neil Young and Crosby, Stills & Nash. It was recorded during sessions for Led Zeppelin IV.
Black Country Woman
This song was recorded outdoors during sessions for Houses Of The Holy album, and you can hear engineer ask the band if they want to remove the sound of an airplane flying overhead before Robert Plant says, "Nah, leave it." The 'Black Country' the song refers to is the English industrial Midlands, which includes Robert Plant and John Bonham's (and Black Sabbath's) hometown of Birmingham.
Sick Again
Robert Plant's lyrical homage to the infamous teenage groupie queens of Los Angeles, this song was the album's final track and finds them rocking out in sleazy grandeur, as befitting the subject manner.
The Rover
One of a number of stand-out hard rockers which has endeared the album to headbangers since its release. This song was begun in 1972 but wasn't finished until '74, and features one of Jimmy Page's most lyrical guitar solos.
Custard Pie
One of an unbeaten streak of killer Zeppelin album openers, this hard rocking boogie shaker borrows lyrics from blues greats Robert Johnson and Bukka White among others.
Houses Of The Holy
The title track from the previous album, this song was recorded for its namesake LP but shelved until the following release.
Ten Years Gone
The layers of dynamic guitar overdubs in this plaintive ballad showcases Jimmy Page's skills as a producer and the song also contains one of his most beautiful guitar solos.
Wanton Song
Owing something to Jeff Beck's "Plynth (Water Down the Drain)," as well as their own "Immigrant Song," a hard staccato riff anchors another of the album's signature tunes, which perhaps unsurprisingly, is about the sexual needs of wanton women.
In My Time Of Dying
The most epic of all Led Zeppelin's blues songs, this uncredited Blind Willie Johnson cover is also the longest studio recording in the band's catalog and clocks in at just over 11 minutes.
In The Light
Among Page and Plant's favorite Zeppelin tracks, this song starts with a brooding drone, before kicking into a heavy verse and surprisingly upbeat bridge.
Trampled Underfoot
Inspired by Stevie Wonder's "Superstition," this song is built around a clavinet figure courtesy of John Paul Jones and is an example of Zeppelin at their funkiest. It's relentless groove and screaming guitars even helped it break into the Billbaord top 40 upon its release, peaking at #38.
Kashmir
A predictable but still deserved #1. "Kashmir" is Led Zeppelin at their most sonically expansive; a hypnotic guitar figure, Arabic melodies, synthesized horn lines and one of John Bonham's most devastatingly simple, but heavy beats. All four members have expressed their feeling that the song captures Zeppelin at their best, and it has rightfully been a fixture of classic rock radio and was featured in every concert the band ever performed, following its release.
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