Physical Graffiti (Led Zeppelin) | Extended Play Lounge - Ep. 44
Added 2023-05-17 00:46:37 +0000 UTCI'm pleased to present my reaction to Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin. This was a really fun reaction...especially tickling my rhythmic curiosity. The only song on this album I have previously heard is Kashmir. Other than that, it's all hitting me for the first time. I hope you enjoy!
Unlisted Link: https://vimeo.com/827450871/8410cf602c?share=copy
Comments
Very enjoyable to revisit this album. For me, when it first came out, I felt it was a patchy album with some great high points, but a little padded out. It's grown on me over the years, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening through all of it. Answers to a couple of questions raised by Doug are: The synthesizer on In The Light was an EMS VCS3. It did have a joystick which could be used to modulate the sound, and definitely could bend the pitch very expressively. When the VCS3 appeared on recordings it always stamped it's personality all over the music. It was extremely versatile - it had the same insides as the EMS Synthi A used in On The Run on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. The guitar tuning for Bron Yr Aur was CACGCE. Nearly an open C tuning - the reason for the A tuning of the 5th string was (I believe) to allow the player to add a 6th and 7th in the harmony in the same (hand) position as for the changes needed on the other strings. It also allows the slide to the C heard at the beginning, but then, so would making it a G for a proper open C tuning. This little gem was definitely always a high point on the album for me. 🙂
Adie
2024-03-27 22:04:07 +0000 UTCRobert Plant had damaged his voice, and had surgery between Houses of the Holy and this album. He lost some of the natural higher register. I believe they mixed the before and after surgery songs on purpose as to not draw attention to it. But it's not hard to hear the difference.
Potted Rodent
2024-01-30 09:43:22 +0000 UTCDr. D, if you like acoustic guitar work as in Bron-Yr-Aur and similar to Steve Howe of Yes and Steve Hackett of Genesis in several of their acoustic pieces then you should thoroughly enjoy Steve Hackett's Bay of Kings which is an entire album of his original classical guitar songs.
Ron Cook
2023-06-05 12:19:43 +0000 UTCAs Robert Plant himself has said - Led Zeppelin is the greatest rock trio in history, with a wedding singer stuck at the front.
Sam
2023-06-03 05:37:21 +0000 UTCI'm glad you you enjoyed this album, Doug and I enjoyed your review. This is one of rock's greatest albums IMO. The more I listen to later Zeppelin, the more I appreciate how much color and character John Paul Jones added to their music with his keyboard playing.
Gerard Dion
2023-05-30 00:21:17 +0000 UTCBonham was LZs not-so-secret weapon. To this day he’s still generally considered the greatest rock drummer of all time. And that’s not just a fanboy talking, it’s just kind of a fact. I remember hearing an interview with John Paul Jones where he said that the people who consider Bonham a “heavy metal basher” have got it wrong. JPJ said that Bonham was always a “groove drummer” whose favorite music was soul and R&B.
Martin Broten
2023-05-24 20:10:35 +0000 UTCIn My Time Of Dying is one of, if not my favorite, Led Zeppelin track. Even over the usual favorites. Page just kills it. I still have the vinyl with the "moving" inside sleeve.
Andrew Marsh
2023-05-21 16:32:53 +0000 UTCnote: In answer to your question during your show about synthesizers and glissando, even the early modular Moogs had an optional ribbon controller that could be used to slide the pitch (or filter settings) using a finger (see Keith Emerson). The Mini-Moog (1970+) had a pitch bend wheel, modulation wheel as well as adjustable portamento referred to as ‘glide’ on Moog instruments.
Howaard Hughes
2023-05-21 04:13:14 +0000 UTCYou'll hear this when you re-listen...but in the second section of "In My Time of Dying," it's not that they're hitting the offbeats...it's that at the ends of the phrase before they move to the IV chord, they throw in a bar of 9/8.
Jeff Norman
2023-05-20 04:14:43 +0000 UTCGreat reaction Doug thanks, its years since I played the album and now I find I am not liking some of the tracks as I was when it first came out. Old age maybe 😢
Richard Elliott
2023-05-19 20:59:56 +0000 UTCOK, Welsh pronunciation lesson time. Born Yr Aur (The Golden Breast) sounds like Bron Err Our. It's the name of a cottage and also a hill. Imagine the sunlight catching a bracken covered hillside and you'll get where the name came from. On their 3rd album was the track Bron Y Aur Stomp, which was a miss spelling. Y (the) in Welsh changes to Yr in front of a vowel. I don't speak Welsh, but these are some of the things I learn't from those who tried to teach me.
Dave Brockis
2023-05-18 21:45:17 +0000 UTCSide 3 was always my favorite -- 4 great tunes in succession. Back in the day, I would listen to "In the Light" anytime I needed a lift.
Richard Moore
2023-05-18 20:11:19 +0000 UTCI listened to this album and Houses Of The Holy nonstop as I learned to drive in the mid-70s. The two will always be interlinked in my mind. Strangely, this was the only album by LZ back in the day where the sheet music was NOT available. The guitar book was called "Led Zeppelin Complete" but ended at Houses! Go figure. I was in a band back then and did a couple of songs from this album. I did the tried and true trick of mumbling my way through a few lines in the same way Plant did, even if I couldn't make out exactly what he was singing. It worked.
DJ Marquis Marc Rambeau du Tacoma
2023-05-18 03:17:50 +0000 UTCExile featured ex-Mayall guitarist Mick Taylor, sandwiched between Brian Jones and Ron Wood. Taylor was the tastiest of all their lead guitarists.
DJ Marquis Marc Rambeau du Tacoma
2023-05-18 02:36:52 +0000 UTCFUN FACT: Remember the 80s Rolling Stones video for "waiting on a friend"? It was filmed outside the building that was featured on the cover of this album.
MikeCarr
2023-05-18 01:08:30 +0000 UTCOh, and I think this is one of the better albums for Robert. His voice isn’t treated like it is on much of Houses, and his singing has also matured on the newer material.
Randy Hammill
2023-05-17 16:49:06 +0000 UTCLove this album. Side 3 is the best side in my opinion and highlights the “other” sides of Zeppelin and their more complex compositions. But I think they work even better within the context of the album as a whole. So many of the tracks are the “jamming” side of Zep, and while they can get a bit repetitive, being a musician I can totally understand how amazing it must have been when Bonzo got in a groove and you just don’t want to stop. While IV is absolutely a classic, I think I would go to III next…
Randy Hammill
2023-05-17 16:47:30 +0000 UTCThat F# chord has so much personality in that context.
R. Douglas Helvering
2023-05-17 15:53:38 +0000 UTCDoug - thanks so much for the review. Ten Years Gone is one of my favorites and I was so glad you enjoyed it. When I took guitar lessons years ago, my guitar teacher (a Berklee grad) explained that chord progression as A - Dmadd9/A - F#m7-5 - Em - Dmaj7 - Cmaj7. Page uses diminished or m7-5 chords in that "walkup" part after the verses of The Wanton Song as well.
Ross Pollack
2023-05-17 13:03:47 +0000 UTCGreat video Doug. Always was a fan of this album and really glad that you listened and reacted to it. Just as a suggestion, another brilliant double album that you could check out is The Rolling Stone's 1972 release "Exile on Main Street". Fantastic album, and 67 minutes of the best rock and roll music you will ever hear. Honestly really any album they put out during that 68 - 72 era were perfect. I would absolutely love for you to react to any of them, (assuming you haven't already heard them😆)
simon fraser
2023-05-17 09:33:52 +0000 UTCI used to despise Led Zeppelin on principle, just because they were so wildly popular. But the fact is that they were brimming with musical ideas, fueled mostly by the fertile mind of Jimmy Paige. Plant drove me crazy, too. Over the years, I've gradually re-evaluated mostly everything I once thought about this band. But the man was born with a rare instrument. Even though he may use it to excess at times, I can't deny that I've never heard anyone else who can sing the way he can.
Bill Brinkmoeller
2023-05-17 07:22:06 +0000 UTCI think you may mean Plant’s son Karac. But he died in 1977 so I don’t think it applies to this album.
Phil West Music
2023-05-17 07:19:16 +0000 UTCZep records have plenty of “mistakes” that would be edited out today. Planes in the background, the phone ringing during the solo in The Ocean, the cough, etc. I love how it puts you right into the studio - gives it a certain intimacy sorely lacking from modern production
Gary Thobaben
2023-05-17 05:08:22 +0000 UTCI haven't listened to this album since the 70's. I'm a prog guy, but this was a pretty good album. It got lot's of radio play. Thanks for the post.
Richard Sweeney
2023-05-17 04:47:55 +0000 UTCMy fave Led Zeppelin song. Rock solid John Bonham.
James Keleher
2023-05-17 03:24:03 +0000 UTCGrade school years spent there
R. Douglas Helvering
2023-05-17 03:12:11 +0000 UTCThanks for doing it - I know you're not an RP fan. Vocals are from a time, though. Radio fade-out influenced a lot of song endings. Possibly, singing along with powerful players led RP to want to keep up. The blues style of call and response is probably the best explanation, though, of the vocalizations you don't care for. "If he's doing a guitar lick, I should answer with a call out of some kind."
grnmntl
2023-05-17 03:07:25 +0000 UTCDid you say that you were from Arkansas?
Woofy
2023-05-17 03:02:42 +0000 UTCGood old rock and roll generally with some amazing heroin sheik guitar work from Page along with the drunken beats from Bonham. I read an article that said Page was just throwing out lyrics because he was still in a rut over the death of his son ... lots of junk filler. Funny thing that if you bought the sheet music books like Led Zeppelin Complete", they excluded songs like "The Lemon Song" from Led Zeppelin III because it was basically porn! Glad you enjoyed yourself Doug, that's what its all about!
Stop Propaganda
2023-05-17 02:58:54 +0000 UTCGreat reaction Doug. I just *knew* you'd love Ten Years Gone. It ties with The Rain Song as my favourite Zeppelin track.
Nick
2023-05-17 02:52:39 +0000 UTCReally enjoyed both hearing the album again and Doug's reaction. During the poll I commented that this album showcases Zeppelin's depth an breath of their musical career up to this point. To me it has it all. Thanks Doug for putting in the time to cover this classic LP.
Sid Levy
2023-05-17 01:47:54 +0000 UTC
