Physical Graffiti

Physical Graffiti was the first release on Led Zeppelin's own Swan Song label, and their only double album. The first attempt, in November 1973, stopped almost immediately: John Paul Jones was considering leaving, and the studio time went to Bad Company for their debut. Reconvening at Headley Grange in the new year, they finished eight new songs — enough for just under three sides of an LP, an awkward length. So they raided the vault and expanded to a double: one unreleased track from the third album, three from the fourth, three from the fifth, and the unused title track “Houses of the Holy.” “Kashmir” began as an idea from Jimmy Page and John Bonham, first cut as an instrumental in late 1973. Robert Plant wrote the lyrics in Morocco, and Jones played Mellotron and arranged the strings and brass for session musicians. It was played at every concert from 1975 on. From the groove of “Trampled Under Foot” to the afterglow of “Ten Years Gone” and the looseness of “Boogie with Stu,” with Ian Stewart on piano, the sprawl becomes richness. Peter Corriston's die-cut sleeve proved hard to manufacture and delayed release, but the album entered the US chart at 3, rose to number one the next week and held there for six.