Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti

(Album ©1975, Swan Song Records)

My second-favorite Zeppelin record, this Physical Graffiticover is a favorite as well. The cover image is a retouched photograph of two tenement buildings on St. Mark’s Place (E. 8th St.) in NYC, and the 2-disc LP was intricately designed. The windows were die-cut and the inner record sleeves were printed with various images meant to appear in the windows. The letters spelling out the title were on one side of the sleeve for Disc 1, and the other sides had various photos of people, famous and not.

Peter Corriston did the design which, in the end, 96-98 St, Marks Placelooks as much like an illustration as a photo. The image was heavily edited, including removing one of the five floors in order to make the image fit the size needed for an LP cover. The actual buildings look like this. >>>

This record sold more than 8 million copies in the US, and was the first album ever to be certified platinum on advance orders alone. And it earned that award because it was filled with great songs. “Custard Pie,” “The Rover,” “In My Time of Dying,” “House of the Holy,” “Trampled Under Foot,” and “Kashmir” – all on disc 1! Sure, they could have made it a single record and it would have been just as great. It might have been even better because it would have cost less. But disc 2 had a bunch of cool songs that might not have otherwise made it onto any record had it not been for the double-album excess of the ’70’s. Give disc 2 a listen!

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