Led Zeppelin
Physical Graffiti

The Zeppelin Crashes to the Ground.

Despite the harsh reviews, "Houses of the Holy" was a great commercial success, albeit much lower than "ZoSo". This success kept Plant and Page away from the harsh truth, which is that "Houses of the Holy" was almost complete mediocrity.

Still confident in themselves, the Led completed the new work, and since they had leftover songs from previous albums, they decided to put all the material (old and new) into a double album titled "Physical Graffiti". An amateurish mistake, because any person of average intelligence knows that double albums are always bad records and "Physical Graffiti" is no exception: excellent tracks alternate with routine tracks, mediocre tracks, and real obscenities ("House of the Holy" and "Black Country Woman").

Despite a generally insufficient listening experience, the Led still amaze us with textbook brilliance: "In My Time Of Dying" (a nice blues, although a chasm below the blues masterpieces of previous records); "Bron-Yr-Aur" (a splendid and sweet acoustic instrumental); "Down by the Seaside" (a relaxing psychedelic slow piece, maybe a bit too long); "The Rover" (with Plant remembering to be Plant, bringing out his voice again, presumed lost in "Houses of the Holy", and once again managing to get under the listener's skin, in a piece that features the best chorus in their repertoire); "In the Light" (despite the long and unnecessary intro - reminiscent of "The Rain Song" - one of the band's masterpieces, memorable from the first listen, with simply brilliant guitar work).

And finally, the timeless "Kashmir". The memorable riff, the oriental atmospheres, and Plant's ethereal melody are set with classical measure, making the piece a real work of art.

It would seem that the group's creativity has returned - if it weren't for the fact that "Bron-Yr-Aur", "Down by the Seaside", and "The Rover" are leftovers from previous albums...

Critics at the time were blunt: the Led are finished. As the band's biographies tell, Page, at this point, began to take them seriously.