Is physical graffiti a well recorded album?

The best sounding Zep record sonics wise imho is, in through the out door..

 

LZ Classic reissues replaced my hodge podge set of early us/uk pressings (mainly ‘cause they were clean) when they came out, then the recent reissues replaced my Classics. In all cases, PG was/is the least impressive sounding overall of the sets to me (over a few equipment changes, too). ITTO has consistently been real good, and I’ve always dug Presence, too (esp. the recent reissue).

 

I know, right? How amazing would it be to get an official release of that tape - or even to hear a 1st-generation copy instead of the 3rd-gen that circulates.

I agree - the MFiT is the Davis mastering. And I think it's a real corker, one of the best of the Davis remasters (along with Zep III, Presence, and his highly underrated remaster of Zep II).

What you say here is exactly why this has remained my favorite Zep album for the last 40 years, even as my personal ranking of their other albums has changed over time. Not only is it an amazing album as a double, but you've also got to just sit back in awe at the 1974 tracks by themselves. I've always thought that a major reason they decided to go with a double LP at that time was that the new material was too long for a single LP, and the material was so good they preferred to add in all the outtakes rather than sacrifice In the Light or In My Time of Dying.

If they had released it as a single LP, and kept all the outtakes plus In the Light or IMTOD in the can at the time, then in 1982 Coda would've been the best outtakes album in the history of rock.

 

Sorry what is MFiT?

 

Mastered for Itunes.

 

Same here. I admit I am so burned out on the rest of their material Presence and PG are all the studio Zeppelin I need these days.

Yeah, I recall Page made some pretty disparaging comments about Nevison's work on the album, even bequeathing on him some snarky little nickname...

Yeah, that's the one!

Damn right- when we sat there listening to "In My Time Of Dying" that first time, my jaw hit the floor- that was when I decided "Right- I want to hear every note these guys ever put out." Thanks, Josh!

I would agree that Houses is their best sounding album. Hell, best produced Zeppelin album in general, I'd reckon. Page and Eddie Kramer working together again, though they didn't use as much sonic trickery/gimmickry etc as on the second album. My only quibbles with the production on Houses Of The Holy are the varispeeding effects they used on "No Quarter" and "The Song Remains The Same".

 

PG has some great material, but the sound is all over the place. I work part time as a DJ on a classic rock station, and the other day I played Kashmir, and it sounded dull compared to what came before it (The Stones "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"). So I went home after my shift and listened to PG on vinyl, then cd. As someone mentioned earlier, (a brilliant way of phrasing it) it's like a thin layer of material placed over a camera lens. Somewhere along the way (mixing maybe is my guess) the sonics got a little dull and flat. Not the mixes themselves, but the sonics on the mixes. (I suspect Page did bury Plant's vocals on the '74 tracks becuase of the raspiness and damage. Thats not my issue). I have always thought PG was a little dull sounding, and I'm also not referring to the muddiness either.... I like raw stuff (love Exile On Main Street, one of its charms is the mud) and as others have mentioned, part of the Zeppelin sound was the mudiness. A friend of mine always thought either the tapes got damaged on the way to the pressing plant or it was due to Jimmy's extra curricular activities at the time. Maybe during mixing, the speakers lied to what Jimmy and Ron Nevermind were hearing. (it happened on IV, with the L.A. mixes, which is why they had to mix it again in England).

I always play the "what if" game with music. One of my faves is "if all of the Zeppelin stuff was recorded as well as ITTOD, would it still be as powerful"? I love raw sound, but for certain things, the mud and rawness is what gives the stuff its flavor (like Exile or the White Album).

 

I have the same copy but I think it sounds incredible. Certainly no CD version I've heard yet can begin to approach the slam and weight of the bass and drums on this album. The UK repress sounds as good as this album can sound. None of the CD's do it justice or even sound anything like the album was supposed to sound. The modern vinyl represses will be digitally sourced so will not likely replicate the impact either. The first presses are insanely expensive and over-rated so my advice is STICK to whatever you've already got!

 

I prefer "Grimy", sounds like the cover looks.

 

In Through the Out Door has one of the worst drum sounds in the history of drum sounds.

 

idk, i have always loved the album ... i just look at it as rock, and that's often a bit dirty

 

Now that's just crazy talk Give a listen to the isolated drum tracks for "Fool In The Rain", "Carouselambra" and "Ozone Baby" on You Tube and then say those are bad drum sounds. The ITTOD drum sound isn't as bonecrushing as that on Physical Graffiti but there is a bit more clarity there. IMO it's the muddiness of the overall mix and the reverb that was added that affects the sound of In Through The Out Door.

 

That's a great description of the sound of the '74 tracks. Though I would be interested to hear a cleaner In the Light. the only one that really sounds 'clean' is Black Country Woman since it was recorded outside in a field.

 

I could not disagree more, I love the drum & percussion sound on Fool In The Rain!!

 

Yes, and it's a somewhat interesting little story - the MFiT Zep tracks showed up without warning or fanfare in December of 2012. People started noticing that they sounded different than all existing Zep masterings. But it wasn't until almost two years later when the Zep I-III reissues came out that it could be confirmed that the MFiT tracks were indeed the new Davis remasters. To me it's such a weird, typically Zep-type thing - would any other band release a remastering of their entire catalogue on a single digital outlet, not tell anyone, and then wait 2-3 years to release it in physical format and on other digital outlets? So strange.

Yes, ITTOD has wonderful drums. Complaints about the sound and mix mainly come from the fact that In the Evening was purposefully mixed to sound murky, and Carouselambra has the vocals way down in the mix as well. The companion disc versions of both tracks are much clearer - and the album versions of the other tracks are pretty clear too, especially South Bound Saurez and I'm Gonna Crawl.

I also agree with those above who say Houses of the Holy is a pretty clearly mixed and mastered record. I don't love the production (the vocal manipulations aren't my cup of tea and I generally like the live versions better), but there's very little murk in that mix.

 

Physical Graffiti is my favorite album of all time. I can see how some audiophiles have issues with this album. It is a little muddy in spots but the mixing choices sound right for the music.

 

Nice to see another fan of this album/sound of this album. As I mentioned in a post above, I think of the sonic aesthetics on this album as somewhat of a "sister record" to Houses Of The Holy - bright at times, glassy in points, adventurous, though a bit more full rather than shimmering. Between this production, and II and Houses, I feel you have the heart of Zeppelin's sonic magic.

Though, as we all have mostly stated, every album seems to play a part in that full body of magical work.

 

Snare sounds like a wet cardboard box.

 

I actually like that album, well parts of it, always have..

 

Personally I still find the production on the first album as one of my favorites. Just love the echo/reverb sound and the natural ambiance of the band playing in a studio. Pretty much every album after that, while I still love the production, sounds almost too dry at times and too isolated. But then again that holds it's own charm for me too.

 

Thank you Mr. Glyn Johns.

 

Very well recorded, yes!

 

My favorite Zep album of all time. However, I certainly would not use it to demo hi-fidelity! At it's worst, it is dull and flat. At it's best? Go listen to an original UK or US vinyl pressing Still better sounding (from a fidelity standpoint) than the fourth album IMO.

 

PG was recorded all over the place and apparently includes a number of leftover tracks from III and HOH. It's like Exile on Mainstreet, inconsistent but that is part of its charm.

 

funny you should say that as the 1st album is my favorite Zep album..