Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti - A Classic Album Under Review | 
| Actors: Malcolm Dome, Nigel Williamson, Ron Nevison, Chris Dreja, Maggie Bell
Studio: Sexy Intellectual
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $12.05
You Save: $7.90 (40%)
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Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 75092
Format: Color, Dvd, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 0
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 91 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: MVDDSI539D
UPC: 823564513492
EAN: 0823564513492
ASIN: B0017LZ29K
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: July 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Music Video Dist Release Date: 07/08/2008 Run time: 120 minutes
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| Customer Reviews:
 An insight look at Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti" by the outsiders July 30, 2008
Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
The bit after the colon in the title of "Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti: A Classical Album Under Review," serves to indicate that this is not a DVD where you get to hear Led Zeppelin talk about the double-album that is considered to be their best effort, but one where journalists, critics, and the like do most of the talking. There are some clips of Led Zep playing songs from "Communication Breakdown" to "Kashmir," but except for one clip of John Bonham talking about their music and a couple of snippets from an interview back in the day with Robert Plant, the band lets their music make the case for them. So have your CD of "Physical Graffiti" at hand (or the vinyl version so you can enjoy the art design), because just getting a taste of some of these songs is not going to be enough after watching the DVD.
The thesis of the review is that this 1975 album is that it represented every aesthetic element of Led Zeppelin's career, traced all the way back to when Jimmy Page was playing with the Yardbirds; Chris Dreja, one of the other guitarists in the group is one of the talking heads here, and sounds in on Page's creation of his new group. Also sounding in on the album are author Nigel Williamson ("The Rough Guide to Led Zeppelin (Rough Guide Reference)"), rock journalist Malcolm Dome ("AC/DC: The Encyclopaedia"), author Dave Lewis ("Led Zeppelin: The Complete Guide To Their Music"), and author Neil Daniels ("Robert Plant: Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page & The Solo Years"). The only talking head who was actually there at the creation is Ron Nevison, who was an engineer on the album, but there is Maggie Bell, formerly of Stone the Crows, and one of the first artists signed by Led Zep to their Swan Song label.
The look at the fifteen songs on the album basically goes chronologically, but more in terms of when they were recorded than how they appear on the album. So we being with the seven songs that had been recorded for the group's previous three albums, "Led Zeppelin III" ("Bron-Yr-Aur"), "Led Zeppelin IV" ("Night Flight," "Boogie with Stu," and "Down by the Seaside"), and "Houses of the Holy" ("Black Country Woman," "The Rover" and "Houses of the Holy"). The second half of the DVD is devoted to the eight tracks Led Zeppelin recorded at Headley Grange in early 1974: "Custard Pie," "In My Time of Dying," "In the Light" (where Rooskby makes the case for John Paul Jones being responsible for some of Led Zep's riffs, e.g., "Black Dog"), the funk of "Trampled Under Foot" (which became a rare Led Zep "single"), the good old rock 'n' roll of "The Wanton Song," the introspective "Ten Years Gone," "Sick Again" (think "Almost Famous," from which there is a clip), and finally "Kashmir" as the quintessential Led Zeppelin song. The case is made that since "Kashmir" comes at the end of side two it is the halfway point of the album, but I have to say that when I bought the album it ended up being the last song because with vinyl you play sides 1 and 3, then flip and do 4 and 2.
For me the best insights come from guitar expert Rick Rooksby, who pulls out an acoustic or electric guitar as necessary and Rooksby plays "Down by the Seaside" to show how it was clearly inspired by "Down by the River" by Neil Young and makes the song like it could have come off of "Harvest." Then he turns "The Wanton Song" into a cabaret jazz number. The review relishes being able to trace these songs back to their origins, showing how "Boogie with Stu" does not simply go back to "Ooh My Head" by Richie Valens, but back to "Ooh My Soul" by Little Richard. "In My Time of Dying" goes back to Blind Willie Johnson's "Jesus, Make Up my Dyin' Bed," which was covered by Bob Dylan on his debut album. As for the charges of plagiarism that have been brought against Led Zeppelin, Rooksby points out that the blues contains myriad examples of borrowing, and that when the basic materials are 12-bars played with three basic chords, similarities are inevitable. Lewis chimes in by noting things have come full circles with lots of groups taking Led Zep's riffs without attribution today.
There are some interesting insights from the others as well. Dome argues that the group did not have the greatest musicians in the world, but the greatest musicians in the world for Led Zeppelin, and Nevison argues that Bonham always followed the lead guitar rather than the bass, which made for a unique approach to a rhythm section. Both the previous five Led Zep albums and the group's tense relationship with the British critics are examined as setting the stage for "Physical Graffiti." The profile on manager Peter Grant is a bit overlong to make the simple point that he took care of everything else so that the band could focus on the music, but overall you find out some interesting things about each of the songs on the album. The more you know about music the less you will probably be impressed by what you find here, but for us regular folks this was a pretty informative "review. " The extras on this DVD are pretty sparse. Nevison talks about his work on the Who's "Quadrophenia," and there is a 25 question trivia quiz about the album (fair warning: listening to the documentary does not provide all of the answers).
Very Good Overview of Zep's Best Album July 21, 2008
Tommy Tandori (Reading England)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
There's no doubt in my mind that PG was Zep's finest hour - 4 sides [vinyl junkies] of out and out sonic head music - incorporating funk, folk, blues and rock n ' roll. This dvd goes through every track included on the record and breaks down the structures, the stories bewhind the songs, includes behind the scenes footage and tells the story of the album's production with the engineer / co-producer at Headley Grange, Ron Nevison. A really neat film and some beautiful digi style packaging to boot.
Recommended
 Greatest Rock 'n Roll Album Ever! May 5, 2009
George Fernandez (Folsom, CA.)
I found this documentary fascinating & very well done. The first 20 minutes was a recap of how Zep came to be which if you're Zep Head you've already gone thru this many times before. The last 60 minutes is the "meat" of the documentary, I like how each song is broken down by several Rock critics, the Engineer who did most of the work on the Epic Double Album & a very intuitive guitar teacher who has written several books on guitar playing. I like how they bring out the orgins of each song & how they became the finish product. I espeically liked the guitar teacher actually demonstrating guitar chords of some of the songs. It really shows the "Genius" in Jimmy Page's guitar playing & how intricate some of those chords really are. An avid guitar player would have trouble putting some of those chords together. That's what makes Jimmy Page so incredible. It also shows how great the other players were & as a whole made the Band without a doubt the Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band ever & it's not even close! I woud put this right up there with "How The West Was Won" DVD set. I would HIGHLY recommend buying this awsome documentary.
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