LED ZEPPELIN’s Jimmy Page On Physical Graffiti 40th Anniversary Celebrations – “I Was The Producer From Day One (So) I Had More Points Of Reference Than Anyone Else”

In a new interview with Pierre Perrone from Independent.co.uk, legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page talks about the 40th-anniversary edition of Physical Graffiti, a deluxe, three-disc box set edition of the band’s classic 1975 double album, which will be available on February 24th in the UK and the 25th in North America.

Page has remained fiercely protective of their catalogue and amassed his own collection of bootlegs, which proved handy when he began considering the current, definitive, state-of-the-art, expanded reissues.

“I made it my business to see what was out there, especially with this project. This stuff hadn’t come out on bootleg because it had been so carefully guarded,” says Page. “Because I was the producer from day one of Led Zeppelin all the way through, I had more points of reference than anyone else… The prospect of being able to do a companion disc to each of the originals, to give the fans what they wanted and more, was so attractive. On Physical Graffiti, there’s an early stage version of “In the Light”, you’ve got the structure of it, and you can hear the additional work that went into it.”

Album the album’s most enduring track, “Kashmir”, Page adds:

 “I had that riff on an acoustic piece I was working on and I also had those staccato parts that became the brass parts. The idea of using the orchestra over that riff goes back to classical music, things like Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge and The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. I knew it was pretty radical. John Bonham understood what it was about. The whole band took to it. “Robert said, ‘oh, I’ve got some lyrics that I wrote before, in Morocco’. He tried them out and they worked really well,” says Page.

A rough version of the song “Trampled Under Foot”, under the working title “Brandy & Coke” has been posted:

Take a glimpse inside the Super Deluxe Edition with the video below:

Included on the upcoming release is a rough mix of “Houses Of The Holy”, which you can hear now at this location.

This is a deluxe 3CD package of Led Zeppelin’s sixth album, with the original artwork, plus the newly created negative artwork for the companion audio. The original album is newly remastered on 2 CDs; the third CD features previously un-released studio outtakes. Includes a die-cut square slipcase to hold three wallets, booklet, U-card, slipcase prints and a 16 page booklet.

Tracklisting:

Disc 1
“Custard Pie”
“The Rover”
“In My Time Of Dying”
“Houses Of The Holy”
“Trampled Under Foot”
“Kashmir”

Disc 2
“In The Light”
“Bron – Yr”
“Down By The Seaside”
“Ten Years Gone”
“Night Flight”
“The Wanton Song”
“Boogie With Stu”
“Black Country Woman”
“Sick Again”

Disc 3
“Brandy & Coke” (Trampled Under Foot – Initial Rough Mix)
“Sick Again” (Early Version)
“In My Time Of Dying” (Initial Rough Mix)
“Houses Of The Holy” (Rough Mix With Overdubs)
“Everybody Makes It Through” (In The Light Early Version/In Transit)
“Boogie With Stu” (Sunset Sound Mix)
“Driving Through Kashmir” (Kashmir Rough Orchestra Mix)