Since their formation in 1968 Led Zeppelin had barely put a foot wrong. Indeed by 1971 they were being tagged ‘best band in the world’ by Rolling Stone magazine, and when ‘Stairway to Heaven’ from their redoubtable forth hit the decks and the airwaves that November, many doubted whether even the mighty Zep could reach any higher. But if ‘73’s Houses Of The Holy - fine record that it was - hinted at the band treading water, 1974 found them begin recording what was to become arguably the most ambitious, extraordinary and influential rock album since the dawn of the genre.
And when the fruits of the previous year’s labour were released as double disc meisterwerk Physical Graffiti in early 1975, so began an age in which the entire world audience for contemporary sounds realised what heights of musical magnificence could be achieved if this relatively new style was placed in the right hands.