"Three Friends/Octopus" by GENTLE GIANT (2013 Beat Goes On 2CD Reissue - Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Fate And Skill And Chances..." 

The first double-disc reissue of Gentle Giant’s extensive back-catalogue put out by England’s reputable 'Beat Goes On' label remastered the Portsmouth boy’s first two Prog outings at Vertigo Records - "Gentle Giant" from 1970 and "Acquiring The Taste" from 1971 (see separate review for that 2012 Andrew Thompson Remaster).

Now we get those difficult third and fourth albums – "Three Friends" and "Octopus" – which for GG saw huge musical progress and an ever-expanding fan base. Both hailed from 1972 (April and November) and were their last two LPs for the famous Progressive Rock label 'Vertigo' – home of many’d the eye-catching and elaborate gatefold sleeve. Here are the wee beasties...

UK released June 2013 – "Three Friends/Octopus" by GENTLE GIANT on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1090 (Barcode 5017261210906) offers their third and fourth studio albums remastered onto 2CDs and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "Three Friends" (35:27 minutes):

1. Prologue

2. Schooldays

3. Working All Day

4. Peel The Paint [Side 2]

5. Mister Class And Quality?

6. Three Friends

Tracks 1 to 6 are their third studio album "Three Friends" - released May 1972 in the UK on Vertigo Records 6360 070 and April 1972 in the USA on Columbia PC 31649 with different artwork. Produced by GENTLE GIANT and Engineered by Martin Rushent.

Disc 2 "Octopus" (34:17 minutes):

1. The Advent Of Panurge

2. Raconteur, Troubadour

3. A Cry For Everyone

4. Knots

5. The Boys In The Band [Side 2]

6. Dog’s Life

7. Think Of Me With Kindness

8. River

Tracks 1 to 8 are their 4th studio album "Octopus" - released November 1972 in the UK on Vertigo Records 6360 080 and February 1973 in the USA on Columbia PC 32022 with 'an Octopus in a pickle jar artwork'. Produced by GENTLE GIANT and Engineered by Martin Rushent.

GENTLE GIANT was:

KERRY MINNEAR – All Keyboards, Vibraphone, Moog, Cello, Lead and Backing Vocals

RAY SHULMAN - Bass, Violin, Guitar, Percussion and Vocals

GARY GREEN – Guitars and Percussion

DEREK SHULMAN - Lead Vocals and Alto Sax

PHILIP SHULMAN - Alto and Tenor Sax, Trumpet, Mellophone, Lead and Backing Vocals

MALCOLM MORTIMER – Drums ("Three Friends" LP only)

JOHN WEATHERS – Drums, Congas and Percussion ("Octopus" LP only)

Guests:

CALVIN SHULMAN – Boy’s voice on "Schooldays" on the "Three Friends" LP

The outer card slipcase gives the release a classy feel (now generic with all BGO releases) while the 16-page booklet is packed with original details (the Three Friends drawings and Roger Dean’s Octopus artwork) and properly in-depth assessments of the albums and the band by noted writer NEIL DANIELS (done in 2013). The final few pages give you the lyrics to both records - all of it backed up by original album and reissue credits. ANDREW THOMPSON has carried out the new Remasters at Sound Performance in London and both albums are huge improvements over the 1st and 2nd records – real presence and power taking full advantage of the very serious Production values poured into both platters by a band obsessed with getting their aural vision right.

Whilst the first two studio efforts sounded not dissimilar in style to King Crimson and Yes meets Family (Roger Shulman’s lead vocals were even akin to Roger Chapman) – by the time our South Coast Progressive Rock band reaches early 1972 – they sound more Greenslade than ELP. With musical adventure and boundary-breaking forcibly built into their every song – the six-piece band hammer you with virtuosity and ideas. And even though Tony Visconti did a great job on the first two platters (especially their brilliant 2nd LP "Acquiring The Taste") – GG took the Producing helm for Three and Four and man does it show. The short but ambitious concept LP "Three Friends" – stories of three pals who grow and they go their separate ways (some successful – some not) – and the much loved "Octopus" – sound HUGE here.

"Prologue" doesn't make for an 'easy listening' start - jerking/gangly synth chords that eventually settle into an almost church-like set of harmony vocals. The production is fabulous as the boys sing of three childhood friends feeling the 'winds of change' (oh yes folks the concept album). "Schooldays" feels like Greenslade's "Bedside Manners Are Extra" or 1974's brilliant "Spyglass Guest" (see separate review) - dancing keyboards and voices tell of 'happy days' and 'going nowhere' - the amazing vocals and pinging vibraphone building as lyrics come at you about 'pink ice cream' and dull homework and Mister Watson wanting to see the naughty lads in his Master's office. "Schooldays" is incredibly accomplished and at times beautiful in its melodies and scope. "Working All Day" sees the three pals in dead-end jobs whilst at home 'papa was rough...he didn't care for learning...' where they quickly learn that 'everybody's equal' just isn't true. There's a clever guitar/saxophone refrain that holds the five-minute passage together. "Peel The Paint" is a Prog song with choral strings about superficial layers being stripped away to reveal 'the same old savage beast'. The perky "Mister Class And Quality?" follows the more successful of the three buddies with his house and car and pretty wife - sounding very "Tarkus" ELP in its keyboard jabs and containing a wild almost vulgar guitar wig-out where the band simply lets rip. That eventually segues into the final "Three Friends" which mellotrons its way to a rather nondescript ending...

If "Three Friends" was good rather than great - "Octopus" upped that ante. A very Medieval passage on the giant 'Pantagruel' meeting a friend from Hell opens the "Octopus" album - a complicated Crimsonesque set of piano, bass and guitar jerks called "The Advent Of Panurge". The vocal interplay along with serious musicianship impresses throughout - a continuation of a book theme first explored on the "Acquiring The Taste" album. If you thought the Side 1 starter was 'difficult' - "Raconteur, Troubadour" is the kind of Prog Rock that will infuriate some and leave others breathless. "A Cry For Everyone" even employs some riffage at the start but soon weaves its way into incredible Rush territory - a complicated mini Rock Opera based on the writings of Albert Camus. Vocal gymnastics fill "Knots" - a staccato jabbing set of Captain Beefheart "Trout Mask Replica" moments based on R.D. Laing's oblique poetry. That's followed by the instrumental "The Boys In The Band" - a rapid-fire Jazz Fusion piece preceded by a coin making its way across your speakers. The largely acoustic "Dog's Life" meshes the world of 'old faithful' hounds and whines of Roadies (go figure). The surprisingly pretty "Think Of Me With Kindness" keeps the complicated out in lieu of a delicate vocal and equally tender piano (check out the beautiful brass interlude). "Octopus" ends on proper Prog - "River" - where it seems Gentle Giant play every instrument at their disposal whilest singing lyrics like 'trust the shallow virgin stream' (know what you mean mate).

Neither album is mainstream or easy to digest for sure – and some will say its all pretntious claptrap - but that was always the case with GG's output. Having said that you do get amazing playing virtuosity - clever classical interludes and layered harmony vocals sat on top of a trademark guitar sound not unlike Robert Fripp or Keith Emerson enjoying themselves. It's all here on these two revered slices of British Progressive Rock - sounding and looking great too.

Eleven albums on and England's Prog heroes were still there in 1980 – giving it loads of difficult syncopations and selling bugger all records. Yet GENTLE GIANT did and still does engender a fiercely loyal following - and on the evidence presented here - you can understand why that affection still endures today...

"Gentle Giant/Acquiring The Taste" by GENTLE GIANT (2012 Beat Goes On 2CD Remasters by Andrew Thompson) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...A Tall Tale..." 

Talk about keeping it in the family – Portsmouth brothers and multi-instrumentalists Derek, Ray and Phil Shulman teamed up with classically trained guitarist Gary Green, keyboard whizz Kerry Minnear and drummer Martin Smith in 1970 to form GENTLE GIANT. Abandoning their Sixties Simon Dupree & The Big Sound pop sensibilities entirely – they powered full tilt into the emerging sound of the day – Progressive Rock. Eleven albums later and England's Prog heroes were still there in 1980 – giving it loads of difficult syncopations and selling bugger all records.

This first double-disc reissue of their extensive back-catalogue put out by England’s reputable Beat Goes On label remasters the South Coast boy’s first two Prog outings at Vertigo in 1970 and 1971 – home of many'd the eye-catching gatefold sleeve. Not dissimilar in style to King Crimson and Yes but without perhaps the same (dare we say it) commerciality – Gentle Giant nonetheless built a steady and fiercely loyal following - and on the evidence presented here you can understand why that affection still endures today. Amazing playing virtuosity - clever classical interludes and layered harmony vocals sat on top of a trademark guitar sound not unlike Robert Fripp enjoying himself - it's all here - sounding and looking great too. Here are the tall tales and the bearded technicalities for their first two steps…

UK released November 2012 – "Gentle Giant/Acquiring The Taste" by GENTLE GIANT on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1095 (Barcode 5017261210951) offers their first two studio albums remastered onto 2CDs and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "Gentle Giant" (37:05 minutes):

1. Giant

2. Funny Ways

3. Alucard

4. Isn't It Quiet And Cold

5. Nothing At All [Side 2] 6. Why Not

7. The Queen

Tracks 1 to 7 are their debut album "Gentle Giant" - released November 1970 in the UK on Vertigo Records 6360 020 (it was not issued in the USA). Produced by TONY VISCONTI.

Disc 2 "Acquiring The Taste" (39:07 minutes):

1. Pantagruel's Nativity

2. Edge Of Twilight

3. The House, The Street, The Room

4. Acquiring The Taste

5. Wreck [Side 2]

6. The Moon s Down

7. Black Cat

8. Plain Truth

Tracks 1 to 8 are their 2nd studio album "Acquiring The Taste" - released July 1971 in the UK on Vertigo Records 6360 041 (not issued in the USA). Produced by TONY VISCONTI.

GENTLE GIANT was:

DEREK SHULMAN - Lead and Backing Vocals (some Bass), Alto Sax, Clavichord and Cowbell

RAY SHULMAN - Bass, Violin, Electric Violin, Viola, Spanish Guitar, 12-String Guitar, Organ Bass Pedals, Skulls, Tambourine Percussion and Backing Vocals

PHIL SHULMAN - Alto and Tenor Sax, Trumpet, Clarinet, Recorder, Piano, Claves, Maracas, Lead and Backing Vocals

KERRY MINNEAR - Electric Piano, Organ, Mellotron, Vibraphone, Moog, Piano, Celeste, Clavichord, Harpsichord, Tympani, Maracas, Bass, Cello, Lead and Backing Vocals and Tuned Percussion

GARY GREEN - Lead Guitar, 6 and 12-String Guitar, Wah-Wah Guitar, Donkey's Jawbone, Cat Calls and Vocals

MARTIN SMITH - Drums, Gongs,Tambourine and Percussion

Guests:

CLAIRE DENIZ - Cello on "Isn't It Quiet And Cold" on the "Gentle Giant" LP

PAUL COSH - Tenor Horn on "Giant" and played Trumpet and Organ on the "Acquiring The Taste" LP

TONY VISCONTI - Recorder, Bass Drum and Triangle on the "Acquiring The Taste" LP

The outer card slipcase gives the release a classy feel (now generic with all BGO releases) while the 16-page booklet is packed with original details (the Tony Visconti 'A Tale Tale' liner notes that graced the inner gatefold of the debut LP) and properly in-depth assessments of the albums and the band by noted writer DAVID WELLS (done in 2012). The final few pages give you the lyrics to both records - all of it centred by a black and white photo of the original six-piece band. ANDREW THOMPSON has carried out the new Remasters at Sound Performance in London and while the 1st LP is undoubtedly hissy in places - both records are full of presence and power - the second album "Acquiring The Taste" in particular shining like a new sixpence (there were mastering issues on the first run of these CDs but I've experienced none of that in 2016).

Defiant in their musical vision - you're struck at first by their playing - Gentle Giant was an accomplished band right from the off with musical adventure and boundary-breaking forcably built into their DNA. The debut album is ragged around the edges for sure – but it’s mighty in scope and daring. A doomy church organ hisses in for "Giant" and you're in ELP territory before Derek Shulman comes roaring in the vocals like the younger brother of Roger Chapman from Family. Things get really interesting with "Funny Ways" - a fantastic amalgam of beautiful cello, acoustic guitar, electric wah-wah and even a lone brass instrument all combining into a delicate choral rock track - Phil Shulman's lead vocal softer and more suited to the song. "Alucard" (Dracula spelt backwards and a label name used for GG reissues) is proper Prog - huge synth chords - phased vocals - brass jabs and lyrics about 'terror fills my soul' - nice. Side 2 opens with the Emily Bronte Baroque of "Isn't It Quiet And Cold" - whimsy vocals dancing daintily above a violin, harpsichord, cello and timpani plinking. Hardly surprising that the nine-minute "Nothing At All" was chosen as the representative track of the album on the 2005 Vertigo 3CD Box Set "Time Machine" (see separate review) - it's stunning - beautiful - surprising and the playing/arrangements are so damn accomplished like Yes meets Jethro Tull by way of Family (the Bass and that ever-present Acoustic Guitar

are particularly sweet and clear on the remaster). The guitar Prog of "Why Not" is superb too but the mock 'God Save' "The Queen" tests your patience a tad.

If the first album was an announcement and more-than-promising start - the largely improvised 2nd album delivered on that Prog entree. Like "Nothing At All" from the 1st LP - "Pantagruel's Nativity" was chosen as the representative of "Acquiring The Taste" for the "Time Machine" Vertigo Box Set - another near seven minutes of wickedly good mellotron and guitar. Inspired by the French Author Francois Rabelius and his tale of jousting giants 'Gargantua and Pantagruel' - it has fabulous audio especially on this chunky guitars and layered vocals. You're then thrown by the sheer prettiness of "Edge Of Twlight" as sounds flit from speaker to speaker - a pretty Prog ditty as I say but with menace provided by big kettle drums and phased voices. "The House The Street The Room" feels like Family meets Genesis somewhere between 1968's "Music In A Doll's House" and 1970's "Nursery Cryme". The short synth pavane of "Acquiring The Taste" precedes "Wreck" which has an almost catchy Uriah Heap chorus of 'hey yeah'. But for me the album is sealed by the final three - "The Moon Is Down", "Black Cat" and "Plain Truth" - all of which display more clever breaks than you can shake a stick at. At seven and half-minutes and opening with some wicked wah-wah guitar not unlike Hendrix having a doodle on his Strat - the longest of the three "Plain Truth" is very cool Prog indeed and leaves you impressed by an unsung hero of an LP (fans consider ATT a gem).

In the liner notes for "Acquiring The Taste" - GENTLE GIANT collectively stated that their music should be '...unique, adventurous and fascinating...' even '...at the risk of being very unpopular...' Job done boys...

"Highway" by FREE (2016 Universal/Island Remasters CD Reissue - Andy Pearce and Matt Wortham Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...I'm The Stealer...Gonna Steal Your Love..."

This is the kind of CD reissue that does my nut in - one step forward and two steps back. Some explanation is needed...

FREE fans will know that the February 2002 CD reissue campaign of all seven of their albums (five studio and one live) came with great Peter Mew remasters, decent bonus tracks and expanded booklets to match - and were mid-price at the time. But here we are in September 2016 with another reissue campaign of all seven albums accompanied by "The Free Story" compilation (a 2LP set onto 1CD) that strips away those brilliant bonuses entirely – and unwisely substitutes the hugely informative liner notes for band photos.

But – these 2016 reissues do offer us one genuinely worthy consolation prize - new 2016 ANDY PEARCE and an uncredited MATT WORTHAM Remasters that breath wonderful naturalistic vitality back into the albums. With the eight being offered on Amazon at a less than five pounds sixty-five pence per CD reissue – you can of course argue that the price is right and with their generic 'Island Remasters' see-through side panelling on the jewel case – they look good too. But what real fans are essentially getting is great new sound - but lesser discs (one step forward etc). Here are the neutered nadges...

UK released Friday, 9 September 2016 - "Highway" by FREE on Universal/Island Remasters 473 181-9 (Barcode 602547318190) is a straightforward CD Remaster of the 9-track late 1970 UK LP and plays out as follows (36:02 minutes):

1. The Highway Song

2. The Stealer

3. On My Way

4. Be My Friend

5. Sunny Day [Side 2]

6. Ride On Pony

7. Love You So

8. Bodie

9. Soon I Will Be Gone

Tracks 1 to 9 are their 4th studio album "Highway" - released December 1970 in the UK on Island Records ILPS 9138 and February 1971 in the USA on A&M Records SP-4278. Produced by FREE and engineered by Andy Johns - it peaked at No. 40 on the UK LP charts (didn't chart in the USA).

The six missing bonus tracks on the 2002 Island Remasters version are "My Brother Jake (7" Single Mix)",  "Only My Soul" (April 1971 non-album B-side to "My Brother Jake" released in the UK on Island WIP 6100), "Ride On A Pony (BBC Session)", "Be My Friend (BBC Session)", "Rain (Alternative Version)" and "The Stealer (7" Single Version Edit)". As you can see from this list of missing extras - your loss is considerable - every one of these bonus tracks adding huge punch to the overall vibe of the 2002 reissue.

The new booklet is 12-pages with a Tape-Box Photo of "The Stealer" on Page 2, other band photos and reissue credits on the centre colour spread (both guitarist Paul Kossoff and bassist Andy Fraser get a page each) - but there's no liner notes giving history, details etc. Beneath the see-through CD tray are pictures of the seven reissued albums with the eight being "The Free Story" double-album compilation from 1974 (for catalogue numbers see notes below). But a fabulous new remaster from ANDY PEARCE and an uncredited MATT WORTHAM – who did such great work on Pentangle, Frankie Miller, Thin Lizzy, Wishbone Ash, the 2012 Rory Gallagher CD remasters for his Polydor and Chrysalis catalogue and most recently the 2016 3CD Budgie Box Set for their MCA LPs and the Emerson, Lake & Palmer 'Deluxe Editions' for their Island catalogue (see reviews for them all) - resoundingly compensates for all of that distasteful compromise. 

I've had the 2002 remaster and the Japanese 2008 SHM-CD reissue – both of which rock – but this version is better to my ears. There's suddenly staggering naturality and presence to the whole LP. Pearce and Wortham let things breathe (it's a trademark of their work). For sure there's trace amounts of hiss and the new result is possibly louder than the other pressings – but its not loudness for loudness sake – not shrill so to speak – just in your face – huge power and presence - like an original tape should be. Buggering thing is I'll now need the lot if they all sound this good...

As an album December 1970's "Highway" has always been second fiddle to the mighty "Fire And Water" from earlier in the year (May 1970) with it's all conquering "All Right Now". But I'd argue it's the band's "Powerage" or "Communiqué" or "Goat's Head Soup" or "Tusk" - a record that followed monsters and therefore gets unfairly overlooked and slagged off. Granted a tune like the dreadfully weedy "Bodie" is not classic Free no matter how well the Acoustic Guitars now leap out of the mix. But check out the opener "The Highway Song" and suddenly that ramshackle British Rock thing The Stones and Mott The Hoople had in spades starts to fill your living room with trouser-filling swagger (look out ladies). The album cut of the truly fabulous "The Stealer" at 3:16 minutes is actually better than the slightly longer single mix at 3:23 minutes which has different guitar parts and a more accentuated Andy Fraser bass. Here the 2016 LP Version has amazing power - that fantastic 'she stood on the corner' riffage now has the gonads it’s always cried out for (surely Free at their best). Side 1 shows the mellow side of singer Paul Rodgers and songwriting bassist Andy Fraser when they end the A with two superb mid-tempo tunes "On My Way" and "Be My Friend" - massively underrated Free songs – beautiful remasters for both cuts too.

"Sunny Day" opens Side 2 in the same mellow mood - it's a song I honestly didn't think much of at first but now dig - especially as it's followed by the album's other nugget - the fab "Ride On A Pony" which should have been the follow-on single from "The Stealer". The remaster has given it oomph in every area. The Mellotron that featured on "Be My Friend" returns for the pretty and affecting "Love You So" - a very sweet Free ballad. I never could abide "Bodie" but it's followed by an epic "Soon I Will Be Gone" which sounds utterly amazing on this remaster.

Across the seven reissues we probably loose thirty to thirty-five genuinely cool bonus tracks and all that enlightening info in the booklets too - so buying their catalogue yet again may become a chore for fans (docked a star for less instead of more). But we do gain fabulous new audio - and for many that's probably going to be the deciding factor.

Bugger but Universal/Island wins again - because if they all sound as good as "Highway" - I'm gonna have to own the lot...

PS: FREE titles in the 9 Sept 2016 Island Remasters CD Reissue Series are:

1. Tons Of Sobs (March 1969 Debut UK LP) - Island Remasters 473 181-5 (Barcode 602547318152)

2. Free (October 1969 UK LP) - Island Remasters 473 187-1 (Barcode 602547318718)

3. Fire And Water (June 1970 UK LP) - Island Remasters 473 187-4 (Barcode 602547318749)

4. Highway (December 1970 UK LP) - Island Remasters 473 181-9 (Barcode 602547318190)

5. Free Live! (June 1971 UK LP) - Island Remasters 473 187-6 (Barcode 602547318763)

6. Free At Last (June 1972 UK LP) - Island Remasters 473 183-9 (Barcode 602547318398)

7. Heartbreaker (January 1973 UK Final Studio LP) - Island Remasters 473 182-6 (Barcode 602547318268)

8. The Free Story (March 1974 UK 2LP Compilation) - Island Remasters 472 262-9 (Barcode 602547326294)

There is also a VINYL Box Set called "FREE - The Vinyl Collection" on Universal/Island 473 187-9 released 9 September 2016 with seven LPs (Barcode 0602547318794)

"Physical Graffiti: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" by LED ZEPPELIN - February 1975 2LP Set (2015 UK Atlantic/Swan Song 3CD Reissue – Jimmy Page Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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This Review and 204 More Like It Are Available In My

Amazon e-Book 

CAPT. FANTASTIC - 1975

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues & Remasters 

All Reviews From The Discs Themselves 

(No Cut And Paste Crap) 

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"…I Like Your Custard Pie…"

Zeppelin fans have been licking their lips for this one - and almost 40 years to the day (the original double-album was released 24 February 1975) - here it is on Monday 23 February 2015 - clambering up the ascending ledges of my stereo with the big balls of a well-hung King Kong primate sporting a naughty look in his brownstone-sized die-cut eyes (and that's just Side 1). This "40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" is not without its problems though in my opinion (packaging and questionable extras) - but it is still a thing of double-album beauty - it really is. Here are the forty years gone...

Worldwide released 23 February 2015 - "Physical Graffiti: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" by LED ZEPPELIN on Atlantic/Swan Song 8122795794 (Barcode 081227957940) is a 3CD reissue set in Card Repro Art Packaging and breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 (Sides 1 and 2 of the original 2LP set) - 39:25 minutes:

1. Custard Pie

2. The Rover

3. In My Time Of Dying

4. Houses Of The Holy [Side 2]

5. Trampled Under Foot

6. Kashmir

Disc 2 (Sides 3 and 4 of the original 2LP set) - 43:34 minutes:

1. In The Light

2. Bron-Yr-Aur

3. Down By The Seaside

4. Ten Years Gone

5. Night Flight [Side 4]

6. The Wanton Song

7. Boogie With Stu

8. Black Country Woman

9. Sick Again

"Physical Graffiti" was released 24 February 1975 in the UK on Swan Song SSK 89400 and Swan Song SS 2-200 in the USA. It went to Number 1 in both countries and shipped over 8 million copies in the USA alone.

Disc 3 COMPANION AUDIO - 41:32 minutes:

1. Brandy & Coke (Trampled Under Foot) (Initial Rough Mix)

2. Sick Again (Early Version)

3. In My Time Of Dying (Initial Rough Mix)

4. Houses Of The Holy (Rough Mix With Overdubs)

5.  Everybody Makes It Through (In The Light) (Early Version/In Transit)

6. Boogie With Stu (Sunset Sound Mix)

7. Driving Through Kashmir (Kashmir) (Rough Orchestra Mix)

The CD Repro packaging was always going to be a problem on this reissue and in my opinion they've gotten it only half right (at least it's an improvement on those awful Euro repros we had back in the Nineties with their piddly slips of paper on the inside). Let's be blunt about this - arguably "Physical Graffiti" had the most gorgeous LP packaging ever devised for a rock LP and the visceral impact of that for those of us who bought it in 1975 cannot be understated. That's why I find this latest offering so naff in comparison. Aligned with the other reissues - we get an awful blackened rear sleeve where someone has simply blocked out the artwork with blurred images and laughably called it alternate artwork. It's ruined the look of the rear - and the same crap has been done for CD3 on the inside. I also have to stick that peel-off track-list that was on the shrinkwrap onto the back of the cover and it just doesn't look right. The 16-page booklet of black and white and colour photos is over as soon as it starts with barely two pages of credits at the end - no appraisal, no liner notes and no history (you have to fork out huge money for the Super Deluxe Edition to get that). It does feel chunkier with the 3CDs inside and the booklet (I reversed the inner to get the white windows on the rear) but you can't help think that a reissue label of repute like Ace, Edsel, Beat Goes On, Repertoire or Esoteric would have gone to town on this prestigious release and finally given fans something they could really get their teeth into.

And what is this disclaimer bull that Page is putting in the booklets referring to the Companion Audio as being "new material recorded at the time" when its bleeding obvious that these are simply backing tracks with new guitar bits mixed in. Disc 3 has only two genuine outtakes - the short instrumental 1973 version of "Sick Again" and the February 1974 early version of "In The Light" which was originally called "Everybody Makes It Through". The others sound almost identical to me with very slight guitar changes - "In My Time Of Dying" being the worst offender where you have to wait almost the whole song to realise that the first guitar solo bit is the only change - and it's a lesser version. You can't help feel that much of Disc 3 is an elaborate con. There's also been complaints about the quality of the Download/Auto-Rip not being Hi-Res and the vinyl variant containing the same compromised artwork. But let's get to the remaster that is at least better than what went before...

The moment "Custard Pie" hits your speakers - the power of the band wallops you over the noggin - and the new Jimmy Page remaster helps. There's more clarity in the guitar and the whole thing swings better than it did before. "The Rover" has hiss in it that seems more accentuated but it also seems more muscular (what a powerhouse of a song). But then we get the big mother fuyer. "In My Time Of Dying" is a 1928 Blind Willie Johnson Spiritual called "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed" on Columbia 14276-D (78") - but Zeppelin massively rearranged it - enough for the boys to naughtily claim it as their own (plundering the Blues and not for the first time either). There's even a few seconds of dialogue at the end - "That's The One!" Bonham exclaims knowing he's blasted that sucker as far as it can go. It's a truly awesome piece of Rock and when that guitar solo first kicks in - the drums, the guitar and the bass - at that moment the whole band were undeniably the best in the world. Side 2 opens with "Houses Of The Holy" and again that very subtle remaster difference is evident - and with the drums so forward and loud in the mix - I swear I can hear the squeaking of Bonham's pedals more than I did before (nice). John Paul Jones gets to make his presence known on the funky keyboard backdrop he gives "Trampled Under Foot" (especially in his wicked solo) - but what I can hear more is the overdubbed guitar parts and Plant's ballsy vocals. Bonzo's moment finishes Side 2 "Kashmir" and honestly it sounds much like the "Mothership" remaster to me - huge of course - but I can't honestly say it's any better.

I've always loved the Eastern vibe to "In The Light", the wafting treated acoustic guitars of "Bron-Yr-Aur" and the happy-go-lucky almost childish feel to "Down By The Seaside" - all of which sound much improved. But I'm thrilled to say that the best track on the album seems to have been improved the most - the stunning "Ten Years Gone" which ended Side 3. It's clean, present and powerful - that gorgeous guitar strumming and bass combined sounding so good. And when it goes into that huge riff - wow is the only appropriate response (surely this is Zeppelin at their very best). Can't say I hear a huge improvement in "The Wanton Song" but I'd swear it was produced that way - sounding ever so slightly muffled or contained so that the last passage sounds clearer - doesn't look like that can changed no much you remaster it. "Boogie With Stu" and "Black Country Woman" now sound huge and such fun...

So there you have it - like "Blonde On Blonde", "The Beatles", "Second Winter", "Exile On Main St.", "Manassas" and "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" - "Physical Graffiti" is one of those vinyl double albums that retains its cool, mystery and magic. And despite some personal misgivings about presentation on this 3CD 40th Anniversary Reissue - isn't it the business to see it back at Number 1 where it belongs...

PS: see also reviews for the 2CD Deluxe Edition versions of "I", "II", "III", "IV", "Houses Of The Holy" and the 3-Disc version of  "Mothership: The Very Best Of"