Led Zeppelin-Coda-Swan Song-90051-1-Gatefold-LP-1982-USA

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Led Zeppelin-Coda-Swan Song-90051-1-Gatefold-LP-1982-Printed in USA, Recorded in UK. Coda is a compilation album[1] by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. The album is a collection of unused tracks from various sessions during Led Zeppelin's twelve-year career. It was released on 19 November 1982, almost two years after the group had officially disbanded following the death of drummer John Bonham. The word coda, meaning a passage that ends a musical piece following the main body, was therefore chosen as the title.

Background

The fifth Swan Song Records album for the band, Coda was released to honour contractual commitments to Atlantic Records and also to cover tax demands on previous monies earned. It cleared away nearly all of the leftover tracks from the various studio sessions of the 1960s and 1970s.[2] The album was a collection of eight tracks spanning the length of Zeppelin's twelve-year history.[3] Atlantic counted the release as a studio album, as Swan Song had owed the label a final studio album from the band. According to Martin Popoff, "there's conjecture that Jimmy [Page] called 'We're Gonna Groove' a studio track and 'I Can't Quit You Baby' a rehearsal track because Swan Song owed Atlantic one more studio album specifically."[1]

Guitarist Jimmy Page explained that part of the reasoning for the album's release related to the popularity of unofficial Led Zeppelin recordings which continued to be circulated by fans: "Coda was released, basically, because there was so much bootleg stuff out. We thought, "Well, if there's that much interest, then we may as well put the rest of our studio stuff out".[4] As John Paul Jones recalled: "They were good tracks. A lot of it was recorded around the time punk was really happening... basically there wasn't a lot of Zeppelin tracks that didn't go out. We used everything."

Songs

Side one

"We're Gonna Groove" opens the album and, according to the album notes, was recorded at Morgan Studios in June 1969.[3] It was later acknowledged to have come from a January 1970 concert at the Royal Albert Hall, with the guitar parts overdubbed and the original guitar part removed—this can be heard in the original Royal Albert Hall show on 9 January 1970.[citation needed] This song was used to open a number of concerts on their early 1970 tours and was originally intended to be recorded for inclusion in Led Zeppelin II. "I Can't Quit You Baby" is taken from the same concert as "We're Gonna Groove" but was listed as a rehearsal in the original liner notes.[6] The recording was edited to remove the overall "live" feel: the crowd noise as well as the beginning and ending of the song were deleted. Crowd tracks were muted on the multitrack mixdown on this recording as with "We're Gonna Groove".[citation needed]

"Poor Tom" is from sessions for Led Zeppelin III, having been recorded at Olympic Studios in June 1970, and "Walter's Walk" is a leftover from the sessions for Houses of the Holy.[6]

Side two

Side two consists of three outtakes from the band's previous album, In Through the Out Door. The opening track, the uptempo "Ozone Baby" was recorded at that album's sessions at Polar Studios, Stockholm in November 1978, as was the rock'n'roll styled "Darlene".[6]

The third track, "Bonzo's Montreux" was recorded at Mountain Studios, Montreaux, Switzerland in September 1976. It was designed as a Bonham drum showcase, which Page treated with various electronic effects, including a harmonizer.[6]

The final track, "Wearing and Tearing" was recorded at Polar in November 1978. It was written as a reaction to punk and to show that Led Zeppelin could compete with the new bands. It was planned to be released as a promotional single to the audience at the 1979 Knebworth Festival, headlined by Led Zeppelin, but this was cancelled at the last minute. It was first performed live at the 1990 Silver Clef Awards Festival at Knebworth in 1990 by Plant's band with Page guesting.[

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