Coda (album)

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Coda
Studio album by Led Zeppelin
Released	19 November 1982
Recorded	9 January 1969 – 21 November 1978
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal, blues-rock, folk rock
Length	33:04
Label	Swan Song
Producer	Jimmy Page, Peter Grant
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (B+) link Rolling Stone link
Led Zeppelin chronology
In Through the Out Door (1979) Coda (1982) Profiled (1990)

Coda is a studio album^[1] by English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in 1982. This collection of outtakes from various sessions during Led Zeppelin's twelve-year career was released two years after the group had officially disbanded following the death of drummer John Bonham. The word coda, meaning a "tail" that ends a musical piece following the main body, was therefore chosen as an apt title. It is said that John Paul Jones suggested this as the album title.^{[citation needed]}

Overview

Led Zeppelin guitarist and producer 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:

According to the Led Zeppelin biography Hammer of the Gods, the band also owed Atlantic Records one more album from the five album deal that created Swan Song Records in 1974. As such, Coda can be seen as a contractual fulfillment.

"We're Gonna Groove" opens the album and, according to the album notes, was recorded at Morgan Studios in June, 1969. 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 January 9th, 1970.

"Poor Tom" is from sessions for Led Zeppelin III. The drumming, however, has been subject to much speculation, as it sounds like a loop, fans have wondered if the song was finished this way during the sessions for Led Zeppelin III or if the recording was manipulated for Coda.^{[citation needed]}

"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. The recording was edited to remove 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".

"Walter's Walk" is from the 1972 Houses of the Holy sessions, although debate remains as to when the vocal performance by Robert Plant was recorded. Some sources speculate that the vocals may have been recorded in the early 1980s, perhaps during the making of Coda itself. Some have suggested that even the guitar parts have a similar tone to the overdubs in "We're Gonna Groove").^{[citation needed]} Plant's vocal styling on "Walter's Walk" sounds closer to that on his first solo album Pictures at Eleven than on Houses of the Holy.^{[citation needed]}

"Ozone Baby", "Darlene", and "Wearing and Tearing" are outtakes from the In Through the Out Door sessions in 1978, though the drum sound is mixed with more reverb than the recordings present on In Through the Out Door - a trademark of 1980s recordings. "Bonzo's Montreux" is a 1976 John Bonham drum instrumental with electronic effects added by Jimmy Page. This song would later be included on both boxed sets, first in a combined form with the studio version of Bonham's seminal Moby Dick drum solo on the 1990 Led Zeppelin boxed set, and as an individual track on the 1993 Led Zeppelin boxed set 2.

The inner liner features a collage of photographs. The main photo on the right side — showing the band members apparently clapping — was taken the day before their Knebworth concerts in 1979 and in that village. However, the band were dissatisfied with the image, and their images — and the ground where they stand — are all that remain from that photo. Superimposed behind the band is a photo of a green field in Chaddesley Corbett, Worcestershire, England, near Bonham's home.

Led Zeppelin parody cover band Dread Zeppelin released an album in 2007 entitled Bar Coda as a play on words of this album.

Track listing

Personnel

• John Bonham – drums, vocals
• John Paul Jones – bass, piano, keyboards
• Jimmy Page – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, producer, electronic treatments
• Robert Plant – vocals, harmonica

Additional personnel

• Peter Grant – producer, executive producer
• Stuart Epps, Andy Johns, Eddie Kramer, Vic Maile, Leif Mases, John Timperley – engineers

CD Mastering engineers

• Barry Diament - original CD - Atlantic Studios (mid-1980s)
• George Marino - remastered CD (1990)

Charts

Album

Singles

No commercial or promotional singles were issued, although three tracks received independent radio airplay. The songs were Led Zeppelin's debut on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, as the chart did not exist prior to 21 March 1981.

Additional notes

Catalogue: (US) Swan Song 79 00511, (UK) Swan Song A0051.

External links

• Coda at MusicBrainz

References