Coda (album)

Coda is the ninth and final studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in 1982. The album is a collection of unused tracks from various sessions during Led Zeppelin's twelve-year career. It was released two years after the group had officially disbanded following the death of drummer John Bonham. The wordcoda, meaning a passage that ends a musical piece following the main body, was therefore chosen as the title.

Contents

 * 1 Overview
 * 2 Track listing
 * 3 Sales chart performance
 * 4 Sales certifications
 * 5 Personnel
 * 6 References
 * 7 External links

Overview
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:

John Paul Jones recalled:

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 fulfilment.

"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 9 January 1970. This song was used to open a number of concerts on their 1969 tours and was originally intended to be recorded for inclusion in Led Zeppelin II.

"Poor Tom" is from sessions for Led Zeppelin III, having been recorded at Olympic Studios in June 1970.

"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 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".

The 1993 compact disc edition includes additional tracks, added from the boxed set series.

The album cover was designed by Hipgnosis, the fifth album cover the design group designed for Led Zeppelin. It was also the last album cover the group ever designed before disbanding in 1983. The main four letters CODA are from an alphabet, typeface design called "Neon" designed by Bernard Allum in 1978.

Sales chart performance[edit]
No commercial or promotional singles were issued, although three tracks received independent radio airplay. These songs were Led Zeppelin's debut on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, as the chart did not exist prior to 21 March 1981.
 * Album
 * Singles

Personnel[edit]

 * Led Zeppelin
 * John Bonham – drums, percussion
 * John Paul Jones – bass guitar, piano, keyboards
 * Jimmy Page – acoustic and electric guitars, electronic treatments, production
 * Robert Plant – lead vocals, harmonica
 * Production
 * Barry Diament – mastering (original 1988 Compact Disc release)
 * Stuart Epps, Andy Johns, Eddie Kramer, Vic Maile, Leif Masses, and John Timperley – engineering
 * Peter Grant – executive production
 * George Marino – remastering (compact disc)