The Led Zeppelin Discography Discussion: v. Everything still turns to gold

[Bolsters]

Well, the album is still such a chore to listen to. Not surprising given that it's a bunch of outtakes, but it's almost as sad a way for the band to have gone out as it was for it to be happening because Bonzo died.

I'm not even sure what the highlight of the album is for me. Maybe I Can't Quit You Baby, but it's still far from being a great song.

[Kwyjibo]

Ok, you asked for it so here goes:

Coda is just uninspired boring shit!

I never understood why they put it out. I know it's not a regular studio album, I know it's just outtakes, but to put it out as the last album with "new" material in their career, that for me leaves a bad taste. There is not a single song I can enjoy and trust me I've tried hard to like it at least a little bit.

There is a reason why outtakes are left off the original release. Very rarely there are hidden gems but more often than not it's just that the songs are sub-par, and releasing them later doesn't make them better.

[jingle.boy]

I never understood why they put it out.

reality is that the band owed Atlantic Records one more album from the five-album deal that created Swan Song Records in 1974. As such, rather than trying to recruit a drummer to make a record, this album of outtakes can be seen as a contractual fulfillment.

[Kwyjibo]

I never understood why they put it out.

reality is that the band owed Atlantic Records one more album from the five-album deal that created Swan Song Records in 1974. As such, rather than trying to recruit a drummer to make a record, this album of outtakes can be seen as a contractual fulfillment.

Yeah, I read that and have heard it before. What I mean is, I can't understand why they put out this album. Why not a live record, a compilation or try to find a replacement for Bonzo? Imo everything would have been better.

[Orbert]

They made it clear when John Bonham died, Led Zeppelin was over.  One of them was gone, therefore the band could not continue.  And they stuck to that for a long, long time.  Sure, Page and Plant have gotten together and done things like "Un-Led-Ed" which obviously pays tribute to their Zeppelin background, but they never called the band Led Zeppelin.  Even the "Led Zeppelin reunion" shows and one-offs, I would bet large amounts of money (someone else's) that they're not the ones who wanted to call it Led Zeppelin.  Anyway, finding a replacement drummer just wasn't in the picture.

Also, it's possible that the contract called for a one more studio album, so a live album wouldn't have fulfilled it.

And finally, no one knows what constitutes a "hidden gem" until it's out there and we get people's reactions.  So they put it all out there, whatever they had left.  Hey, some people just wanted more Led Zeppelin, and even subpar Led Zeppelin is better than nothing.  For all we know, there are people who love this album.  Maybe it was the one they happened to grab after their friends had been talking about Led Zeppelin for years, and they had no idea, but they got into it.

You could argue that it tarnished their legacy or whatever, but it was recorded, it was Led Zeppelin, and it would have seen the light of day at some point anyway.  So why not put it out there?

[hefdaddy42]

I'm glad they put it out, I suppose.  But I have never, ever had the urge to listen to it, after my first time through.

But for the sake of the thread, I will do so.

[jingle.boy]

Not sure why, but pretty much everything I've listened throughout this process, that I once may have dismissed has aged well.

Hats Off and D'yer Mak'er notwithstanding.

Coda was actually a good listen.  Still the bottom of the Led Zeppelin stack ranking by far, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered.  Even beyond W&T, there were some enjoyable moments.

Bob... excellent post.  Hindsight is 20/20, so in the fall of 1982, who knew how this REALLY would be received until it was put out.  Of course we know what we know now, but Page et al didn't have the benefit of hindsight.

[Kwyjibo]

You could argue that it tarnished their legacy or whatever, but it was recorded, it was Led Zeppelin, and it would have seen the light of day at some point anyway.  So why not put it out there?

All of what you've written and especially the above part is true. But jingle asked for feedback and I gave it 

I hope I made it clear that this was solely my opinion, but yes, for me the legacy is kinda tarnished because of Coda.

[jingle.boy]

You could argue that it tarnished their legacy or whatever, but it was recorded, it was Led Zeppelin, and it would have seen the light of day at some point anyway.  So why not put it out there?

All of what you've written and especially the above part is true. But jingle asked for feedback and I gave it 

I hope I made it clear that this was solely my opinion, but yes, for me the legacy is kinda tarnished because of Coda.

:itsallgood:

Just got my Zeppelin IV and HOTH remasters yesterday.  Will save my thoughts for the end of this journey.  No news on the remaining three (four?) albums.

[Orbert]

You could argue that it tarnished their legacy or whatever, but it was recorded, it was Led Zeppelin, and it would have seen the light of day at some point anyway.  So why not put it out there?

All of what you've written and especially the above part is true. But jingle asked for feedback and I gave it 

I hope I made it clear that this was solely my opinion, but yes, for me the legacy is kinda tarnished because of Coda.

Fair enough.

[TAC]

I think Zeppelin were so great, you would've thought stuff that didn't make their albums would still be better than most bands' output, and it really wasn't.

[jjrock88]

I don't listen to Coda very often, but I always liked Ozone Baby. 

[Orbert]

I went to listen to Coda yesterday, and discovered that I'd only put "Ozone Baby", "Wearing and Tearing", and "White Summer / Black Mountain Side" on my iPod.  Apparently, back in 2007 (when I loaded it), I had made a decision that those were the only tracks worth putting on.  They were fine, though I would consider all three of them less than essential Led Zeppelin.  So I didn't re-listen to the others, and I guess I'm okay with that.

[CrimsonSunrise]

Yeah....as a, what I consider a die hard fan, I thought Coda sucked.  I was soooo excited when I heard of the impending release, only to be massively disappointed.   In hindsight, I guess I shouldn't have set myself up for that kind of response.  I mean, bottom line is these were tracks that didn't make the cut for one reason or another.

[Orbert]

Aren't some of them unfinished and/or demo tracks as well?

[CrimsonSunrise]

Besides the live tracks, I think they were all material that didn't make their respective albums.  Most from ITTOD.  Not sure if they were completed works or not prior to Coda.

[Jaq]

Ozone Baby, Darlene, and Wearing And Tearing were recorded during the ITTOD sessions. Poor Tom is an outtake from the LZ III sessions. Walter's Walk is an outtake from Houses of the Holy, probably with later overdubs. Bonzo's Montreux was recorded in 1976 and Page added the electronics later, though I am not sure when.

[jammindude]

Confession... I actually really like the Moby Dick/Bonzo mashup from the boxed set.

[KevShmev]

I listened to Coda a long time ago and didn't find any of it being good enough to where I remember it at all. 

[TAC]

Interesting comments from Phil Collins regarding Live Aid.
https://bravewords.com/news/phil-collins-on-performing-at-1985s-live-aid-with-led-zeppelin-it-was-a-disaster-really

[Orbert]

I remember watching that set live on TV and thinking the same thing.  It wasn't really a Led Zeppelin reunion, of course, just Page and Plant, and they already had Tony Thompson on drums and some guy on bass (I don't remember, and apparently he wasn't important enough to even be mentioned in the article) so Phil Collins was literally a fifth wheel.  But he was so freakin' popular at the time, I guess they thought he would add something to it.  There was already the huge hooplah about Phil being the one artist to play Live Aid on both sides of the Atlantic, but they had Tony Thompson on board just in case something went wrong and Phil couldn't make it.  So they'd rehearsed a bit, the four of them, and then Phil showed up, at that point for no particular reason.

I wouldn't call the set a "disaster" but I can see how Phil wouldn't exactly remember it fondly.

[Jaq]

Always assumed they brought Phil on because he'd worked with Robert Plant and even toured with him for his first solo album...which would have made sense if Plant had, ya know, played Zeppelin songs on that tour 

[Orbert]

Ah yes, I'd forgotten that Phil played on Plant's first album.  So there was that connection.  That also explains why Plant was happy to see him and all, while Jimmy couldn't care less.

[TAC]

Ah yes, I'd forgotten that Phil played on Plant's first album.  So there was that connection.  That also explains why Plant was happy to see him and all, while Jimmy couldn't care less.

Pictures At Eleven is a freaking awesome album. Cozy Powell also plays on two tracks.

[jingle.boy]

Funny enough, I was just doing my writeups on the 80s earlier today.  Will post shortly.

[jingle.boy]

After the death of Bonham, Plant essentially distanced himself from everything Led Zeppelin for years, pushing his solo career in a completely different direction. Page continued with a variety of outlets, including benefit shows with Eric Clayton and Jeff Beck where he stole the show.  Jones all but disappeared.

The three surviving members of Led Zeppelin gathered backstage at the Live Aid show in Philadelphia on July 14, 1985. It was the first time in five years they had met for the purpose of making music.  Phil Collins, who was flying over on the Concorde from having just performed at the London live Aid show, would sit in on the drums. John Paul Jones was now on keyboards, and Robert's bassist Paul Martinez would take Jones's place on bass.  In the afternoon, they held a ninety-minute rehearsal with Tony Thompson, the young black power house who was then working with a Duran Duran offshoot called The Power Station. The six members had 20 minutes just like every other act, and fired thru Rock And Roll, Whole Lotta Love, and Stairway To Heaven ... All to a thunderous ovation, despite the questionable, yet decent performance from both Plant and Page. Plant would call the set "a fucking atrocity".  Due to their "sub-standard" performance, the band have blocked all possible broadcasts of it since and they withheld permission for it to be included on the official DVD release of the concerts. Rumors of a reunion would explode, despite all three members scoffing at the idea.

Eventually, Robert Plant finally announced the death of Percy, his old lemon-squeezing persona, and perhaps the final death of Led Zeppelin.  After Jimmy and Robert disbanded their respective orchestras in 1985, they rarely appeared in public for a couple of years

On May 14, 1988 Atlantic Records held its 40th Anniversary Celebration by staging a non-stop concert lasting almost 13 hours at Madison Square Garden. The event was dubbed "It's Only Rock And Roll".  Led Zeppelin was brought in as the closing act to the 1/2 day show. Jimmy had rehearsed for all of six minutes, playing a reportedly magnificent sound check the night before, but only performed indifferently at the event when they went onstage at one in the morning to play "Kashmir," "Whole Lotta Love," "Misty Mountain Hop" and "Stairway to Heaven," whose climactic guitar solo Page fumbled disastrously.  After this show, the band would revert back into hibernation.

By the end of 1988, Plant finally loosened up and played some rabidly requested Zeppelin faves ("No Quarter," "Immigrant Song," "Wearing and Tearing" and an invariably stage-storming '"Misty Mountain Hop'' as an encore).  In April of 1990, Led Zeppelin jammed at Jason Bonham's wedding.

A 4-CD boxed set Led Zeppelin, released in November 1990, cobbled together dozens of re-mastered classic grooves and unveiled three collector's items: "Travelling Riverside Blues," "White Sunmier/Black Mountain Side" (both recorded for BBC radio in 1969) and "Hey Hey What Can I Do," a 1970 out-take from Led Zeppelin III - previously only available as the B-side to Immigrant Song.  It quickly went platinum and became the best-selling CD boxed set in history.  The other memorable aspect of the box set was the coupling of Heartbreaker with Communication Breakdown. Though a good combination, it just felt odd, and to some extent wrong, to not hear Living Loving Maid after that final "Heartbreaker".

Another vaulted Zeppelin studio track was released three years later on both Led Zeppelin/Box Set 2 and the deluxe remastered 10-CD Led Zeppelin: The Complete Studio Recordings. This was the superb "Baby Come on Home," an outtake from the seminal October 1968 Led Zeppelin sessions, which would be included on the re-release of Coda.  Sources close to the band insist this is absolutely the last remaining unreleased song in Zeppelin's vault.

There was a flurry of Led Zeppelin reunion rumors in 1992. Robert's band was on hold, and he was admittedly restless. Jimmy was reportedly keen to do a project with him, but Robert demurred for reasons he didn't enjoy explaining.

Until 1994, and MTV's Unplugged series came calling.

[Anguyen92]

I took a listen to that Live Aid performance on youtube.  It is totally reasonable that those guys did not want it released on a DVD or any other outlet.  Rock and Roll was an absolute shambles with a lot of muddy guitar sound and Plant working his voice in a tone that's just not competent enough to their liking.  Page also looked so high out of his mind during the Stairway to Heaven solo and the fact that it was a "slight" extended solo did not make it better.

Also, what's up with Plant's pants in the Live Aid performance?

[bl5150]

After the death of Bonham, Plant essentially distanced himself from everything Led Zeppelin for years, pushing his solo career in a completely different direction. Page continued with a variety of outlets, including benefit shows with Eric Clayton and Jeff Beck where he stole the show.  Jones all but disappeared.

I played with Eric Clayton once too and I blew him off the stage

[The Curious Orange]

I get that the Live Aid performance was dodgy, but that show was part of history, and that performance should be on the DVD as an historical record, if nothing else.

[Mladen]

Again, loads of interesting stuff I didn't know about. 

[TAC]

As I said, Pictures At Eleven was excellent, but I didn't care for anything else Plant ever did.

Didn't Page play a benefit show in the mid 80's where he played an instrumental version of Stairway To Heaven, and Simon Phillips played drums?
Oh here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFik1D1zPhQ

Also, any thoughts on The Firm? I thought they were terribly underwhelming.

There was a flurry of Led Zeppelin reunion rumors in 1992. Robert's band was on hold, and he was admittedly restless. Jimmy was reportedly keen to do a project with him, but Robert demurred for reasons he didn't enjoy explaining.

Jimmy ended up working with David Coverdale and made a really solid album.

[jingle.boy]

Didn't Page play a benefit show in the mid 80's where he played an instrumental version of Stairway To Heaven, and Simon Phillips played drums?
Oh here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFik1D1zPhQ

Thanks for that.  Never saw it before.  Will look later.

Jimmy ended up working with David Coverdale and made a really solid album.

Oh, I very well know.  It made my original Top 50.  Fantastic album.  I could make a whole writeup on that too, but was limiting this discussion to stuff outside their solo careers, or individual projects/collaborations.

[hefdaddy42]

Yeah, that Coverdale/Page album was fantastic.

And I remember watching that Live Aid performance and thinking "WTF is this shit?"

[TAC]

Oh, I very well know.  It made my original Top 50.  Fantastic album.  I could make a whole writeup on that too, but was limiting this discussion to stuff outside their solo careers, or individual projects/collaborations.

I don't know if this is even fair or not, but somehow I can't help but feel that for me at least, Zeppelin's legacy is ultimately tarnished by the lack of quality stuff released by their members in this eternity since Zeppelin disbanded. It's been almost 35 years.

I will say that while I am not at all interested in anything Plant has done he has at least been productive. But Page? Jones?

[jingle.boy]

Oh, I very well know.  It made my original Top 50.  Fantastic album.  I could make a whole writeup on that too, but was limiting this discussion to stuff outside their solo careers, or individual projects/collaborations.

I don't know if this is even fair or not, but somehow I can't help but feel that for me at least, Zeppelin's legacy is ultimately tarnished by the lack of quality stuff released by their members in this eternity since Zeppelin disbanded. It's been almost 35 years.

I will say that while I am not at all interested in anything Plant has done he has at least been productive. But Page? Jones?

I actually think the opposite.  I think if all three had done what Plant did (go and explore their own musical path in a direction totally opposite from Led Zeppelin), that may have tarnished it as well.  The fact that their career musical contributions are still defined by what Zeppelin was for their 11 year period makes it all that much more magical.  That's my opinion.