Coda (Led Zeppelin, 1982)

Coda is the Pluto of Zeppelin albums. It is the ninth album, the least of the nine, the last of the nine, and probably shouldn't even be considered a proper album. While the analogy fails in that it is not the favorite of album of most 8 year olds, I was fairly impressed how well it holds up.

The problem of Led Zeppelin that gives us Coda is the band's distaste until very recently to include bonus tracks on their regular albums. For example, any copy of Houses of the Holy will have eight tracks with around 40 minutes worth of music, even though a compact disc can hold way more than that. Even the "deluxe" version just includes alternate mixes of the seven of the eight tracks, all relegated to a "bonus disc". Ironically, a single version of Coda on CD for a long time for the only Zeppelin album that actually had bonus tracks.

So here was my great idea. Some of it is a little crazy, so bear with me. Step one is to make Physical Graffiti a single album and eliminate Coda. I'm treading on dangerous ground, I know, as many love the former way more than the latter, but keep in mind that the only reason Physical Graffiti was two discs is that they had enough scraps lying around from the previous five albums to bulk up number six. Step two is to delegate bonus tracks as follows:

Led Zeppelin: "Baby Come On Home"
Led Zeppelin II: "Travelling Riverside Blues", "White Summer/Black Mountain Side"
Led Zeppelin III: "We're Gonna Groove", "Poor Tom", "I Can't Quit You Baby", "Hey Hey What Can I Do", "Bron-Yr-Aur"
Led Zeppelin IV: "Down By the Seaside", "Night Flight", "Boogie With Stu"
Houses of the Holy: "Walter's Walk", "The Rover", "Houses of the Holy", "Black Country Woman"
Presence: "Bonzo's Montreux"
In Through the Out Door: "Ozone Baby", "Darlene", "Wearing and Tearing"

Everybody gets a little something, and some fringe benefits include a much tighter, guttier Physical Graffiti, and the reunion of "Houses of the Holy" with its namesake. Just so the first two albums didn't feel left out, I gave them Coda's bonus tracks. You're welcome.

As a final thought, the songs on Coda really are pretty terrible, even if you aren't going by Zeppelin standards. Some of the songs start off well enough ("Darlene", "Ozone Baby") and just kind of wander away. Others like "Wearing and Tearing" and "Walter's Walk" are complete messes from start to finish. The older stuff is a bit stronger, but feels like a bad match next to these other songs. So there you have it, another Coda-hater. I hope you weren't expecting a grand re-evaluation, because I just don't have it in me.