The last three albums released by the legendary rock group, Presence, In Through The Out Door, and Coda, have been re-mastered and re-released with bonus material and I took advantage and picked up In Through The Out Door and Coda, though this time via digital download,
When they were at their height of creativity, Led Zeppelin seemed unable to do any wrong. These last three albums, unfortunately, point out that the creative spark that began and burned so bright on the first six Led Zeppelin albums dimmed somewhat as the band reached its end. (I say somewhat because even these albums, which I consider lesser works compared to the six that came before them, nonetheless feature some absolutely great tunes)
It was inevitable, I suppose.
Offhand, I can’t think of any artist whose entire career and works produced was uniformly good and/or great. Hell, Steven Spielberg, one of the today’s greatest living directors, made an incredible splash with Duel, a film I consider one of his all time best works and a clear “first draft” of his first huge hit, Jaws. Yet the film he followed Duel with in 1972 was the flat out boring Something Evil.
When Led Zeppelin formed, it consisted of both experienced studio folk and newcomers who, together, were a hit from the word go. Their first six albums, released between 1969 and 1975, are considered by many music lovers to be uniformly excellent and each album carries a mind-boggling amount of classic, very well known songs.
But after the release of 1975’s phenomenal double album Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin’s 1976 follow-up, Presence, was a more muted affair. Yeah, the album did have great songs like Achilles Last Stand, but it felt like the band was, for the first time, running in place. The same most certainly couldn’t be said for In Through the Out Door, though there are few that would place that album among Led Zeppelin’s best. Released in 1979, this album featured the band moving into other directions and using more synthesizer than most were accustomed to hear. When Coda, their final album, was released in 1982, it was clear this album was a contractually obligated one consisting of discarded tunes that couldn’t find their way into other albums. By the time of that album’s release, it had been two years since drummer John Bonham passed away and the band was, for all intents and purposes, dissolved.
So what happened to Led Zeppelin in their later years? How did they go from creative powerhouse to something lesser?
Perhaps they had exhausted their initial creative spark. They had, after all, released a tremendous amount of material in a very short period of time and it was only natural they might exhaust their ideas. Another possible factor, sadly, is the alleged drug/alcohol abuse of several of the band members. It was shocking to me to compare photographs of the band from 1971-3 to photographs from three to four years later. Clearly several of the band members look far more aged than they should be given the brief time that has passed.
A third factor is the evolution of music. By the mid-1970’s, the music scene was evolving, as it always does, and the members of the band may well have realized they needed to move on from their trademark heavy rock/blues and try out other forms of music. David Bowie made a career through the 1970’s and 80’s of pursuing then abruptly changing musical styles. So too Led Zeppelin tried to change and, with those final albums, introduced more synthesizer heavy songs, country-esq music, and even a calypso/raggae sound.
Did these experiments work?
Not always.
Focusing on the two albums I bought, In Through the Out Door features some great songs such as In The Evening…
The album also featured what may be one of the all time worst Led Zeppelin songs in the country-esq Hot Dog…
Still, even that song has its charms even though it feels really wrong coming from this band.
The final Led Zeppelin album re-release, the out-take filled Coda, nonetheless proved to be the most interesting vis a vis outakes/cut songs. In my previous post regarding the Led Zeppelin re-releases (you can read it here), I lamented the fact that in the two albums I had previously bought, Led Zeppelin IV and Houses of the Holy, the bonus material simply wasn’t all that impressive and/or different from the songs ultimately released.
With Coda, I can’t make that complaint.
To begin, the remastered album does include Led Zeppelin’s most famous song never formally released on any of their albums, Hey, Hey, What Can I Do…
But there are also great insights into the working of other songs. For example, I absolutely loved the early version of If It Keeps on Raining found among the bonus material…
As with my previous review, I can’t fault the remastered songs at all. They sound great and if you’re getting these albums for that, you can’t miss. If you’re buying these albums to also get the bonus material, you may want to check out Coda first and foremost.