Does 'Coda' Count?

[Pb_Blimp]

Absolutely include cuts from CODA, there are some gems on that LP that are overlooked by all but the ardent Zep fanatic. Someone earlier mentioned "Poor Tom" and "Wearing and Tearing" and I myself would also add "We're Gonna Groove" and "Darlene". It would have been interesting to see where, how and if these tracks would have seen the light of day otherwise had the death of Bonzo not finalized the future of the band.

[hummingbird69]

7 hours ago, Earthchief said:

It absolutely is a Led Zeppelin album. Especially for me as it was my first Led Zep album (bought for me as a Christmas present). At that time I had only ever heard Side A of IV on n old cassette that ran out just before the end. It was a year or so later before I ever hear the bit where plant sings the last line acapella. People forget there was no internet back then, no Led Zeppelin on TV. There were no magazines in my world with anything about LZ. I didn't know that the theme to Top of the Pops was a Led Zep riff. There was no classic rock radio in rural Ireland. I didn't even know what they looked like. For some reason i imagined Plant to look something like what Axl Rose with a headband! When I started to meet Led Zep fans thereafter they would look at me with almost envy that I hadn't heard Kashmir yet. 

So CODA was my first. I loved the mysterious outer cover. And the texture of the cover. Plus I loved the name as I knew it was their last closing statemnt. And inside a wealth of amazing photographs. I didn't know then the story of Zeppelin. I didn't know that it was an album of left overs. I knew it sounded different to Side A of IV.    So 'We're Gonna Groove' was my Whole Lotta Love. To me it was powerful and wild. With an amazing mid section and that staccato drum break. Bonzo's Montreaux was my Moby Dick. I loved it then and I love it now. Poor Tom was probably my LZ111 moment. A band that could rock the walls down and then do something so authentically folky. Darlene to me was what many big Led Zeppelin stomp rock songs have been over the years. Big pounding drums and guitar. Wearing and Tearing could easily have been on PG. Wild and punkish.

At that time, not knowing what I was going to hear later, it was the best album I had heard because it was Zeppelin and they're there, playing and doing what Zep do. So for me it was the complete Zep album experience. I can only guess what it must have been like for older Zep fans of that era to hear that a new album/collection was coming out and the wait and the expectation. 

My next album was IV and I finally heard the last line of STH. And the journey began and it took many years for me to appreciate Presence and ITTOD to the same extent and eventually beyond. And I still think WGG is one of there greatest rockers. 

+1 

[Christopher Lees]

Coda is the real thing. Of course it counts. Darlene and Ozone Baby are good tunes! I wasn't crazy about them when I first got the album when I was a kid, but nowadays I have a greater appreciation. What's questionable to me are the extra songs that have been tagged on to it, and to other albums in recent years with the reissues. What I consider canon, is Zeppelin 1 to Coda, the originals. Make believe it's 1983 and you  have all the Zeppelin studio albums. That's canon in my book.

[The Pagemeister]

The songs count,

but,

The album as a whole is not an album that the whole band worked on at the same time.

The time span of material is an 11 year period.

It is a compilation album with a couple live tracks.

It was released after they called it quits.

That makes it different from all the previous albums.

 

.... but it still counts...