SONIC WAVES….Led Zeppelin/Coda

1982’s Coda by Led Zeppelin is my first  Zep purchase! I was 13 when Zep packed it in December 1980 when John Bonham died and give them credit (Robert Plant/Jimmy Page/John Paul Jones)they walked away from a huge pay day …..

I missed the whole Zep deal but it was my buddy John Young(where are you?)  that I had first heard Zep! Hell he first gotten into Kiss, than Pink Floyd,Zeppelin he even dabbled a bit with Y&T (Black Tiger and Meanstreak) and aborted ship when Y&T commercialized there sound so John would always be moving onto some other musical act whereas I would study up on each group buying everything in site whether good or bad on each act and well JY wherever you are in this world! Thanks again man……

CODA is a bunch of left over songs from various recording sessions that were sitting in the vaults …..man for leftovers these are friggin classics!

WERE GONNA GROOVE- Yep we are! Listen to the beginning of this track,man Bonham lays it on thick right out of the gate and John Paul Jones drives a real cool snappy bass line and young boy Robert Plant nails done the vocals while Jimmy Page is flinging  quick bolts of riffs! This is my intro to Zep! Thank Ya much!

POOR TOM-Bonzo plays a real slick smooth drum fill! The jive of his drums carries this tune and heres Jimmy and John Paul Jones joining in and Plant delivers a real cool rock vocal! Love the harmonica I  this tune especially between breathes on the harp Plant quips “Keep Talkin!” Man this is a awesome tune!

I CANT QUIT YOU BABY- is the live track on here recorded at a sound check and man the drums sound big like cannons going off! (This is recorded from 1969!) Page riffs like a man making a deal with Satan! Plant tops it off with his vocals he sings rock style than shifts gears in the second verse while the band esp Page play lightning quick bolts of brillance! Man oh man! Zep is a powerful machine live. Bonzo Wowzers he is Zep!

WALTERS WALK-Page starts,Bonzo and John Pauly join ship and its a great track! Another all out Zep rocker and man what can you say about Plants vocals? There awesome! He knows his deal when to do the hey hey mamas and not when to do them! Fantastic singer man always has been always will be!

OZONE BABY-Love this tune! It gets right out of the gates quick with drums,bass guitar all in sync and boom were off! Plant throws down some real good vocals and like many a Zep tune Bonham smashes the crap out of his Ludwig drums and man this is powerful stuff! Crank the   Video and enter the Ozone known as Led Zeppelin!

DARLENE BABY-this could have been a huge hit but Zep rolled (no pun intended) a ton of rock hits but it’s crazy that they kept these tracks like Darlene sitting around collecting dust until Page decided to clean them off and release it. Darlene has a nice slower paced groove but let’s not kid ourselves here Bonzo drives the bus with his drums on this tune and its full steam ahead jaut not at 100 mph! Love how Zep have a ton of tempo changes but never come unglued!

BONZOs MONTREAUX-this is basically the full meal drum deal from John Bonham! It’s amazing that all of this material is from the late 60s to 1980 and the sound of the drums are huge! The sonics of Zep still sound current in the year 2015! Zep had a timeless quality and that is why Jimmy Page can keep remaster  remastered remastering the same studio albums over and over and people still purchase! That my friends is a quality no make that superior product!

WEARING AND TEARING-Zep rips out of the gate at breakneck speed and this song just drives ….fast! Page ramps up his playing while Jones and Bonzo are popping pistons  down in the engine room! Zep ends the album at a walloping pace! Man this is awesome material and it was leftovers? Like are you fucking kidding me?

(Bonus Track) HEY HEY,WHAT CAN I DO-Yup I’m breaking protocol here as I purchased  the deluxe 2015 reissue Coda and always whenever I do these reviews of these albums I don’t review the deluxe editions blah blah blah etc I just stick with what I had bought back in the day which was the original track listing!

Hey,Hey,What Can I Do man I just love this tune it fuses some real good lyrics with Plant putting aside his Arena Rock God vocals and throwing down a real chill vibe vocal whereas Page fills up the song with some cool electric/acoustic and mandolin playing while Jones and Bonham well they just stay in the zone man and they deliver one of my fav Zep tracks ever! SALUTE! Crank the video and see how Zep can rock the boat!(Ozone Baby) and also pull back the reigns with s slower paced tune that still rocks in a Zep kinda way(Hey,Hey,What Can I Do?)

IN CONCLUSION- I love this album and maybe by it being my first actual Zep Purchase maybe that has something to do with it! But all of these songs on Coda stand up on there own merit! Of course after I was hooked on Coda it was a delve back into there catalogue and what a catalogue it was! Some day I’m gonna have to review those albums as  there all classics!