Album du jour #16 - Death Through the Out Door

Iiiiits Patriot's Day!! Aka, the "Massachusetts is the only state that's going to make up its own state holiday" day! Since I'm a descendant of Patrick Henry, I feel...well, not connected at all. But I do try to see if his charisma is hereditary; I go into work and say "Give me a raise or give me death!!" But they always choose death. (This might be because the "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" line was fictionalized after the fact, just like much of popular history).

Led Zeppelin - Coda (1982)
Prior Relationship to Album: Led Zeppelin. Definately the most important artist to me in my life thus far.



The biggest question was: do I just include the first, original 8 tracks? Or add in the 4 that were included with the version from the Complete Studio Recordings set? (I own the cd with just the 8, but have the other 4 songs as well). The last 4 tracks aren't part of the Coda that I first listened to...but on the other hand, Coda is an album about odds and ends, celebrating Bonham's life and legacy by showing that even the left over tracks from various recordings could make a cohesive, quality album. So the more, the merrier.

High Point: Hard to pick just one, but my three favourite tracks are #1 "We're Gonna Groove" (incredible opener), #2 "Poor Tom" (the gentle but captivating drum line serves as the perfect basis for this song that slowly progresses from light as a feather to intense and pounding), and #12 "Hey Hey What Can I Do" (never released on an album before the boxed set re-releases, but one that gets a huge amount of radio play nowadays).
Low Point: 08# "Wearing and Tearing" - this song was designed to complete against the insurgence of punk...but it runs far counter to Page and Plant's strengths, and, compared to the rest of the material here, sounds out of place and kind of a mess.

What I Learned/Realized: "Bonzo's Montreux" - the all drums track - is one of the few Led Zeppelin songs in which it is possible to hear the squeak of John Bonham's bass drum pedal in the recording studio.

Future Relationship to Album: Zeppelin will never be dethroned from the center spot in my musicverse.