Led Zeppelin Announce Final Three Deluxe Reissues
Led Zeppelin will end its yearlong reissue campaign next month when they put out deluxe editions of their final three studio albums. As with their previous releases, the group will unleash extras-packed editions of 1976’s Presence, 1979’s In Through the Out Door and 1982’s Coda in a variety of formats on July 31st, with highlights including their 1968 rare recording of “Sugar Mama,” songs the group made with the Bombay Orchestra and alternate mixes of every song on In Through the Out Door.
As with the previous reissues, Jimmy Page personally remastered each record, as well as the companion audio that appears on each LP’s bonus discs. Each album will be available as a single disc – and the packaging for In Through the Out Door will replicate the brown paper that the vinyl came in.
The deluxe editions of Presence and Out Door will each contain a full disc’s worth of bonus audio, while Coda will contain two. Vinyl will be available on a 180-gram pressing, and Out Door will include a special water-sensitive insert that replicates its original inner sleeve. There will also be deluxe vinyl, digital downloads and deluxe box sets which contain the deluxe editions on CD, vinyl and digital along with a hardbound book and a print of the original album cover.
The companion audio disc for the deluxe version of Presence – an album that the group recorded over 18 days in Munich – contains five previously unreleased reference mixes from the sessions, which show the album versions as works in progress. These tracks include alternate versions of “For Your Life,” “Achilles Last Stand” and “Royal Orleans” and will contain the previously unreleased instrumental, “10 Ribs & all/Carrot Pod Pod (Pod).”
In Through the Out Door’s companion audio features rough mixes of every song on the LP, including early versions of “All My Love” (titled “The Hook”), “Carouselambra” (titled “The Epic”) and “I’m Gonna Crawl” (“Blot”).
Finally, the deluxe edition of Coda – released two years after the death of drummer John Bonham – features two discs’ worth of companion audio, which span recordings the group made between 1968 and 1974. The bluesy, rare track “Sugar Mama,” which Led Zeppelin recorded at Olympic Studios during the sessions that became Led Zeppelin, is the most notable and is finally getting an official release. “Baby Come Home” also features on the bonus disc and culls from the same session. Similarly, the record contains the previously unreleased “St. Tristan’s Sword,” an instrumental that dates back to the 1970 sessions for Led Zeppelin III.
Coda’s bonus material will also contain recordings from Page and Robert Plant’s 1972 trip to India, where they performed an early version of “Four Sticks” (titled “Four Hands”) and “Friends” with the Bombay Orchestra. The album will also include an early version of “When the Levee Breaks” from 1970 (titled “If It Keeps on Raining”), rough mixes of “The Wanton Song” and “In the Light” from the Physical Graffiti sessions and an instrumental mix of their 1970 recording “Poor Tom.”
Led Zeppelin began their reissue campaign last June, when they put out souped-up editions of their first three albums. They continued their releases chronologically, putting out IV and Houses of the Holy in the fall and Physical Graffiti this past February.
Here are the track lists for the bonus discs of the final three reissues:
Presence (Companion Audio):
1. “Two Ones Are Won” (“Achilles Last Stand” – Reference Mix)
2. “For Your Life” (Reference Mix)
3. “10 Ribs & All/Carrot Pod Pod (Pod)” (Reference Mix)
4. “Royal Orleans” (Reference Mix)
5. “Hots On for Nowhere” (Reference Mix)
In Through the Out Door (Companion Audio):
1. “In the Evening” (Rough Mix)
2. “Southbound Piano” (“South Bound Saurez” – Rough Mix)
3. “Fool in the Rain” (Rough Mix)
4. “Hot Dog” (Rough Mix)
5. “The Epic” (“Carouselambra” – Rough Mix)
6. “The Hook” (“All My Love” – Rough Mix)
7. “Blot” (“I’m Gonna Crawl” – Rough Mix)
Coda (Companion Audio):
Disc One
1. “We’re Gonna Groove” (Alternate Mix)
2. “If It Keeps On Raining” (“When the Levee Breaks” – Rough Mix)
3. “Bonzo’s Montreux” (Mix Construction In Progress)
4. “Baby Come On Home”
5. “Sugar Mama” (Mix)
6. “Poor Tom” (Instrumental Mix)
7. “Travelling Riverside Blues” (BBC Session)
8. “Hey, Hey, What Can I Do”
Disc Two
1. “Four Hands” (“Four Sticks” – Bombay Orchestra)
2. “Friends” (Bombay Orchestra)
3. “St. Tristan’s Sword” (Rough Mix)
4. “Desire” (The Wanton Song – Rough Mix)
5. “Bring It on Home” (Rough Mix)
6. “Walter’s Walk” (Rough Mix)
7. “Everybody Makes It Through” (“In the Light” – Rough Mix)