"Coda" is the ninth and final studio album, as well as the first compilation album, by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. Released on November 26, 1982, the album was a collection of unreleased and live tracks from various sessions throughout the band's twelve-year career. It came almost two years after the group had disbanded following the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. In 2015, a remastered version of Coda was released, featuring two discs of additional material.
The album was the fifth and final release for Led Zeppelin under their Swan Song Records label and was produced to fulfill their contractual obligations with Atlantic Records, as well as to cover tax demands related to the band's earnings. The tracks featured on Coda were largely leftover material from the band's studio sessions spanning the late 1960s and 1970s. The collection included eight songs, offering a retrospective look at the band's history.
Despite being a compilation, Coda was categorized as a studio album by Atlantic Records, as Swan Song still owed the label one more studio album from the band. There has been speculation that some tracks were labeled as "studio" to fulfill the contractual requirement, such as "We're Gonna Groove" and "I Can't Quit You Baby," the latter being a rehearsal track.
Guitarist Jimmy Page explained that the release of Coda was partially driven by the continuing circulation of bootleg recordings of the band. Recognizing the demand for unreleased material, Page and the band decided to officially release the remaining tracks in their archive. Bassist John Paul Jones remarked that there were very few Zeppelin tracks left that hadn’t been released, noting that the band had used most of their material already.
The album's title, Coda, refers to a musical term for a passage that concludes a piece of music, signaling the end of the band's career. The album served as a final collection of material, marking the closure of Led Zeppelin's era.
