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Final Led Zeppelin deluxe reissues

By Paul Sinclair

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53

presence_SDE

Deluxe editions of Led Zeppelin‘s final three studio albums: Presence, In Through The Out Door, and Coda will be released next month.

As before, these have been newly remastered under the supervision of guitarist and producer Jimmy Page and each are accompanied by ‘companion audio’ discs comprised of previously unreleased music related to the original release.

The formats are now familiar, with each album coming in a top-of-the-range Super Deluxe Edition box set which contains deluxe vinyl, deluxe CDs, hi-res download, hardback book and print. Both vinyl and CDs come as individual two-disc deluxe editions with the exception of Coda which contains TWO discs of companion audio and is therefore 3CD and 3LP.

1976’s Presence deluxe has five unreleased reference mixes from the sessions, which include alternate incarnations of For Your Life, Achilles Last Stand and Royal Orleans. In Through the Out Door (1979) is more generous, and includes an alternate version of every track on the album while, 1982’s Coda goes one better with its two companion discs. The bucking of the trend continues, because the 15 bonus tracks zip back to the early years, and were recorded between 1968 and 1974. Full track listings are below.

Presence, In Through the Out Door and Coda are all reissued on 31 July 2015

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Presence Super Deluxe Edition box set

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Presence Deluxe 2CD

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Presence 2LP Vinyl deluxe

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In Through the Out Door Super Deluxe Edition box set

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In Through the Out Door Deluxe 2CD

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In Through the Out Door Deluxe 2LP Vinyl

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Coda Super Deluxe Edition box set

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Coda Deluxe 3CD

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Coda Deluxe 3LP Vinyl

Track listings

Presence

1. “Achilles Last Stand”
2. “For Your Life”
3. “Royal Orleans”
4. “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”
5. “Candy Store Rock”
6. “Hots On For Nowhere”
7. “Tea For One”

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

1. “In The Evening”
2. “South Bound Saurez”
3. “Fool In The Rain”
4. “Hot Dog”
5. “Carouselambra”
6. “All My Love”
7. “I’m Gonna Crawl”

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

1. “We’re Gonna Groove”
2. “Poor Tom”
3. “I Can’t Quit You Baby”
4. “Walter’s Walk”
5. “Ozone Baby”
6. “Darlene”
7. “Bonzo’s Montreux”
8. “Wearing And Tearing”

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”

Companion Audio / 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)

presence_SDE

Presence Super Deluxe Edition box set

presence_deuxe_cd

Presence Deluxe 2CD

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In Through the Out Door Super Deluxe Edition box set

outdoor_deluxeCD

In Through the Out Door Deluxe 2CD

outdoor_deluxeLP

In Through the Out Door Deluxe 2LP Vinyl

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Coda Super Deluxe Edition box set

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Coda Deluxe 3CD

coda_deluxevinyl

Coda Deluxe 3LP Vinyl

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53 Comments

53 thoughts on “Final Led Zeppelin deluxe reissues”

  2. Totally agree with Mig above and am also looking at my creaking shelves with a degree of guilt but will doubtless be tempted by these last three LZ SDEs when the price drops to around £60 like the others!

  3. I’m kinda relieved this is all over at last. Unfortunately, these reissues were all about the packaging, and for the cost you know I would have preferred to buy just one big coffee table book on the band, rather than all the albums again with lousy extras. They fill up a lot of my shelf space and you know what, I’m hardly going to open them. They scream vanity at me. Mine, and the band’s.

    The bonus tracks on these last three were, if that’s possible, the worst of the lot. No, we didn’t get the well-worn instrumental take of “Carouselambra”. We did get a lot more tracks that seem near identical to the originals. The good thing is: Jimmy won’t be pulling this one on us again for a while.

    The Pink Floyd packages WERE bad — yes, marbles, scarfs, coasters and all — but they were also crammed with great music. This exercise has left me loving the band a little less. Surely not the point???

  5. Yep !! Macca I suggest you have a word to your mates Page & Plant. This is how Deluxe Editions are released ! Triple shots – in quick succession !!

  6. I bought the 1st five SDE U.S. box sets and pre-ordered the deluxe editions on CD and LP for “PG” and for these last three. I’m curious if some collectors have purchased U.S. & import vinyl versions for any or all of the previous releases and compared them for sound quality and if so noticed any difference? After these are released I’m seriously considering picking up some of the German imports and comparing myself after I’ve had time to enjoy and really listen to the U.S. editions.

  9. Well, Paul, you wanted opinions.
    I like these LZ SDL editions. A lot!

    I know many people are complaining, but then again, people always do, whether it’s cd, vinyl or download, bonus content and dynamic range. With the SDL’s I get all formats. I didn’t have any studio albums on vinyl, so for me it’s a no brainer. I love the artwork and even the accompanying hardcover book, even if it’s only photos and clippings. It’s done with great taste. If you want to read insightful stories and notes about LZ, you better pick up Mick Wall’s biography When Giants Walked The Earth, than wanting to have text in these books.

    Considering dynamic range and bonus content, I think the sound quality, compared to the remasters from over 20 years ago, is a bit better. Certainly not less, as some people claim.
    And the bonus content is for me ok, in the sense of at least having some bonus tracks, instead of none. Until this campaign, I only had some very good live boots, which is where LZ was shining anyway, and to have some studio outtakes and different mixes as bonus, well, they are ok, most of them not much of a big deal, some of them good and revealing. Could it have been better? Maybe, I don’t dare to say “probably”, but that is mostly only speculating, which I want to leave to the forum people.

    Am I complaining? Don’t want to. I’m not that much interested in every tidbit, that could have been, would have been, should have been, included.
    Not everything has to be released, just because it can, because fans know it is there, and they want that. The artist has/have final say, and if they don’t want to release it, then deal with it. I know it has been a trend for a while to do that sort of thing, but it doesn’t mean that every reissue campaign of an important band or artist should actually do that. The fact that Jimmy Page didn’t go all balls out, to me is also kinda cool. I know he was talking about how revealing the bonus content was going to be. Well, he couldn’t be objective there, as he is much too close to that. Maybe he should have been helped by someone like you, Paul, someone who was in the know about everything. Maybe he had help, but held back in the end.
    Only one or two tracks I would have loved to have polished off was the full version of All My love, with the extra guitar solo at the end, and that Swan Song track everyone keeps talking about.
    Sure, people want also more live material, but there’s enough out there, and we’ll maybe see some of that stuff in the future, when Jimmy decides to release some more.

    Until then, to have such big boxsets per album of my favorite band is for me a huge plus. So I’m ready for the final three. Bring! It! On!

  10. Difficult to knock the SDE packaging but the content… very underwhelming .The problem is resisting them all once you have one!
    I know i tried .The word fan derives from fanatic,where Zep is concerned
    to the power 20 . So i will eventually give in but at the lowest price possible . A price round up by your good selves a few months down the line would be very welcome.

  11. Yeah, price for these isn’t too bad considering what is out there from other artists.

    So I guess the selling point is extras and remixes (or “rough cuts” as JP calls them). This is unfortunate because of they put these on a DVD-A or BR-A in hi-res it would be a no-brainer for me, even without all the demo and rough cut versions. So I guess the only real option for me is the downloads from hdtracks. Not sure where they obtained 24/96 stereo from, unless they’re vinyl transfers??? Does anyone know?

  12. I figure this is the last time I’ll buy them so I went for the SDE’s. I will play the vinyl and read the book. I WON’T bitch about the price!

  13. I’ve bought all the boxes. I don’t think they have been grossly overpriced compared to the stuff offered in The Rolling Stones remastered boxes . I could care less about any video. I’ve bought Pink Floyd boxes and Stones boxes and have never even looked at the DVDs. ( that may change with the Marquee Club release.) I framed all the prints in my music room too and enjoy the books. It would be nice to have more live music in them though , but I think the Zeppelin boxes have been good overall.

  14. The collector in me wants to see these all lined up my shelf. I’ll glance through the hardcover book once and download the high-res, but the vinyl will never be touched. Overall a total cash grab and I’m disappointed in myself for going along with it.

  16. I stopped with collecting the super deluxe edition’s from Led Zeppelin.
    It”s to expensive £100. For the boxsets. This is to much. The first 6 edition’s okay. But where”s the end. Never thought that mr. Page was such a commercial man.

  17. It’ll be the deluxe vinyl editions for me, as has been the case with previous releases (which I’ve enjoyed immensely). Three more to go and we’re complete! The SDEs really don’t justify the price tag, in my opinion, though I’m sure they’d look lovely side-by-side on a shelf…

  18. These sets are vexing to me. I’ve owned pretty much every iteration of LZ since the original CD pressings in the 80s, and by my ears (and my equipment is pretty good), the 1990 remasters are the best. These were the ones that came in the crop circles boxes – there was a four disc set, then a companion two disc set to complete the entire discography. It had the essential but elusive “Hey Hey What Can I Do” and “Traveling Riverside Blues” on them. Then came the ten disc studio box, which I also purchased, with little aplomb. Now these sets, which are neat, but sonically I’m just not as impressed as I was with the 1990 series. The extras on these sets are interesting AT BEST. So I listen to the extras on Spotify, shrug, and feel grateful to have 16/44 FLACs of the 1990 series.

    The artwork is neat with these, but not enough to make me want to pull the trigger. Instead, I feel more supportive of the band’s continued presence by buying (yet another) LZ t-shirt. :-)

    That said, for those with sound drivers capable of decoding above redbook standard, hdtracks has these sets available in hi-res lossless download (24/96 I think), just in case you want to forego the new packaging.

    I love LZ – they were one of my first musical interests when I was a burgeoning teen – but these sets don’t add much to previous incarnations (sonically speaking).

    1. Dave, you made a very interesting comment about the 1990 Led Zeppelin remasters being the best in terms of sound. I’m currently working my way through which of the latest remasters to buy (they are appealing, to be sure, if only for the extras included) and would be very interested to know how the sound of the Marino 1990 remasters compares to (and is better than) the latest remasters. Some would argue the original 1980s CDs are even better than the 1990 ones (or so I read on another forum). Thanks for sharing.

      1. Bogdan,

        It’s been a few months; sorry about that.

        To be fair, I only have original CD pressings of II, III, IV, and ITtOD. Then as mentioned, I have the 1990 box sets (four disc and two disc), the “complete studio recordings” box set, and now I have II, III, and IV from the latest iteration.

        My thoughts: the originals are warm, but very, very soft, and III especially sounds overly muted in places. ITtOD has mixing issues (not mastering issues – big difference) which were not resolved with any of the versions I’ve heard. Example: hearing Plant in some songs is difficult. For the 1990 versions, III really pops! The acoustic guitars are much more clear and evident, though not overbearing, and there’s an overall clarity to the album without amplified tape hiss. II is also the same as III – a bit more clarity on the high end and mid-range with the 1990 versions. The latest versions are good (and comments on brickwalling are exaggerated), but I think the EQ and loudness were bumped up a bit from before to sound more “up front,” and for songs like “Immigrant Song” maybe that’s better, but for songs like “That’s the Way” or “Going to California,” it isn’t necessary.

        Anyway, just my two cents. I still haven’t tried the 24/96 downloads of these latest remasters from hdtracks yet, but my good friend and fellow audiophile said they are indistinguishable from the vinyl (he has superb equipment too), and actually a nominal improvement over the CDs. I love LZ, but I’m not sure YET ANOTHER round of remasters is going to make me happy especially given the fact that I’ve already purchased the entire catalog like four times (vinyl, cassette, CD box sets, and a few individual CDs here and there when I find them in used record stores).

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  22. In terms of the bonus content, overall this re-issue campaign has been a huge disappointment to me. There have been some good moments with the earlier releases, but as others have stated, even a rough mix or a work in progress is pretty close to the final version, so it’s hard to get too excited about them.

    But I’ve been buying these primarily because I had such old versions that I had burned from my original CDs, I was okay buying these simply for upgraded sound of the original albums.

    Had it been my way, I would have done a remastered CD of the original album, a CD of bonus tracks (like instrumentals, unreleased cuts, and rough mixes), and a third CD of live material from that era.

    Zeppelin is a band that would merit triple-CD releases (or more for PG and Coda). And while the 3-CD format probably wouldn’t please everybody, I’m guessing it would have pleased a lot more people than it is currently.

  23. Its all in a good cause……paying his lawyers bill to fight Robbie Williams ideas on tastefull home improvements.
    Many longtermers i think overall dissapointed with the lack of “meat” in the content. A shame as the art, style and lets face it sheer heft of these boxes has somewhat gone to waste.
    Many i believe would have been satisfied with even a series of well collated and mixed original release date specific live stuff in the superdeluxe issues ..as almost promised with the Led Zep I release.
    Hopes dashed there….
    I know its states the obvious, but, If there follows at some point a box or series of live material releases, those coughing up the retail £900 ! for this little lot will either be A. slightly miffed. B. So wealthy they just dont care. Or C. At an underground pool party with Robbie making as much noise and disturbance as possible ( after bedtime as well)…..

  24. Leemer: I expect a lot of us here who are buying these releases have the Studio Sessions bootlegs (and more). Now the last sets are announced, it is a huge mystery why so little of that material got released officially. There are so many treasures, and this was the place to give them all to the fans in best possible quality. Sigh. For a brief period when this exercise began, I harboured dreams of getting an official release of the Stairway rehearsals, for example…but instead we got things like an alternative version of Kashmir where I can’t tell the difference. I guess Jimmy’s ears are better than mine. This whole thing has been baffling. Maybe the manuscript of Book 4 came on the market and he needed to raise some cash quick…

  26. Mig, the water color question is answered in the Amazon description of the ITTOD set:

    “All vinyl versions of In Through The Out Door will also include the water-sensitive insert that replicates the inner sleeve from the album s initial release.”

    Although it sounds like the insert will be water sensitive, not the album cover itself.

  27. The only release I have bought is the Physical Graffiti Deluxe Boxset. The 24/96 download was very disappointing – lifeless IMHO. I would love to get ‘In Through The Out Door’ but fear the (so called) remaster will be the same.

    1. Praying that ITTOD will sound better than the original, and that we can hear Plant’s lyrics on Carouselambra. Will read the reviews before I purchase. Its the one reissue I’ve been waiting for.

      Coda sounds like it might be interesting this time out…

  28. I know I will fall prey as I look at the other six on my shelf. I think Jimmy Page doesn’t quite understand that listening to a rough mix is not quite the same as listening to an alternate version. I don’t know if Jimmy’s so lost in his own world or he’s just a bad salesman. Things do get better with CODA but still, shouldn’t those songs have been released on earlier albums? I heard about that 12 disc “Studio Sessions Ultimate”, I can’t imagine that there was such a lack of extra material that Page had to use alternate mixes, essentially the same performance as LP but slightly different mix. What is that? I sort of wish I never bought the first one…

    I agree with George and Brice about Paul McCartney… But McCartney’s probably been laying low to allow fans to piss away their money on Led Zeppelin reissues. I’m really looking forward to Red Rose Speedway reissue being issued before CD’s are completely antiquated.

  29. You have to wonder why “Coda” even exists…wouldn’t all this stuff have done better distributed among the other LP sets? Still, at least we finally get “Hey Hey” (vocals or instrumental?) and the Bombay sessions (at least some of them) as part of this series. Not sure I need a rough mix of “Bonzo’s Montreux” though…

    As for the ITTOD covers, there were six of them…and if they were to do all six with the six “negative” versions, that’s a lot of stock to carry! (Not that anybody is going to buy the deluxe set six times, right?)

    More to the point, does it have the paint-by-water inner sleeve? I’ve never dared try painting the version in the Japanese mini-LPs replica box. And, 30 years since I did it to him, can I apologise to my mate Simon who loved the album but never knew about the inner sleeve until I wetted my finger and demonstrated. Sorry to wreck your LP all those years ago. (These new editions are coffee table jobs: nobody’s going to DARE wet them, so let’s assume they didn’t bother.)

    Nice to get an official release of the instrumental “Carouselambra” — which I assume this is. Long a favourite.

    1. That’s my feeling as well-Coda would have been better served by putting the material with the respective albums but then they’d make less money and I guess they are considered canon now.

  30. No sign of ‘White Summer/Black Mountain Side’ that was included on the 1990 remasters box. I thought that would’ve been part of the Coda reissue as there’s no shortage of space either of the 3 discs.

    1. Good call and strange thing indeed. It’s been pleasure to wait and see how Page compiles these sets but not sure why that song was left out.

      ‘White Summer/Black Mountain Side’ was also released on 2008’s “Definitive Collection”-boxset which contained all the studio-albums (+SRTS ) in mini-lp replicas. “Coda” in that set has 4 bonus-tracks but as the mini-lp cover represent replicas of the original lp-releases, the covers themselves don’t mention a thing.

      “Coda” has these song as bonuses on the 2008 edition:
      9. “Baby Come On Home” (recorded 1968, appeared on Boxed Set 2, 1993) Bert Berns, Page, and Plant 4:30
      10. “Travelling Riverside Blues” (recorded 1969, appeared on Boxed Set, 1990) Robert Johnson, Page, and Plant 5:11
      11. “White Summer/Black Mountain Side” (recorded 1969, appeared on Boxed Set, 1990) Page 8:01
      12. “Hey Hey What Can I Do” (recorded 1970, appeared on b-side to “Immigrant Song” single, 1970)
      track-info and times taken from corresponding wikipedia-page:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin_Definitive_Collection

  33. Really looking forward to the In Through The Out Door bonus disc. That album gets slagged off way too much, it’s outstanding in my book.

  34. @PDS – Friday release dates are due to start this summer. Friday will now be the designated global release day so all countries get their new music on the same day. Clearly it only weeks away now, then.

  35. Well, here we go again with ‘Sunshine Woman’ (BBC 3-19-1969) still unreleased when it could’ve been easily included on bonus CD of ‘Coda’ along with ‘Sugar Mama’ which is being released for the first time. Go figure !

  36. Anyone know if ITTOD will have all representations/reproductions of the many covers (wasn’t it 9?) the original LP issues had?

  38. The deluxe 2 x CD sets ended up cheaper in HMV than Amazon a week after release and I was also able to choose pristine copies off the shelf rather then them arriving crushed thanks to Amazon’s inadequate packaging. I will therefore wait again rather than pre-ordering.

  39. Well I`m not interested in the SE box sets, I don`t want to be paying £50 for a box I will glance through once. I have been buying all the CD & LP issues with the companion disc. Just ordered the vinyl at Amazon France for £70 including P&P for all three with companion discs. I will buy the CDs a month or so after release when the price drops a lot.

    These remasters have been fabulous IMO and thank you Paul for the info.

    If anyone goes to Amazon France type in Led Zep and a link comes up for all the releases in every configuration.

  42. i’d go for a full set of all their Super Deluxe issues but it’s just a bit of ballsache monitoring them all for a good price. long-term job that! also hope they would release all the expanded cd versions in a box together like the Floyd Discovery one- think many would want that.

  43. They will release single-lp editions they just aren’t linked here.
    All the configurations are the same as the previous releases.

    1. As John says, they are doing them, but I find most SDE visitors aren’t that interested in ‘just’ the single LP, hence no links :)

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