WEARING AND TEARING

Maybe this "special limited edition" single (as it says in the scan of the cover included in this website) was released to promote their "Coda" album from 1982. And it seems that it was a good idea for both songs to be released as a promotional single, but I don`t understand why it was released as a limited edition single. Maybe it was only done to make it a collectors`s item.

Both songs were recorded in late 1978 during the recording sessions for their "In Through the Out Door" (1979) album, which is one of my favourite albums from LED ZEPPELIN.

In the case of "Wearing and Tearing" (composed by Page and Plant) I think that it is a very good song, very energetic and much better than other song which was composed by Page and Plant for that album, called "Hot Dog", which is maybe one of the weakest songs in that album. I think that "Wearing and Tearing" deserved a place in that album instead of "Hot Dog", and maybe could have been a Hit if it was released as a single from that album instead of being released as a single from "Coda" three years later.

"Darlene" (composed by Bonham, Jones, Page and Plant) is not as good as "Wearing and Tearing" but it is also better than "Hot Dog". Unfortunately, in 1979 the time playing limitations of the L.P.s did not allow these songs (with also another outake from that 1979 album, "Ozone Baby", also a good song and also composed by Page and Plant) to be included in that 1979 album. All songs from those recording sessions are very good, even if "Hot Dog" is not as good as all the others.

Maybe with "In Through the Out Door" being an album on which the keyboards (mainly synthesisers in most songs and played by John Paul Jones, one of the main songwriters with Plant in this album) played a central role on most songs, and with all these three songs ("Wearing and Tearing", "Darlene" and "Ozone Baby") being predominantly guitar driven songs, maybe they were considered as somewhat different with the general sound of the album and that was the reason they were not included in "In Through the Out Door". But maybe they could be included in a new re-issue of the album on C.D as this format allows more time of playing.

"Wearing and Tearing" is one of the best songs from the last days of LED ZEPPELIN as a band.