Coda - Led Zeppelin

THERE are three common quick-and-easy types of album that are often used to get out of record deals - a best of, a live album or a rarities/offcuts compilation. Led Zeppelin chose to end their career with the latter. In 1982, the band still owed Atlantic Records one more album and not even the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980 was going to get in the way of a legal contract. So the band pulled out eight unreleased numbers, including a couple of live tracks, an unused song from Led Zeppelin III (Poor Tom), and left-overs from their final studio album (In Through The Out Door) and stuck them on a record. One of the most notable songs on Coda is Bonzo's Montreux, which is made up of a drum solo recorded by Bonham but never used. The surviving members decided to put it on Coda as a final tribute to their late bandmate, and also stated that the album was a way to give fans good quality versions of oft-bootlegged songs. But there's no denying it also finished up their contractual obligations, and one could argue they probably wouldn't have bothered releasing it if they didn't have to.

Here, My Dear - Marvin Gaye

THIS album was recorded not to escape a record deal, but a marriage. Having blown most of his money on cars and cocaine, Gaye's lawyer suggested the singer-songwriter give his soon-to-be-ex-wife a large portion of the royalties from his next record as part of a divorce settlement. Gaye agreed with the initial intention of rushing together any old rubbish to fulfill the deal. However Here, My Dear ended up being a deeply personal double album exploring the break-up because the more Gaye recorded, the more creatively inspired he felt. The end result was so open and uninhibited though that he initially refused to release it, holding on to the master tapes for two years before finally agreeing to put it out (possibly at the urging of his ex, who would have wanted her money). The album sold poorly and was not well-received, and his ex even threatened to sue for invasion of privacy, so personal was the album. Gaye was angered by the reception as he had become proud of the record, and over the years it has grown in stature and reputation. A re-release in 1994 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Gaye's death saw Here, My Dear go to the top of the R&B charts in the US.

Let's Make Up And Be Friendly - Bonzo Dog Band

EVEN breaking up isn't enough to get bands out of record deals. Despite calling it a day in 1970, the much-loved absurdist outfit Bonzo Dog Band were forced to re-unite to record one more album for United Artists to fulfil their contract (a suitably absurd note for the band to end on). The result was typically off-the-wall, both humour-wise and stylistically, although not all the members returned for the entire recording session, having moved on to other things. But the Bonzos weren't the only band pulled out of retirement at the urging of a label's legal department. The Stray Cats' mostly-covers album Rock Therapy was made two years after they'd already broken up, allegedly at the urging of their record company, although they did break-up and then make an album a couple of times in their career. However The Mamas & The Papas were definitely only in it for legal reasons on People Like Us, which was made at the behest of ABC Records and led one member to comment that the album "sounded like... four people trying to avoid a lawsuit".