"In Through the Out Door" Led Zeppelin's eighth and final studio album, was released on August 22, 1979, in the US and August 24, 1979, in the UK. It was recorded over three weeks in November and December 1978 at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. This album marked a significant departure from their earlier work, as it was dominated musically by bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones. The band's lineup on this album included John Bonham on drums and percussion, John Paul Jones on bass guitar and keyboards, Jimmy Page on guitars and gizmotron, and Robert Plant on vocals. The album was also their last release before disbanding in December 1980 after Bonham's death.
The album is notable for its unique packaging. It featured an outer sleeve made to look like a plain brown paper bag, reminiscent of bootleg album sleeves, with the title rubber-stamped on it. The inner sleeve featured black and white line artwork that would become permanently colored if washed with water. There were six different sleeves, each featuring a different pair of photos depicting the same scene in a bar, each from the perspective of a character in the other photos. The photo session in a London studio was designed to resemble a recreation of the Old Absinthe House in New Orleans, Louisiana. This innovative packaging was designed by Hipgnosis' Storm Thorgerson and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1980 for Best Album Package.
The album's tracklist, with running times from the original US Swan Song album, is as follows:
Side One:
"In the Evening" – 6:48
"South Bound Saurez" (Jones, Plant) – 4:11
"Fool in the Rain" – 6:08
"Hot Dog" (Page, Plant) – 3:15
Side Two:
"Carouselambra" – 10:28
"All My Love" (Jones, Plant) – 5:51
"I'm Gonna Crawl" – 5:28
Total length of the album is 42:35 minutes