Studio Run-throughs - A Question

[yesman1955]

Like some of you here, I have been purchasing the SW remixed & expanded YES albums over the last three or so years. My question concerns some of the additional tracks included, specifically the tracks listed as "studio run-throughs". Are these literally studio recordings taken at the time of the album's production that are essentially live takes where the whole band plays the track start-to-finish with no stopping? Or is there some editing of sections involved? Also, what is the purpose of these run-throughs? Is it a template of the completed song that serves to show the producer/engineer/editor how the song fits together as a whole, so they can more easily construct the final track/mix to the band's liking? Is it a draft version of the song in an earlier and more undeveloped state? Or is it a way for the band to know that they are capable enough to play the track live in a concert situation? Or is it most/all of the above? As I am not a musician, it would help me to understand what's going on with these tracks as they are different enough from the officially released tracks to merit inclusion in the album package. Thanks in advance for your answers.

[calyx]

Some of those are clearly work-in-progress versions - "Close To The Edge", "And You And I" and much of "Tales" come to mind. These are well beyond basic takes though, at least regarding instruments other than the drums. I think if you're familiar with the finished versions, it's easy to hear that some parts remained intact (like rhythm guitar parts), but vocals are rough guides with provisional lyrics and a good amount of suspect pitches.

If I remember correctly, "Gates Of Delirium" is a collage of basic takes of the various sections, but may not be the same performances at all as the released versions.

And the "Going For The One" bonus tracks are really demos (a pretty awful all-electric "Turn Of The Century" including a section of Squire's "Silently Falling" comes to mind), the context for which remains somewhat shrouded in mystery. Wakeman isn't on all of them, so they may date from the brief transition between Moraz's departure and Wakeman's arrival. I don't think Moraz is detectable on any of them, although Moraz has been quoted as saying that there's "miles" of tapes from the 1975-76 writing sessions towards that album.

[GuitarGeek]

And the "Going For The One" bonus tracks are really demos (a pretty awful all-electric "Turn Of The Century" including a section of Squire's "Silently Falling" comes to mind), the context for which remains somewhat shrouded in mystery. Wakeman isn't on all of them, so they may date from the brief transition between Moraz's departure and Wakeman's arrival. I don't think Moraz is detectable on any of them, although Moraz has been quoted as saying that there's "miles" of tapes from the 1975-76 writing sessions towards that album.

I have the old re-remastered version (ya know, the one that came out in 2004 or so), and I remember hearing that version of Turn Of The Century and wondering exactly when it was from. The chunk of Silently Falling makes me wonder if it doesn't actually date back a couple years, you have to figure to at least 1975, if not earlier. Maybe it was something they worked on for Relayer, and Chris decided he didn't want his contribution to go to waste, so he nicked it back and used it on his solo record.

Butr as to the original question, I always assumed the "studio run through" tracks were more or less just rehearsal takes, where they're still trying to figure out what the final form of the piece is going to be. It's sort of like a rough draft, with, as Aymeric suggested, provisional lyrics and at times, maybe even some of the instrumental bits are different.

I think this happens with a lot of bands. A particular composition will be in a state of flux from the time work beings on it and it may go through multiple drafts before it reaches the state we hear it as. It can be as simple as changing the tempo of a song, or let's say a guitarist taking awhile to figure out what he wants to play on the intro or in the middle or whatever. Maybe the singer doesn't quite know what the final words or vocal melody will be at first. Then there's things like Owner Of A Lonely Heart, which if you've ever heard Trevor Rabin's 90124 CD, it was very different song in it's original demo form, in comparison to the track we all know and love (or know and hate, as the case may be).

Another good example is some of the Pink Floyd stuff from circa 70-75. They played a lot of stuff live before they had the arrangements and even the lyrics worked out, and sometimes the early live versions are very different from the album versions. For instance, Shine On You Crazy Diamond was originally one big continuous piece of music, didn't have the sax solo in it, and the instrumental bits are at times different (in particular, judging from the bootlegs, it sounds like it took them awhile to figure out how to actually the end the composition). And Raving And Drooling, had different lyrics and arrangement, and a very sweet synthesizer solo that got dropped by the time it morphed into Sheep.