The holy grail of lost Steely Dan recordings is now online.
Walter Becker and Donald Fagen recorded "The Second Arrangement" in December 1979 during the sessions for their 1980 album, Gaucho. The song was pretty much done minus a few enhancements. The problem was, when they went back to the studio to finish it, they discovered the tape had been erased. They tried re-recording it, but Fagen wasn't pleased and the song was scrapped.
They did the song once in concert in 2011 and there have been bootlegs, but it was never officially released.
But the version now online comes from a rough mix made by their longtime engineer, the late Roger Nichols. His daughters, Cimcie and Ashlee, found the tape following his death from cancer in 2011 and had it cleaned up. It's now up on the Expanding Dan website.
The cassette tape the song is on has been framed along with the sheet music, and will soon go on the auction block. Proceeds from the auction will go toward the production costs of a documentary Nichols's daughters are making on him.
In addition to Steely Dan, Nichols worked with The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, Frank Zappa, Crosby Stills & Nash, Roy Orbison, Plácido Domingo, Gloria Estefan, Diana Ross, Mark Knopfler, Michael McDonald, James Taylor and many others.
Donald Fagen has not commented on this story.