Ep404: Rediscovering Steely Dan's Lost Song

After an accidental erasure in 1979, the song "The Second Arrangement" took on mythic status for fans of Steely Dan. Now a near complete version has turned up on a worktape belonging to engineer Roger Nichols. Today we talk to Cimcie Nichols, Roger's daughter, about this incredible rediscovery and lots more about the work of her father.

Topics include:

• Digging through her father’s tapes
• The story of “The Second Arrangement”
• Steely Dan attempted to remake “The Second Arrangement”
• Reacting to the picture of the tape on Facebook
• Did Roger know the interest in “The Second Arrangement”?
• The day of the track deletion
• Working w Steely Dan team after finding the tape
• The cassette was from the night before of the deletion
• Roger Nichols clip 1: Driving Lacquer master to Santa Maria
• Did you find many records amongst her dad’s possessions?
• Roger Nichols clip 2: Getting rid of the clicks and pops
• There are some records but most are now gone
• Then a DAT was found! What was on the DAT?
• There’s a series of backups and versions are unclear
• Will there ever be an official release of “The Second Arrangement”?
• Is Donald Fagan aware of the recent news?
• Sorting through the tapes for a Roger Nichols’ archive
• Gary Katz Clip: Mustard on the master tape
• Roger and Frank Zappa were high school friends
• Roger’s knowledge of physics gave him a huge advantage as a sound technician
• Ensuring pressing plants had access to high quality source material
• Roger Nichols Clip 3: Master tape mixups on “The Nightfly”
• Interview wrap up

Extended, high-resolution & Commercial Free version of this interview available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide

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If you like records, just starting a collection or are an uber-nerd with a house-full of vinyl, this is the podcast for you. Nate Goyer is The Vinyl Guide and discusses all things music and record-related