The songs were originally demo songs made in the very early seventies. Several songs are recognizable as later hits. The muscians are mainly Becker and Fagan only. They give you a real feel of how there music originated and evolved. They do not sound like the more produced later versions, but still enjoyable. Only for persons who appreciate their music and want to expore their beginnings.

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Steve Olson

sun mountain by walter becker and donald fagan

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2012

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This cd sounded like it was recorded on an old vm tape deck, i expected more but i guess i didn't read the notes when i ordered. The only redeeming quality is there are a few songs i was not familiar with. I thought there would be a band but it only showed up on one song, very poor quality.

2 people found this helpful

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Matthew D. Hoel

Fascinating hearing some of their older work before they started ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2018

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Fascinating hearing some of their older work before they started playing as Steely Dan. Simple vocals and piano accompaniment reminiscent of Carole King. Hardcore fans need to listen to this.

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Amazon Customer

Steely dan

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2019

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Not one of steely dans best efforts

Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2012

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Some early concepts and working demos highlight the creative process that drives Steely Dan.
Fascinating look into the songwriting craft.

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D. Petersen

Although off-key, some rare diamonds in the rough contained within

Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2012

Ok, first off I have the expanded version of this album called "Android Warehouse". This has the exact same demo recordings as my 2CD set as this would be the first CD of the two.

This is NOT a typical high-production value recording of Steely Dan. Instead, it is a very poor-production quality recording of many early SD songs; most of which never made it to the studio for the refinement process and vocal augmentation that Donald Fagan relies on.

After reading some of the other reviews, most of them blasting this compilation as an attempt to make money on the discarded tracks, somehow to dupe the Steely Dan fans into buying a junk CD. I would like to give some realistic praise and criticism:
If you are a Steely Dan fan and are looking for something that will sound great on that Hi-Fi system of yours, this will surely disappoint. However, this album is great to gain a different perspective on the emotions behind the songs you already know and get to know some other songs that are more personal and heartfelt to the singer. Without backup singers, or the enormous band to drown out Fagan's less than perfect vocals, this is true to the singer/songwriter side of the group. You will at times cringe when Fagan goes off key and the sour notes offend the "musical ear". But nobody should be surprised that Donald Fagan is not an outstanding vocalist, if you have seen him live this album is true to life. In the plastic world of Hollywood, an artist can't have any weakness and must be able to sing, dance and look like a supermodel-superstar to be validated. This is REAL, a talented songwriter and his actual voice.... imperfect, human , real.

The first song "You Go Where I Go" is one of my favorites. It's a short song but delivers the main idea and emotion of mistrust of a lover. Having the witty sarcasm you would expect from Fagan, his emotions seem to come through more in this live format than it does in the studio recordings.
"Sun Mountain" is another great song that is more emotionally revealing than the typical SD or Fagan song.
While not every song here is marketable to a wide audience (and you can see why some songs did not make it beyond the demo stage) it is a nice opportunity to see what else could have been. If you have an open mind and give this unrefined set of recordings a chance, you might have a new favorite Steely Dan song that speaks to you more than the the other ones you already know. Or maybe it will be a coaster.

12 people found this helpful

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Clem Bevans

Don't Waste your money!!

Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2011

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They must have found these old recordings outtakes someone made with a $35 casette recorder and decided to make some money. The sound quality is horrible and the singing is off key. It sounds like someone recorded it over the phone. There isn't one redeeming thing about this CD. Complete waste of money.

44 people found this helpful

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Andrew Thomson

Angry critics are totally missing the point.

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2013

Yes there are many technical imperfections, including off key singing etc. but that is actually why this album is so important.

This is not a studio album and should not be judged by how good or bad it sounds.

This is a collection of demos, never intended to be put on the radio.
If you are reading this you undoubtedly know that Steely Dan is best known for the extremely perfectionistic
nature of their classic recordings. Some love that, some hate it, but there is no question these guys, more than anyone, know how and are able to make a technically perfect album.

The reason to listen to this record is to realize that even our heroes of perfection are not perfect, that every great work had to go through rough drafts. The point is that artistic greatness is not out of your reach. Even the most perfectly presented artists were not always perfect. You too can achieve greatness with your limited flawed human ability, and you can verify that by listening to this album. Similar to Beatles demo tapes, if the greatest artists ever are actually only human, jut like you and me, then we too can dare to reach for greatness in our own lives.

28 people found this helpful

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Ansgar

VORSICHT wenn man kein absoluter Sammler ist

Reviewed in Germany on March 6, 2013

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Ich dachte ich hätte eine neue CD verpaßt aber das ganze sieht aus wie eine Raubkopie (noch nie ein so schlabbriges Plastik-Case gehabt), und der Inhalt ist ... nur für Hardcore-Fans. So einer bin ich nicht, obwohl ich sicherlich alle anderen bekannten CDs der Gruppe habe, das war ein herber Reinfall. Historische Klangqualität auf Demo-Niveau und sehr abwechsungsarm, da immer die gleiche kleine Besetzung (zumindestens bis zum 4. Stück, dann hatte ich keine Lust mehr und musste meine Ohren schonen).

4 people found this helpful

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Chunky

Sun Mountain

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 10, 2013

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Early recordings of variable quality of the musicians that were to form Steely Dan. Good from the perspective of seeing how these master musicians developed but not sure they themselves would have released these recordings. Does not appear to be an entirely officially approved product but nonetheless worth a listen by those keen on musicology.

2 people found this helpful

S. Greenaway

theyre not very good!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2016

Verified Purchase

Unfortunately some original songs and early versions that were unreleased for a reason, theyre not very good!!

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