I almost didn't want to listen to it, in the sense that if it didn't make the album, there was a reason, and the "erased tape" story could very well have been a flourish of the comedic minds or Don & Walt.
Way to make something legendary, guys — well played.
But then of course I DID listen. The "DAT version" is obviousy a quite advanced version, you can hear it lacks some polishing here and there but it was in its finishing stages. My first impression was that it was "okay" but perhaps substandard indeed. And then I put it on my iPhone in the car and the track got stuck on repeat. And it's a bloody earworm.
One caveat: the ad infinitum repeat of the main riff at the end gets to be too much — that's where I think they possibly weren't done with it.
Would I "trade it" for Thirld World Man? Nope. TWM is a deeper track, with many more layers to unravel. That being said, as someone who stayed afar from "Second Arrangement" on purpose, if that is a subpar tune I wish I coud write a few of them like that. ;-)