At the time of its 1997 release, Old Friends made big news for including previously unreleased demos and live tracks alongside a majority of the duo's studio recordings, all remastered with improved fidelity over the original CD issues of their five studio albums. Though some live tracks later saw issue on the album Live from New York City, 1967, others from a Vermont performance did not, and demos have been mostly consigned to expanded editions of their albums that fluctuate in and out of print. Therefore, this intelligently selected collection remains an excellent mix of well-known and obscure recordings from a time-tested duo.