Originally released as Smofe + Smang: Live in Minneapolis—featuring 18 songs on a limited edition of 2,500 CDs—this album has since been stripped down to 11 essentials and renamed Half Smofe: Live in Minneapolis. By editing the proceedings, the album is less a document of a Mike Doughty live show and more of a carefully chiseled live album. Many of Doughty's best early solo-career, post–Soul Coughing songs are here in direct acoustic versions that highlight the lyrics, which can get lost in studio album productions. “Sunken-Eyed Girl” (without a bridge), “Madeline and Nine,” and “Thank You Lord for Sending Me the F Train” show how focused he became. He keeps Soul Coughing’s “Lazybones,” “Maybe I’ll Come Down,” “True Dreams of Wichita," and “Soft Serve” but removes “Circles,” “Janine," and “St. Louise Is Listening,” suggesting his memories of the old songs weren't completely corrupted by the unhappy experiences he had with Soul Coughing.