Steal Your Face
A double album born from a farewell run, recorded during the band's most ambitious and difficult tour.
Steal Your Face is the Grateful Dead's fifth live album and thirteenth overall, released in June 1976 as their final record on the original Grateful Dead Records label. Recorded October 17–20, 1974, at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom during a five-date "farewell run" preceding an indefinite hiatus, the double album captures a pivotal moment when the band paused touring due to the crushing logistical and financial weight of their experimental "Wall of Sound." While intended as a soundtrack tie-in before the movie release was delayed by nearly three years, it remains a unique, if sonically flawed, document of that era.
Quick Facts
- Artist
- Grateful Dead
- Released
- 26 June 1976
- Recorded
- October 17–20, 1974
- Genre
- Jam rock; roots rock
Lore & Background
The decision to record these shows stemmed from overwhelming stress caused by the "Wall of Sound," a massive system requiring four semi-trailer trucks, two leapfrogging road crews, and hundreds of personnel. Bassist Phil Lesh recalled that "stresses and strains" alongside the loss of Pigpen created "cracks and crevices in our unanimity of purpose." Drummer Bill Kreutzmann noted that by late 1974, Jerry Garcia was ready for a change, stating, "I honored his decision, and the rest of us did, too." Consequently, the band scheduled a five-night farewell run at Winterland. Unlike typical Dead releases, this album features shorter songs rather than extended jams because Lesh selected tracks that were either unreleased or had evolved arrangements. However, the production faced severe challenges: restricted-frequency differential microphones caused sonic anomalies, drum tracks suffered distortion, and Donna Godchaux's vocals often needed studio dubbing.
Reader's Guide
Steal Your Face was released in June 1976 but quickly went out of print after Grateful Dead Records collapsed months later, remaining largely unavailable until a CD mastering in 1989. The cover features the "Lightning Skull" logo, originally designed by Owsley Stanley to mark equipment cases and rendered by Bob Thomas, which had previously appeared on History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice). Of the fourteen songs included, only two—"Casey Jones" and "U.S. Blues"—were used wholly or in part in the eventual film; an additional track, "Sugaree," appears on the movie's bonus DVD. While initially received poorly by critics and fans due to unflattering sound quality and a lack of improvisation, opinion improved over time following sonically enhanced reissues. The album was notably excluded from the Beyond Description box set but appeared in the 2017 Grateful Dead Records Collection for Record Store Day Black Friday.
Track listing
Side one
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Promised Land | Chuck Berry | 3:15 |
| 2 | Cold Rain and Snow | Traditional, arr. Grateful Dead | 5:35 |
| 3 | Around and Around | Berry | 5:07 |
| 4 | Stella Blue | Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter | 8:48 |
Side two
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo | Garcia, Hunter | 8:00 |
| 2 | Ship of Fools | Garcia, Hunter | 6:59 |
| 3 | Beat It On Down the Line | Jesse Fuller | 3:22 |
Side three
Did You Know?
- The album was mixed for QS quadraphonic sound, but Lesh described the result as a 'glutinous mud bath' where music was scarcely discernible.
- The title is taken from the lyrics of the song 'He's Gone,' which does not actually appear on the record.
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