Steal Your Face

Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead Records LA-620

Double LP of live material taken from the Winterland shows in October 1974.

Tracks

• Promised Land (Chuck Berry)
• Cold Rain and Snow (Traditional arr. Grateful Dead)
• Around And Around (Chuck Berry)
• Stella Blue (Hunter/Garcia)
• Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo (Hunter/Garcia)
• Ship Of Fools (Hunter/Garcia)
• Beat It On Down The Line (Jesse Fuller)
• Big River (Cash)
• Black-Throated Wind (Weir/Barlow)
• U.S. Blues (Hunter/Garcia)
• El Paso (Marty Robbins)
• Sugaree (Hunter/Garcia)
• It Must Have Been The Roses (Hunter)
• Casey Jones (Hunter/Garcia)

• Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, vocals
• Bob Weir - guitar, vocals
• Phil Lesh - bass, vocals
• Keith Godchaux - keyboards, vocals
• Donna Jean Godchaux - vocals
• Bill Kreutzmann - drums

• Recorded by - Bill Wolf
• Assistant Engineer- Fred Bradfield
• Mixing - Bear and Phil Lesh at Burbank Studios
• Stereo Synthesis - Bear, John Neal with thanks to Dr. Haas
• Chief engineer - John Neal
• Engineers - Steve Brimmer, Frank Jones, Andy McDonald, Jim Walker
• Mastering - Bear, Bob McCloud
• Photography - Andy Leonard, Mary Ann Mayer, Cadillac Ron
• Grateful Dead logo - Robert D. Thomas
• Lettering - Rick Griffin
• Art Coordination - Mary Ann Mayer

• Record Live: October 16-20, 1974 at Winterland, San Francisco, CA

One of the most criticised Dead albums. Both song selection and sound quality of the original release failed to impress a large number of heads, by some it was given the alternative title 'Steal Your Money'. The theory behind the song selection has been explained as a desire to present an album of songs rather than jams and the need to avoid songs that had already appeared on live albums.

Various excuses have been given over the years for the original sound quality.

In an interview Garcia said;

None of us liked it. I'm sure even Phil and Owsley didn't like it that much ... I think part of it was that we were not working, and we didn't have anything else to deliver.

The songs on Steal Your Face are thought to come from the following shows;

• Casey Jones and It Must Have Been the Roses- October 17, 1974
• Ship Of Fools, Beat It On Down The Line and Sugaree - October 18, 1974
• Mississippi Half Step, Black Throated Wind, U.S. Blues, Big River and El Paso - October 19, 1974
• Promised Land, Cold Rain And Snow, Around And Around and Stella Blue - October 20, 1974

Reissued on CD in 1989.

Related releases

Steal Your Face was included in the box set;

• Grateful Dead Records Collection, Grateful Dead, 2017

• For Dead Heads, Various Artists, 1976, Round Records / United Artists FREE 2