Steal Your Face

Following the 1974 Winterland run, Jerry Garcia spent the next three years immersed in editing The Grateful Dead Movie (1977), while Phil Lesh and Owsley “Bear” Stanley began mining the 16-track tapes for a live album. The songs they chose balanced road-tested rockers (“U.S. Blues” and “Promised Land”), with standout songs from band member solo albums (“Stella Blue” and “Black-Throated Wind”) and choice covers (“Big River” and “El Paso”). In perfect Dead synchrony, their “farewell” live album arrived in June 1976, the same month the band officially returned to the road, ending the 20-month touring hiatus.STEAL YOUR FACE marked the end of an ambitious period in the band’s history, which at the time featured Garcia, Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Keith Godchaux, and Donna Jean Godchaux. The live album became the last album released on the band’s independent label, Grateful Dead Records, and captured the fabled Wall of Sound’s final shows.Though it only toured from March to October 1974, the Wall of Sound revolutionized live audio as essentially the first large-scale “line array” in modern concert history. Designed by Stanley and a team of visionary engineers, the system provided a level of clarity and scale previously unheard in a live setting. While it set a new gold standard for audio, the logistical strain of transporting the 75-ton modular structure (which required four semi-trailers and 21 crew members to haul and set up) proved ultimately unsustainable for a touring band.