Steal Your Face (50th Anniversary) (Exclusive) (The Spirit of '76) (Grateful Red & Stealie Blue Vinyl)

LPA

1. The Promised Land
2. Cold Rain & Snow
3. Around And Around
4. Stella Blue

LPB

1. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
2. Ship Of Fools
3. Beat It On Down The Line

LPC

1. Big River
2. Black-Throated Wind
3. U.S. Blues
4. El Paso

LPD

1. Sugaree
2. It Must Have Been The Roses
3. Casey Jones

In October 1974, the Grateful Dead walked off the stage at Winterland and into an indefinite touring hiatus, exhausted by the logistical and financial strains of touring with the groundbreaking Wall of Sound. A newly remastered version of Steal Your Face, the 1976 double-live album taken from that historic five-show “farewell” run, arrives on June 26, the album’s 50th anniversary.

Steal Your Face (50th Anniversary Remaster) will be released as a 2LP set highlighting the band’s official Pantone colors, Grateful Red and Stealie Blue. The exclusive “Off Your Head” custom variant from Dead.net splits the colors half-and-half with a touch of black splatter on both discs. The center labels include the iconic “Steal Your Face” logo’s facial features gradually fading away across all four sides—completely disappearing by the final label. This version also includes an 11x11 sticker sheet loaded with SYF logos.

The album will also be available for streaming and digital download. This anniversary edition was newly mastered by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer David Glasser at Airshow Mastering, sourced from the Plangent Processes restored and speed-corrected tapes. Lacquers were cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

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 (“Sugaree” 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.

The newly remastered performance of “Black-Throated Wind” is available digitally today.

“A staple of the live repertoire 1972-1974, thankfully returning in 1990, Black-Throated Wind is widely considered one of Bob Weir's finest compositions. Never recorded on a Grateful Dead studio album (it appeared on Bobby's Ace album in 1972), this is the definitive Grateful Dead recording of this gem.”  - David Lemieux (Grateful Dead legacy Manager and Audio Archivist)

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.

Fifty years ago, as the nation marked its Bicentennial, a legendary soundtrack was hitting turntables across the country. Now, as America prepares to celebrate its Semiquincentennial, Rhino announces its Spirit of ’76 summer vinyl reissue campaign.

Launching July 17, the campaign will roll out in weekly waves available exclusively at Rhino and through select independent retailers. The 23-album lineup spans the 1976 musical landscape, bringing together everything from Bootsy Collins and Black Sabbath to ZZ Top and Linda Ronstadt.

The campaign touches on studio albums like Bad Company’s Run with the Pack and Chicago’s X, alongside essential hits collections from Jethro Tull and the Monkees. The list also highlights multiple concert recordings, including the Grateful Dead’s Steal Your Face (50th Anniversary Edition), the double albums Live at the Roxy, 1976 by the Ramones and Blow Your Face Out by The J. Geils Band, as well as Yes’s 3LP Live at Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ (6/17/76).

The Spirit of ’76 also features releases from the Rhino Reserve premium vinyl series, including Todd Rundgren’s Faithful, Gordon Lightfoot’s Summertime Dream, and Faces’ Snakes and Ladders / The Best of Faces. These versions are cut from the original analog masters by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing in Oxnard, California.

Spirit of ’76

Album Release Schedule

July 17

Al Stewart – Year of the Cat (Rhino Reserve)

Bad Company – Run with the Pack

Black Sabbath – Technical Ecstasy

Bootsy Collins – Stretchin’ Out in Bootsy’s Rubber Band (Rhino Reserve)

Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen – We’ve Got A Live One Here! (2LP)

Faces – Snakes and Ladders / The Best of Faces (Rhino Reserve)

Flamin’ Groovies – Shake Some Action (50th Anniversary Edition) (2LP)

Ramones – Ramones

Yes – Live at Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ (6/17/76) (3LP)

July 24

Chicago – X

Gordon Lightfoot – Summertime Dream (Rhino Reserve)

Grateful Dead – Steal Your Face (50th Anniversary Edition)

Kingfish – Kingfish

Linda Ronstadt – Hasten Down the Wind

Rod Stewart – A Night on the Town (Rhino Reserve)

The J. Geils Band – Blow Your Face Out (2LP)

The Monkees – Greatest Hits

Todd Rundgren – Faithful (Rhino Reserve)

July 31

Jethro Tull – M.U. – The Best Of Jethro Tull

John Prine – Prime Prine (Rhino Reserve)

Ramones – Live at the Roxy, 1976 (2LP)

War – Greatest Hits

ZZ Top – World Wide Texas Tour