Steal Your Face

Grateful Dead | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 31, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Grateful Dead / Wea
• ASIN: B0002T2Q74
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,652 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Promised Land

2. Cold Rain and Snow

3. Around and Around

4. Stella Blue

5. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo

6. Ship of Fools

7. Beat It on Down the Line

Disc: 2

1. Big River

2. Black-Throated Wind

3. U.S. Blues

4. El Paso

5. Sugaree

6. It Must Have Been the Roses

7. Casey Jones

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It has some nice performances, December 7, 2006

By 

Dark Star-The Other One (The Bus To Never Ever Land) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Steal Your Face (Audio CD)

While many people will go out of their way to tell you that this is a terrible album, the truth is that they're are some very good performances on it. I have several different versions of it on cd. The first, is a version made in W. Germany on the Line label which sounds more like the original lp version than the American versions. Both have different strenghts and weaknesses. Now as far as the album itself. The sound quality on this is quite different than on the others released by the band and that's part of what gives this album a rather different sound. The opening Promised Land rocks pretty well with Mickey putting his only guest appearence on the record. Cold, Rain and Snow is a nice choice and given that this is the only one of '74 it's a pretty cool pick. Around And Around is actually played with more fire than some of the other versions out there. Stella Blue is hypnotic and comes across sounding unlike any other version out there. Mississippi Half Step really illistrates the differences between the two different cd versions. On the import(as well as the lp)near the end during the beginning of the "across the rio-grandio" verse Bob strums this cool guitar riff and Jerry, Bob and Donna come in with this beautiful vocal harmony. On the U.S. cd versions Bob's voice is pushed into the back and Donna's voice is raised too loud. Next up, a beautiful Ship Of Fools. Beat It On Down The Line comes across better on the US release as both the original lp and import cd release has Phil's voice mixed out. Big River is pretty good. Black-Throated Wind brings back memories of the '72-'74 era. U.S. Blues is a good rocker and is the one used in the Grateful Dead Movie. El Paso is weak for this era as was Beat It On Down The Line. Sugaree is strong and is a good example why this was used as bonus material on the Grateful Dead Movie DVD. It Must Have Been The Roses is very pretty. The closing Casey Jones is the one used in the Movie again. All in all, not a bad release and there are worse ones out there.

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Underrated, December 15, 2004

By 

George Mostoller (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steal Your Face (Audio CD)

I know this album gets terrible marks for the sound quality, but this was one of the peak performing years for the Grateful Dead, and if you can get past the sound, the music is great. This was originally released as a sort of companion to the Grateful Dead movie, recorded while filming, but with a differing song list. The question I have is why all of these songs weren't remixed and put out on the new Grateful Dead movie box set (which, by the way, is terrific). Where is the "Big River", the "It Must Have Been The Roses"? This is the definitive recording of "Big River", and this is the album where Keith really shines as a counterpoint to Jerry; you can hear them listening and responding to each other. When I first got this album in the '70s, my parents (who also loved this record) thought the piano player was the leader of the band. No one would be making these complaints if they could hear the music as it has the potential to be.

For that matter, why didn't they give this the remastering treatment and put it in the new "Beyond Description" box? It is the only band record on the Grateful Dead label that wasn't included. Sometimes life just ain't fair. I guess the slower tempos and airy moods of this album never caught on with the audience. It caught on with me though.

While we're at it, why didn't they include "Without A Net"? I think that's the only Arista album missing from the box set. And everyone likes that one, so there's no excuse.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NO COMPLAINTS FROM ME !!!!!, August 27, 2009

By 

Laura S. Dowell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steal Your Face (Audio CD)

I REALLY CAN'T SEE THE BAD REVIEWS THAT THESE CD'S GET. I SAT DOWN TO WHAT I THOUGHT WOULD BE A COUPLE OF GOOD RENDITIONS BUT LITTLE DID I EXPECT WHAT I GOT !! I'M NOT ONE TO WRITE LONG REVIEWS, BUT I'II JUST SAY THIS IS A FIVE STAR CD TO ME. FINE RENDITIONS OF GREAT SONGS !! THE SOUND OF THESE CD'S ARE REALLY GOOD ALSO. IF YOU DO BUY THIS AND ENJOY IT AS MUCH AS I DO, THEN WRITE A FIVE STAR REVIEW AND LET'S GET THE RATINGS HIGHER ON THIS GREAT COLLECTION FROM THE FINEST GROUP I EVER HEARD!! THANKS