would take nearly three years. In the meantime, band manager Ron Rakow agreed to the delivery of a soundtrack album to United Artists Records in return for additional organizational and film production costs. With lead guitarist Jerry Garcia focused on the film's sound synchronization and editing, Lesh and sound man Owsley Stanley were tasked with finishing the album tie-in first. Rather than a soundtrack for the yet-uncompleted film, the pair separately reviewed the audio from copies of Garcia's work tapes, then selected concert performances for a double-live album. Because the sound system was stacked behind the band, restricted-frequency differential microphones were used in pairs, to prevent bleed and feedback loops. One was wired out-of-phase in a phase-cancellation scheme requiring the singers to position very close to the microphones. This, along with the lack of a sound/mixing board, created sonic anomalies during tape mixing. Additionally, the drum tracks suffered from distortion. Some vocals were lostparticularly those by backing vocalist Donna Godchaux needing to be dubbed in the studio. At the time of production, quadraphonic technology appeared ascendant. In anticipation, the album was mixed for the QS standardone of several competing vinyl matrix formats. Rather than a dedicated stereo mix, during mastering, the quadraphonic mix was folded down to two channels. Lesh explained Bear and he decided to mix "the whole thing in 'quad' ... the result was a glutinous mud bath of sound, through which any music was scarcely discernible. Bear and I went to Rakow, telling him the recordings were unusable. He brushed our objections aside, saying, 'They’ll buy it anyway; we need this record.' It’s a wonder the record was finished; the fact it was releasedagainst my better judgmentshows how desperate we were for product to take up the slack from lack of touring income". Ultimately, by the time the album was released, the Grateful Dead resumed touring. With the movie unfinished, the album was instead promoted in conjunction with the tour. Release and response Although the song does not appear on the album, the title derives from the lyrics of "He's Gone": Like I told you, what I saidSteal your face right off your head The cover art prominently features the "Lightning Skull" logo. One of the band's iconic images, it was designed by Owsley Stanley to mark equipment cases, then rendered by Bob Thomas. The graphic previously appeared on the cover of History of the Grateful Dead,