[8] As with the previous album's "Terrapin Flyer", Hart and Kreutzmann wrote a percussion-based instrumental track ("Serengetti"), recording it at the compound of Rolling Thunder, in Nevada.

Hart's reggae-informed "Fire on the Mountain", with lyrics by Garcia's writing partner Robert Hunter, evolved from "Happiness is Drumming", which appeared on his Diga Rhythm Band's 1976 album.

Although an attempt to record the song for Terrapin Station proved to be unsuccessful, it rapidly evolved into one of the band's principal jamming vehicles (often paired with Garcia's "Scarlet Begonias") during their spring 1977 tour.

Written with lyricist John Perry Barlow, "I Need a Miracle" is a rave-up rocker featuring his longtime friend and Kingfish bandmate Matthew Kelly on harmonica.

Two Weir-sung covers – Noah Lewis's "All New Minglewood Blues" and the Young Rascals' "Good Lovin'" – originally dated from the first years of the band (the latter previously sung by Ron "Pigpen" McKernan) but were presented in more contemporary arrangements.

To help pay for the opportunity to play three dates in front of the Great Sphinx of Giza and bring a large entourage to Egypt, they performed two concerts at Red Rocks and one at Giants Stadium.

Concerned with finishing the album in time for a US fall tour, the Dead then cancelled concerts scheduled for the UK that were to follow Egypt concurrent with returning borrowed equipment to the Who.

With Lowell George no longer available, the album was finished with Jerry Garcia Band bassist John Kahn producing and taking over the organ seat for the troubled Godchaux.

The back cover features the "Invisible Pimp", Shelton's character in a green zoot suit, twirling the fob of his watch chain and finger snapping.

[14] Disco dominated the charts in the year following the massive success of Saturday Night Fever, but the dance-floor rhythms and production standards of the genre were seen as antithetical to traditional rock by many fans who viewed such changes in style as trend-following and mainstream-baiting.

Fans were uneasy with what they sensed was a sell-out attempt, though ultimately the band's crucial live performances continued on their own organic trajectory as the new songs entered set list rotation.

[8] Although it ultimately attained a RIAA gold certification in 1987, the album was the band's first studio effort since Aoxomoxoa to fail to enter the Billboard Top 40, only peaking at #41 during a nineteen-week chart stay.

Other songs have the Latin syncopation and production sheen associated with the style, but rely on rock arrangements and guitar-based instrumentation, lacking the synthesizers and horn sections favored by disco.

The larger stylistic change from the previous studio album was the move toward polyrhythmic backing and steelpan and cross-beat drumming,[18] centered on Hart, and the increase in soft rock or ballad tracks.