It was recorded at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, California, in late 1966 (thought to be September 16, 1966), and released in October 1970.

When the imprint collapsed, MGM paid the remaining debt and assumed the tapes, releasing two albums of Grateful Dead material on their Sunflower Records subsidiary.

[7] The first, Vintage Dead, reached number 127 on the Billboard 200.

[8] Produced as a vinyl LP and long out of print, it has not been released as a Compact Disc.

Vintage Dead was then followed by Historic Dead, another Sunflower Records album recorded at the Avalon in 1966 and released under similar circumstances.