Search - Bob Dylan :: Street Legal (Reis)

My personal favorite Dylan album

Joseph L. Shipman | 07/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Street Legal" is a pivotal album in Dylan's career. If you want to get autobiographical about it, it marks the final coming to terms with his broken marriage after the turmoil of the two previous albums ("Blood on the Tracks", "Desire") and the beginning of his turning to God which was the subject of the next three ("Slow Train Coming", "Saved", "Shot of Love").

But it is MUCH more than a personal chronicle. Musically and lyrically, it is his most complex and in some ways his best work. The three long songs, "Changing of the Guards", "No Time to Think", and "Where Are You Tonight (Journey Through Dark Heat)" have the richness of imagery of Dylan's best albums from the 60's ("Highway 61 Revisited", "Blonde on Blonde"), the emotional power of "Blood on the Tracks", the spiritual awareness (though implicit rather than explicit) of "Slow Train Coming", and a degree of formal poetic unity and discipline greater than any of them. Dylan is the only songwriter in the world even capable of such control of rhyme, meter, and diction.



Also first-rate are the nasty blues "New Pony" and the beautiful "Is Your Love In Vain?"; but every song is strong.



Dylan's singing also reaches something of a peak on this album -- with the agility of "Blood on the Tracks" and "Desire" and the exuberant emotion of "Saved". On the whole, I'd have to put this one in the top 5 (along with "Blood on the Tracks", "Highway 61", "Bootleg Series Vol 3" and "Time Out of Mind").



The band larger than Dylan usually works with, and he makes the most of it; also of note is the cover photo, which has a coded key to the whole album that also explains the album's title (hint: tan line)."

Soulful Dylan

Pieter | Johannesburg | 04/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The lilting ballad Changing Of The Guards opens this underrated 1979 album. The female backing vocals lend a soulful tone to the music here and throughout the album. This R&B/Gospel feel is what sets Street Legal apart from Dylan's more familiar spectrum of styles.



New Pony has an even more authentic R&B air about it, whilst the beautifully tuneful No Time To Think is more in his folk-rock vein, but still embellished by the soulful backing voices. It is my favourite and a definite highlight of the album.



Baby Stop Crying is a rock ballad with tempo variation and stirring organ, Is Your Love In Vain? is a tender love ballad with a melancholy undertone and Senor is a slow, meandering folk number. The next track sounds the most like early Dylan with those characteristic vocal inflections; True Love Tends To Forget is a mournful lament with an impressive arrangement.



The theme on We Better Talk This Over remains mistrust and lost love, but it's a very catchy pop song with hypnotic appeal. The album concludes with a tour de force: Where Are You Tonight?, a flowing uptempo ballad with gripping imagery and an exquisite arrangement.



Street Legal is quite underrated in Dylan's body of work. There is no weak track and there are many memorable songs like the aforementioned No Time To Think, Is Your Love In Vain?, True Love Tends To Forget and the final track.



Some Dylan fans and critics might have been prejudiced against the R&B sound but it is most authentic and has stood the test of time. Street Legal has definitely improved with age and I consider it to be amongst Dylan's Top 10 albums.

"

Bob Dylan's Most Underrated Album

Joshua Downham | Muncie, IN United States | 07/25/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When Street Legal was originally released in 1978, it was blasted by critics and labeled as a "Dylan gone Vegas" album. To add further insult, Dylan was accused of ripping off Bruce Springsteen by having the great saxophone player Steve Douglas play on the album. I found both of these criticisms to be ridiculous as I gave Street Legal a listen. I found it to be his most underrated, misunderstood album. It is also unique, as no other Dylan album sounds like it. Personally, I found it to be a much more enjoyable album than Desire. Granted, the one criticism of Street Legal that made sense was that it suffered from a bad mix. The sound of the original lp was low and muffled, obviously a rushed job that should have been handled with more care. When selected albums from the Dylan catalogue were being remastered in 2003, Street Legal was thankfully remixed as well, finally giving it the proper sound. Those who dismissed Street Legal back in '78 will now discover a much improved album that sounds excellent.



As for the tracks themselves, "Changing of the Guards" has to be one of Dylan's top ten greatest songs, a lyrically complex series of narrations covering several stories, each filled with imagery inspired by (among many other things) Tarot cards, Greek mythology, and the Bible - all leading to an apocalyptic "climax". The song does not begin or end. Like the wind, it fades in and fades out. I got the impression that Dylan wrote it as a never-ending song, with new lyrics always being added as it continues to drift until the end of time.



The rest of Street Legal is also amazing, however not to the same extent as "Changing of the Guards." "No Time to Think" is superb, but probably should have been moved to side two of the album, as it is very long and only the third track into the record. "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)" is also a highlight.



Ignore the critics. Street Legal is definitely worthy of reassessment and praise. Buy it and you'll discover yet another Dylan masterpiece."