Search - Bob Dylan :: Street Legal

Bob got soul

Pieter | Johannesburg | 04/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

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This 1979 album opens with the lilting ballad Changing Of The Guards. The female backing vocals lend a soulful tone to the music here and throughout the album. This R&B 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 remains mistrust and lost love, but We Better Talk This Over is a very catchy pop song with a 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.



This album is way 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 most certainly works. Street Legal has definitely improved with age and I consider it to be amongst Dylan's Top 10 albums.

"

Soulful Bob

Pieter | Johannesburg | 07/22/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 1979 album opens with the lilting ballad Changing Of The Guards. The female backing vocals lend a soulful tone to the music here and throughout the album. This R&B 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 remains mistrust and lost love, but We Better Talk This Over is a very catchy pop song with a 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.



This album is way 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 most certainly works. Street Legal has definitely improved with age and I consider it to be amongst Dylan's Top 10 albums.

"

More Dylan

B. E Jackson | Pennsylvania | 06/09/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Street Legal is probably the most overlooked album in Dylan's discography. I think it's mostly good, though lyrically it has its share of weak moments. I just mean in terms of vocals the album delivers HUGE for about 50% of it, and the other half is just alright. Nothing truly exciting, and not a classic album by any means. Just another Dylan offering. It actually shows signs of Dylan's slow decline in musical quality as the years passed. It perfectly captures that "slipping away" moment that many musicians unfortunately go through.

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