Street Legal [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Bob Dylan

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 1, 2004)
• Original Release Date: September 16, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00026WUAU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,646 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My personal favorite Dylan album, July 17, 2006

By	Joseph L. Shipman - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"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).

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soulful Dylan, April 15, 2006

By	Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

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.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is Dylan at his Best, Doing What he does Best, April 10, 2008

By	Ken Douglas (The Coast) - See all my reviews

This record got a lot of bad press when it came out in the middle of 1978. Bob Dylan had a lot going on at the time. His custody battle with Sara, putting a band together, money problems (or so I've heard), getting his Rundown Studios up to snuff, but through it all, he put out this masterpiece. Yeah, I said masterpiece. I just love this record. The nay sayers are just wrong. I think they were just looking for a reason to criticize Dylan. But think about it, they'd been doing that since the man was a kid. Just when they think they've got him pegged, just when Dylan has turned them onto a new style, a new sound, he goes and changes on them. Well, if they didn't like this change, imagine what they were in for in just a little over a year. Yes, I'm talking about Slow Train Bob Dylan's overtly Christian album. Now that was a change.

The opening song, "Changing of the Guard" tells the listener straightaway that they are hearing a brand new Dylan sound. Bob's gone and got himself a big band, complete with female backup, harmonizing singers. I love this sound, love the poetry of the lyrics, even love the Biblical references. This is Dylan at his best, doing what he loves best, delivering a new sound with new and original lyrics. This is another one of those must have records for any Dylan fan.