Street Legal

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The last album released before Dylan's late '70s/early '80s three-album foray into Christian music, Street Legal is both fascinating and flawed. At the time, Dylan was enthralled with the slick stage presentation of Neil Diamond, which he clumsily attempted to re-create on this 1978 collection. Say what you will about Diamond, but he ran a tight ship; the clunky drumming and rudimentary brass that mar these nine tracks reflect a misbegotten attempt to make Dylan's wing-it studio approach work for an underrehearsed 12-member backing group. Songwise, Street Legal is a mixed bag. Despite a few missteps ("Is Your Love in Vain?" is embarrassingly... well, vain), the wordsmith navigates dense terrain in the masterful "Senior" and the open wound of a closer, "Where Are You Tonight?" --Steven Stolder --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Changing of the Guards
New Pony
No Time to Think
Baby Stop Crying
Is Your Love in Vain?
Se(Tales of Yankee Power)
True Love Tends to Forget
We Better Talk This Over
Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)

Customer Reviews:

One of his best.......2007-03-15

The first time I listened to this album, I was immediately put off by the female background singers. I thought they completely overpowered the music, and it sounded like it was the first time they had heard each song. They didn't sound tight at all, and I swear they sound out of key half the time. I don't mind gospel background singers at all, but I thought they made a mess out of every song they sang in. What's so good about people repeating what Bob just sang 2 seconds ago? They should reinforce the singing, not repeat it. I was fuming through every line.

The second time I listened to this album, I was suddenly floored by how great each and every song was written, and I started wondering if maybe there was a mix of this album without the background singers, because with them out of the way, this would be some of his best music for sure! The words were sharp, the music was tight, and his voice was great, and not just for Bob Dylan, his voice sounds as good as it did on Blonde on Blonde.

The third time I listened, I started blocking out the singers, because this was some really good music. I found myself already singing along to a good part of it, matching the somehow already familiar melodies. I knew this album would be one that I would go back to.

I still haven't gotten used to those background singers, and I probably never will. If there is in fact a remix of this album without the singers, I'd buy it in a second, because this is a great, great album with some of Bob's best songs ever. "Where Are You Tonight?" is one of my favorite Dylan songs, and as most other reviewers would note, "Changing of the Guard", "No Time to Think", and "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)" are also highlights of the album. Just about every song is catchy and well-written, nothing worth skipping over. I would recommend it to any Bob Dylan fan, and suggest that they ignore the background singers as much as possible.

Dylan Never Gets Old.......2007-01-14

Before making this purchase, I heard only one one song I had never heard before and tracked it down to this cd. When I got the cd I was entertained by how playful Dylan is and how unafraid he is to fail by trying. This spirit frees him and gives him grace.

5 stars for content, 4 for execution - Brilliant album.......2007-01-05

With a more time invested in the studio, this album might have been perfect. Then again it may have risked losing it's refreshing spontaneity in the process. As perfection is rarely found in this world, perhaps it comes down to achieving the best that one can with what's available at the time. It's Dylan's gift for expression in both his singing and writing that I have generally appreciated above the music itself. I believe that sometimes it's better to have the raw material laid down in a cohesive, listenable state than to attempt to produce a musical masterpiece that could lose much of it's original "fire" in the process. Maybe it was due to some pecuniary constraints, but this album was the result of minmal time spent rehearsing and recording in the studio. I remember hearing it on a balmy night at the beach, in my youth where I found myself transported by the mood of it, a heady and intoxicating draught which completely captured my imagination. It does appear to have strong links to 'Desire' with it's swirling instrumentation and gypsy violin, although Dylan treads a fresh path here. Along with 'Saved', I would rate this as one of his most remarkable albums. I know that 'Blood on the Tracks' and 'Time out of mind' are both technically excellent but that's just another side (awful pun - forgive me) of the wonderfully talented Bob Dylan. Street Legal is one of his most driven and passionate sounding works and ought to be judged for what it is, not for what it aint. I gave it 5 stars because the sound quality has been vastly improved through remastering and now you can actually hear how great the band is too.

So Happy........2006-11-09

My Mom Has Fully Enjoyed This CD And Is Still Enjoying It.

Bob Dylan Is One Of Her Favorite Artists.

Dylan was on the Top of His Game with Street Legal.......2006-09-04

Street Legal is one of my favorite albums. I just love the long song, "Senior, Tales of Yankee Power" it's so full of imagery. I also like the way the background singers blend in with Dylan's voice, especially on "Is Your Love in Vain" and "Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat). My father said that this record was a disappointment to him when it came out, but for the love of Mike, I don't see why. In my opinion this is as good as anything Dylan has ever done. Just give it a listen and you'll see what I mean. If, after listening to say, "True Love Tends to Forget" I know you'll agree that this is one very good Dylan record and that he was at the top of his game when he recorded it.

Average customer rating:

Great SACD Sound of Underrated Dylan
Glad this one made it past the music police to the street
Rediscover an underrated treasure
Dylan was on the Top of His Game with Street Legal
She was torn between Jupiter and Apollo

Street Legal
Bob Dylan
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Infidels
Oh Mercy
Desire
Slow Train Coming
Planet Waves

ASIN: B0000C8AW2
Release Date: 2003-09-16

Tracks:

Changing Of The Guards
New Pony
No Time To Think
Baby Stop Crying
Is Your Love In Vain?
Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
True Love Tends To Forget
We Better Talk This Over
Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)

Customer Reviews:

Great SACD Sound of Underrated Dylan.......2007-03-13

Not having previously owned everything Dylan ever recorded instead opting to selectively purchase various acclaimed CD's over the years, I took the plunge to purchase all Dylan SACD's when they became available. As others have noted the overall sound quality is mostly good with a few minor exceptions.

Street Legal would most likely qualify as one of Dylan's lesser appreciated efforts over the years and is part of the reason it was one of the last of his SACD's I purchased. The 2 channel stereo SACD hybrid sound is near perfect. That I expected. What I didn't expect was how much I love the songs on this release! Yes, it is a highly polished production as numerous reviews have noted over the years. And, no I don't think this detracts from the brilliance of the songs one bit. I've never understood why the expectations for certain artists such as Dylan seems to be the songs must be presented in a certain stripped down, bare bones production style. I love the brassy all out ballsy approach to these songs and their heavy reliance on background singers. Yes it is a very polished heavily produced sound, but that in itself gives it a totally different feel than anything he previously recorded.

There truly is not a bad song in the bunch. From Changing of the Guards to the closer, Where are you Tonight it truly rocks out in an agressive manner people were not quite expecting. 1978 was the beginning of the end to disco, the emergence of punk and Dylan doesn't quite seem to know where he fits in, but I doubt he really cared. It remains a sharp deviation from the Rolling Thunder days and Blood on the Tracks. Dylan has never been afraid of confounding critics and purposely moving away from expectations. He may have accomplished both with Street Legal, but count me as one music lover who has belatedly jumped on this wagon for a ride.

Glad this one made it past the music police to the street.......2007-03-09

In the fall of 2005, WXPN (88.5 FM), the public radio station from the University of Pennsylvania, did a Greatest 885 Albums of All Time countdown, based on listeners votes. We voted for our 10 favorite albums. My #1? Street Legal. To put this into context - I've been a huge fan of Dylan's since the fall of 1964 when I first heard Bringing it All Back Home in a college dorm room. Among my other favorites - Blood on the Tracks, Love and Theft, Another Side Of, Blonde on Blonde, New Morning, Saved, lately a lot of the live ones...well, most all of them are great. So, what is it that makes Street Legal special? Since favorites choices are just about what you like, in this case what you find yourself wanting to listen to again more than anything else, I could just say "Don't really know" and get out of here. But how much fun would that be?

On the surface of things, the musical choices I love - the horns and backup singers (from the echoed "sixteen years" at the start, to the "hey, hey, heys" at the end) are great. Dylan can express amazing stuff with his voice alone, but adding this fullness to the mix is like watching Picasso go from blue to the full palette. As to the whole Dylan's trying to go Las Vegas Revue theory - its pretty clear that whatever resemblances to that form are there (including that funny photo on the back) are satirical, a Dylan staple from the get go. And the music is hardly smooth Vegas big band stuff - its funky, bluesy, gospely, loose Dylan music.

One of the patterns I see over the course of Dylan's career is kind of a slow orbit (to allude to the line "drifting, like a satellite") from close to the sun of the mainstream, where he makes an album targeted for commercial success and a new shot of "critics grace", maybe putting himself in the hands of a producer with a distinctive sound (Mark Knopfler or Daniel Lanois), getting serious, so to speak, then moving out into the deep space of his own instincts, exploring, and letting his own natural reactions to the times and the stage of his career guide him. Moving from the structure of folkie political songs on The Times They Are a Changin' to the inner poetry on Another Side; from the end of the epoch defining, symbolist poetry spewing, early rock star period of Blonde on Blonde to the spare, biblical, apocalyptic feel of John Wesley Harding; from the clean folk blues stories of personal struggle on Blood on the Tracks, through Desire to ... whatever it is that is Street Legal.

That's as close as I can come, and why I love it. To me, its the hardest to put your finger on, with the most fully "Dylan-realized" batch of songs he's ever put together. I still wouldn't know how to classify Changing of the Guards and No Time to Think as types of songs. The latter flirts with being "classical". I wonder if the relative failure of the album with the critics and the public turned Dylan away from further attempts at these longer, more complex melody phrases. If so, too bad, cause he mastered the form like he did all of the others he tried over the years. And, as someone else pointed out in one of these reviews, this is the last album before the Christian trilogy - when perhaps the inner life was most inchoate, when the need to stretch to make the music organize the chaos the greatest. To my ear, that's great art lurking within that Vegas lounge act.

OK, this is long enough, and I need to do some work. Just wanted to say something about my favorite album. Last thought - what might be next? If history holds then the Time Out of Mind period should be about over, with Modern Times. I say to Bob, go back to Street Legal and do your Love and Theft thing on your own roots - lets have some more of that big band, quasi-classical, who knows what it is stuff for the new millenium.

Rediscover an underrated treasure.......2006-10-31

I bought this album when it came out in 1978, the summer before my senior year in high school, and listened to it over and over and over and over again. I recently picked up the CD, not having listened to the album for about 25 years. Wow. With the perspective of all those years and album-listening behind me, it sounds better than ever. And I'm not just talking about the remastered CD. People can nitpick all they want, but Dylan's voice sounds great and the songs are fantastic. OK, this isn't one of those super technical reviews, it's just a fan who's thrilled at rediscovering a great album. I loved it at 17 and really, really love it at 45. Rock on Bob!

Dylan was on the Top of His Game with Street Legal.......2006-09-04

She was torn between Jupiter and Apollo.......2006-08-21

Help! I can't get the music to Changing of the Guards, out of my head. It is obviously my favorite cut on the CD. If I had to pick, I'm generally into CD's more for the melody than the lyrical content. Senor (Tales of Yankee Power), and True Love Tends to Forget, are very strong musically as well. As another reviewer mentions, this is probably an underrated album. I give it a solid B. I find most of the other songs, good but not great. As always, I find the lyrics challenging but thought provoking and interesting.

Average customer rating:

Dylan was on the Top of His Game with Street Legal
Bob got soul
Makes You Feel Alive
Pure Heat, that's what this Record is
Mystical, Magical Lyrics

Street Legal
Bob Dylan
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Tracks:

Changing Of The Guards
New Pony
No Time To Think
Baby Stop Crying
Is Your Love In Vain?
Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
True Love Tends To Forget
We Better Talk This Over
Where Are You Tonight (Journey Through Dark Heat)

Amazon.com

The last album released before Dylan's late '70s/early '80s three-album foray into Christian music, Street Legal is both fascinating and flawed. At the time, Dylan was enthralled with the slick stage presentation of Neil Diamond, which he clumsily attempted to re-create on this 1978 collection. Say what you will about Diamond, but he ran a tight ship; the clunky drumming and rudimentary brass that mar these nine tracks reflect a misbegotten attempt to make Dylan's wing-it studio approach work for an underrehearsed 12-member backing group. Songwise, Street Legal is a mixed bag. Despite a few missteps ("Is Your Love in Vain?" is embarrassingly... well, vain), the wordsmith navigates dense terrain in the masterful "Senior" and the open wound of a closer, "Where Are You Tonight?" --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews:

Dylan was on the Top of His Game with Street Legal.......2006-09-04

Bob got soul.......2006-04-15

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.

Makes You Feel Alive.......2006-04-03

This record really makes you feel alive and that's pretty high praise. This record also has a new sound for Bob Dylan (what else is new) with the gospel backup singers. Steve Douglas' sax rocks. Billy Cross kicks on lead guitar and David Mansfield rips on strings. And through all that Dylan's voice rings out crisp and true. No rough edges here. This is almost soul music. No, it is soul music. Maybe not James Brown, but soul nonetheless. I've been listening to "Street Legal" for something like twenty years and it keeps getting better, sounding new, because I'm hearing something different each and every time I play it.

Pure Heat, that's what this Record is.......2006-04-03

Everything about "Street Legal" is kind of surreal, from the chilling sax in "Changing of the Guard," to the closing "Where Are You Tonight." Pure Heat, that's what this record is. I love the background singers, find them kind of haunting, especially on that last song. "Is Your Love in Vain" is cynical and maybe sexist, well yeah, it is sexist, but I like it anyway. "Senor, (Tales of Yankee Power)" with it's Spanish flavor is my favorite, but I like everything else about this album as well. It's different then the record that came before and vastly different than the record to follow. Dylan is always changing, that's what makes him so good.

Mystical, Magical Lyrics.......2006-04-03

When you have every Dylan record put out, plus over a hundred bootlegs, it's kind of hard to pick a favorite. It's easier, I think to pick out your top ten, or maybe fifteen faves. This record certainly makes the cut. The lyrics delve deep into Tarot, Christianity and Astrology even as they harken back to the psychedelic style of "Blonde on Blonde." I have to admit that I didn't like this record when I first heard it so long ago. Those Motown girl singers are not a bit like Emmylou Harris. who I so easily accepted on "Desire." However, after listening to this record several times over the years, it's kind of grown on me. I find myself playing it quite often now. So do my girlfriends, well my Dylan loving girlfriends who are participating in this review writing exercise. They like "Street Legal" and I think you will too. If like me, you didn't like it at first, come back to it, give it a try. I think you'll change your mind.

Average customer rating:

Dylan was on the Top of His Game with Street Legal
Bob got soul
Makes You Feel Alive
Pure Heat, that's what this Record is
Mystical, Magical Lyrics

Street Legal
Bob Dylan
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

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Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music

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Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

General | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Changing Of The Guards
New Pony
No Time To Think
Baby, Stop Crying
Is Your Love In Vain?
Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
True Love Tends To Forget
We Better Talk This Over
Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Dylan was on the Top of His Game with Street Legal.......2006-09-04

Bob got soul.......2006-04-15

Makes You Feel Alive.......2006-04-03

Pure Heat, that's what this Record is.......2006-04-03

Mystical, Magical Lyrics.......2006-04-03

Average customer rating:

Thunderdome
Street Legal
Manufacturer: Frontiers Italy
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00004W1LN
Release Date: 2000-08-08

Tracks:

Thunderdome
Chasing the Rainbow
Powertool
Calling for You
Wrong Side of Town
Red Light District
Stranger in the Night
Will I Ever Love Again
Shadow Dance
In the Mood
Shine on

Average customer rating:

Dylan was on the Top of His Game with Street Legal
Makes You Feel Alive
Pure Heat, that's what this Record is
Shuffle through the Dark Heat and Find a Gem
Mystical, Magical Lyrics

Street Legal
Bob Dylan
Manufacturer: Sony Japan
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Infidels
Planet Waves
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Slow Train Coming
Oh Mercy

ASIN: B0002J54K0
Release Date: 2004-10-04

Tracks:

Changing of the Guards
New Pony
No Time to Think
Baby Stop Crying
Is Your Love in Vain?
Se(Tales of Yankee Power)
True Love Tends to Forget
We Better Talk This Over
Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)

Album Description

Japanese remastered reissue packaged in a limited edition miniature LP sleeve. CBS/Sony. 2004.

Album Details

Digitally Remastered Japanese Limited Edition in an LP-STYLE Slipcase.

Customer Reviews:

Dylan was on the Top of His Game with Street Legal.......2006-09-04

Makes You Feel Alive.......2006-04-03

Pure Heat, that's what this Record is.......2006-04-03

Shuffle through the Dark Heat and Find a Gem.......2006-04-03

"Street Legal" is magical, mystical and complex. Once you get past the backup singers, who will appear on several albums after this, but not on thank goodness, "Infidels" and listen to the lyrics, you'll see that Bob Dylan is in fine form here with hidden meanings and double dealing in his lyrics. I think we see a bit of his turn towards gospel that surfaces on the next record "Slow Train." Plus, we see a man who appears to be finally, completely over the breakup of his marriage. That's my opinion anyway. Also, it's my opinion that you should give this record a listen and if you do that give a close ear to "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)," as it's a gorgeous song. You might also pay special attention to Changing of the Guard" and the albums closer, "Where Are You Tonight." These are three standout songs on this record of superior lyrics.

Mystical, Magical Lyrics.......2006-04-03

Average customer rating:

Dylan was on the Top of His Game with Street Legal

Street Legal

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000A3H6HC
Release Date: 2005-09-22

Album Description

Japanese pressing of the 1978 album has been fully remastered and features the 9 original tracks including 'New Pony', 'True Love Tends To Forget', 'We Better Talk This Over' & 'Baby Stop Crying'. Sony. 2005.

Customer Reviews:

Dylan was on the Top of His Game with Street Legal.......2006-09-04

Average customer rating:

Straight out Da Trunk
Moink
Manufacturer: Million Record/ Street Legal Ent
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

East Coast | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

West Coast | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CA2RRC
Release Date: 2005-11-08

Tracks:

Intro
M.O.I.N.K
Big Gulz
Playaz Weekend
Middle Fingaz
Here Kitty Kitty
Open Yo Eyes
Diamondz Feat. Lil Flip
Way We Do It Feat. Young Bloodz
Its Whatever Feat. Lil Flip and Lil Ron
Thank You
Stop Muggin
We Got That Feat. King Pin Skinny Pimp
So Simple
Mo Anthem
On Da Smash
I Want to Tell U
Racoon Seats
Outro

Average customer rating:

Surprise from Norway

Thunderdome
Street Legal
Manufacturer: Frontiers
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00004RIVO

Tracks:

Thunderdome
Chasing The Rainbow
Powertool
Calling For You
Wrong Side Of Town
Red Light District
Stranger In The Night
Will I Ever Love Again
Shadow Dance
In The Mood (for Your Love)
Shine On
Folly Town
Red Light District (Video)

Album Description

Features ex-members of cult heroes Da Vinci. Hard rock produced by Ken Ingswersen. Includes one bonus track 'Folly Town' & a special bonus live video 'Red Light District!'. Standard jewel case.

Customer Reviews:

Surprise from Norway.......2007-01-09

If you like good, clean AOR with a "sharp edge" and the music of Ted Nugent or Thin Lizzy, than give this cd a try. A band from Norway that sadly only made one cd. The singer sounds a lot like Phil Lynott, but the music is overall a bit heavier. I stumbled across this cd by accident in my favorite cd-shop and after hearing the first song I knew that it was OK.

Average customer rating:

Law and Order
Esquire
Manufacturer: Street Legal Enterprises
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CAA5QM
Release Date: 2003-07-01

Tracks:

Assasins
Is It True
Interrogation
AP3
No Man
Arrest the Judge
Root of Evil
Lyrical Agility
Dance with Me
30/30
Eyes of a Criminal
Daredevil
I Love U Dad

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