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Street Legal (1978)
(23 votes)
Album Info
Electric Rhythm Guitar & Lead Vocals -- Bob Dylan
Drums -- Jan Wallace
Bass Guitar -- Jerry Scheff
Lead Guitar -- Billy Cross
Keyboards -- Alan Pasqua
Percussion -- Bobbye Hall
Tenor and Soprano Saxophone -- Steve Douglas
Rhythm Guitar (Background Vocals) -- Steven Soles
Violin & Mandolin -- David Mansfield
Background Vocals -- Carolyn Dennis, Jo Ann Harris, Helena Springs
Trumpet (Is Your Love in Vain?) -- Steve Madaio
All Songs Written by Bob Dylan
Captain In Charge -- Don DeVito
Second In Command -- Arthur Rosato
Queen Bee -- Mary Alice Artes
Secretary of Goodwill -- Ava Megna
Champion of all Causes -- Larry Kegan
Recorded By -- Filmways/Heider
Biff Dawes -- Engineer
With -- Dennis Mays, Les Cooper, Billy Youdelman, Paul Sandweiss, Doug Field, Jim Seiter
Mastering Engineer -- Stan Kalina, CBS Recording Studios, New York
Special Thanks for Helping Out
Bob Ludwig
Louis Lind
Bob Meyers
Rod Davis
Gary Shafner
Lou Kemp
Marty Feldman
Dick Curtis
David A. Braun
Larry Dur
Biff Dawes
Don Williams
Barbara Moldt
Photography -- Cover & Liner, Howard Alk
Art Direction -- Tim Bryant/Gribbitt
Album Design -- George Corsillo/Gribbitt
In Memoriam: Emmett Grogan
Management -- Jerry Weintraub/Management III, Beverly Hills, California
David Mansfield and Steven Soles Appear Courtesy of Arista Records
Comments
Street Legal
No Rating
JOHN 3 : 16
I wouldn't say it's one of his best album's but "New Pony " is one of the best songs he has ever recorded . Awesome !
Better with age
It took me about 20 years to like this album. I was lukewarm to it when it first came out and never listened to it much. When the remastering was done in the late 90's, I bought it again and had a new appreciation for it. "Where Are You Tonight?" is a great song and my favorite on this album. I never paid much attention to this song until I saw an article in Rolling Stone about overlooked gems buried on Dylan albums and this song was mentioned. I started listening to it and decided Rolling Stone was correct, this is a great song.
very underrated
I agree with most that this is his most underrated album; the songs are great especially when the album was rereleased with better sound. Changing of the Guard, Where are you tonight, Senior, and True love tends to forget are my favorites.
Street
In 1978 I lived In Amsterdam next door to a great live music place ;(Paradiso) when I bought this great album!!!!
"there's no time to think...!!!"
ah, come on...there's no way to say this one is "no good" !
just put it on and give yourself to the music !
"...hooold me ! baby be near ! you toooold me that you'd be sincereee... "
Awesome !
A treat
One of Bob's many underrated albums. Changing Of the Guards is of course the main attraction here, but Is Your Love In Vain?, Baby Stop Crying and Where Are You Tonight? are also great. And Señor is beautiful. One of the top three Dylan albums of the 70s.
It's easy to criticise
It's easy to criticise Street Legal, espesially coming after the twin peaks of BOTT and Desire, but it's really not much of a lesser record than those two, in fact it contains two of Dylan's very best songs (Changing of the Guards and Senor) the commercial sound does make it harder to really get a grip on it and makes it feel less personal and meaningful than the previous records, but it's Dylan trying something new, and very few people do that better than him. Not essential Dylan perhaps, but it seems like a must have for any fan.
Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
No Rating
Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power) is such an amazing song. I'm not sure exactly what it is about, except the element of confusion is definitely present. It seems to reflect a confusion about the future.
Takes a little getting used to, but it's great
No Rating
It took a couple of plays, but now I'm addicted to it.
Every song is great. It's taken the place as my favourite Dylan album.
My three favourites are:
Is Your Love In Vain?
Changin Of The Guards
New Pony
It's a great album.
this is what northen light
No Rating
this is what northen light southern cross by the band would sound like if it had the same brave production value as their self titled 2nd album and street legal, it's so honest and every song is individualy great
Street Legal (1978)
My favourite tracks on the album are:
1. Changing of the Guards
2. Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
3. New Pony
The January 2007 issue of 'Mojo' rated this album Dylan's 19th best album - I consider it to be his 2nd best album. Amazing album!
I think this album is underrated - I think it's better than 'Highway 61 Revisited', 'Blonde on Blonde', 'Blood on the Tracks', 'Time out of Mind', etc. The only Dylan album I put above this one is 'Bringing It All Back Home'.
'Changing of the Guards' might well be my favourite ever Dylan song - and that's saying something!
This album sounds very different from all his other albums.
STREET LEGAL
When I first listen to Street Legal I didn't like it at all. The reason why is because I was still listening to it predecessor 1976 DESIRE. But then I started liking more and more. Changing Of The Guards quickly became one of my favorites. Baby Stop Crying, Is Your Love In Vain?, Senor, and Where Are You Tonight? are also my favorites.
STREET LEGAL
When I first listen to Street Legal I didn't like it at all. The reason why is because I was still listening to it predecessor 1976 DESIRE. But then I started liking more and more. Changing Of The Guards quickly became one of my favorites. Baby Stop Crying, Is Your Love In Vain?, Senor, and Where Are You Tonight? are also my favorites.
NOT THAT IMPRESSED
SLUMDOG
Changing of the guards - Is your love in vain? and Senor are the only songs I like.
The rest just sounds like pointless rambling to me.
Sounds like he was struggling with this one.
Baby Stop Crying
No Rating
Your remarks made me take a listen to this song. Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems to me that at this time he had a young teen daughter. There is absolutely no romance between him and this girl, but he's ripped up by her pain. I'm the daughter of a loving father, and Daddys always wants to fix things. They feel pretty helpless when some boy rips their little girls heart out. But isn't it the beauty of great music that it speaks to each of us differently?
Just bought it
The gaps in my Dylan collection are slowly being filled. The most glarring gap was 1978 (Street Legal) through Time Out of Mind. I guess I had heard the rumors his stuff in the 1980s was awful and also wished to avoid "Born Again Bob." Well this past weekend I finally bought Street Legal and have given it five complete listenings. I still am not sure what I think. Part of me thinks the CD is awesome (I like the sound, the back up singers, the horns -- all new for Dylan). Part of me wonders what some of the songs are about (understanding Changing of The Guards is just out of reach --its like I almost get it and Baby Stop Crying makes me ask what the Hell did Bob do that she is crying so much). And part of me can sense that he is approaching his Christian period -- I sense some allusions to Chrsitianity in some of the lyrics. I wonder the significance that the pony is named Lucifer. All in in all I would call the album great but not one of Dylan's greatest, hence 4 stars.
But Then Columbia Remastered It......
OK, I never really liked the sound of this album. I liked the songs, it's just the overall sound of the album that bothered me when I first heard it on vinyl back in the 80s. But then Columbia Remastered it on CD, and it's far superior to the original vinyl release. I actually like the album now.
My favorites:
New Pony (great Dylan blues)
No Time To Think
Senor
and We Better Talk This Over
What a metamorphosis from Desire. Really different.
:)
No Rating
i loved this album the first time i heard it...it was awesome
scary
No Rating
oh that would suck!! imagine being unable to see him live! he's amazing...wait wait wait...you said LAST of the truly great ones?!?!
The One
Last of the truly great ones. Song for song this is my fave (along with Desire). Then we have Slow Train, Oh Mercy, Time out of Mind....Its as if it never ends. Its still all there, no matter how old he gets or how rough the voice gets. Must be grateful for living in the same time period as Him. Can u imagine not experiencing this stuff.
Legally great album
This album is just so great. No time think is my favorite and very philosophic.
transition
It's like the missing link between the 70s and the 80s. There are great songs and it's a consistent album, but sometimes I can't help feeling something's missing. Anyway, Changing of guards makes me want to keep listening, Señor reminds me who I'm listening to, and Where are you tonight makes the whole thing worth listening. I consider it a more than decent work, very well performed, another great album.
Cambio de sonido
Contiene algunas caciones que me encantan: changing of the guards, señor tales of yankee power, Is Your Love In Vain, y where-are-you-tonight-journey-through-dark-heat, son mis preferidas, los musicos hacen un buen trabajo, y con la edición rematerizada el sónido gana muchisimo. En mi opinion no esta entre sus diez mejores discos... pero no deja de ser un disco muy bueno.-
Thirty-four banners
My top 5 album - thanks to remastering. First and last song + Senor & Is Your Love In Vain are my favourite.
A Very Confusing Album
When I first heard it I loved it...then I listened to it a second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. time and it's not really that great. Granted, I like parts of it, if not most of it. However, there's a lot of really iffy songs. For example, I can't believe he was allowed to stretch "No Time To Think" to 8:23. I like most of Bob's long songs, but where the hell did he get the idea that that needed to be one of them? "Ture Love Tends To Forget" is a song I tend to forget (sorry, I couldn't resist) and "Baby Stop Crying" is really stupid. Generally, the middle part of the album, "New Pony" through "True Love", isn't very good. I guess that means that most of it sucks. But, not really. The album is good for its' consistant sound, which isn't half that bad. I think it's an essential album, but not in my top 10, definitely.
Rating
So anyway, I give it a four, and admit to all of you out there that I am not as enamored with Senor as everyone else seems to be.
Dave
Dear Hanging
No Rating
You stole my desert line--I used it on Blood before I knew you used it here. I love this album and think it does not get enough credit. Changing of the Guards, Journey, the last half of the album just seams to pick up steam and keep rolling. I know people rip the sound and the production and all, but I think there are some great, underrated songs on here.
Dave
Serious Sleeper
Besides the obvious nods to 'Blonde' and 'Blood', this album is really the cornerstone of my Bob collection. The remaster sounds like a completely different album, and thankfully so. From the fade in of "Changing of the Guards" to the balls out midnight confessions of "Where Are You Tonight" I can't think of a reason why a middle-era Bob fan wouldn't dream about this close-to-perfect album.
And Alan Pasqua's studio work (right around the same time he was wow-ing audiences in Tony Williams' Lifetime w/ Allan Holdsworth) is top notch.
A top 5 Dylan album from my POV.
"I can't help it if I'm lucky."
Inconsistent Yet Great Album
It's not an album that I listen to in entirety, yet it is very good. "Changing of the Guards" has great imagery, even though I don't exactly know what the song is about. "We Better Talk this Over" and "Where Are You Tonight" make a great pair of tracks to close the album with. I especially like:
It felt out of place
My foot in his face
But he should have stayed where his money was green.
not his best
No Rating
I'm not a big fan of Street-Legal, although I think the band is very good on the album. To me Changing of the Guard is kind of an attempt at his surreal style which worked so effectively in the 60's, but by this point it just sound like clever wordplay with little substance.
The best songs are Senor, which can stand beside any of his best work, and Is Your Love In Vain?, especially the bridge where he says "I have dined with kings etc"
Rumor has it Bob thought the Street legal band was one of his best groups...
Is this the REAL conversion album?
No Rating
Yes, and I sense Dylan changing his way of thinking throughout this record. Great stuff, and in my opinion, more convincing than Slow Train Coming.
New directions
Obviously tired of the Rolling Thunder sound and direction, Bob adds alot of new players and begins to write some more spiritual material. Slow Train is not nearly as shocking after hearing the Bob's world-weariness on this album. While it's it's got some real gems, it has a few clunkers and as a whole the album falls just a little short for me.
Street Legal
No Rating
If I were forced to my desert Island with only one album thisStreet Legal would be it. It don't think it's his best - it's his best for me. Perhaps we were on similar stages of the human journey when he released it - I dunno. In the angst I find harmony. I prefer Emmylou to the gospel singers, yet Emmylou could never have held this raw pain together.
Hanging in the Balance
Wrong name ....
No Rating
Canute - take it easy, but take it!
This is a great album ... great songs and in its later incarnation, now with great sound. Please, someone in authority, correct the spelling of the drummer. His name was Ian Wallace, not Jan ... Cheers!
Could sound better
Often I have contradictory fellings about this album. There's some songs I like very much: Señor, Changing of the guards, Baby stop crying, True love tends to forget, No time to think. It could sound much better and it annoys me, and some songs I didn't manage to catch its feeling I think. I never liked Is your love in vain, We better talk this over or Where are you tonight. I don't dislike them, but dependingon my mood I don't feel like hearing it at all.
Street-Legal
While most of Bob’s big band sound is in tact from Desire, trading the violin for the saxophone and Emmy Lou’s lone back-up vocals for a trio of female gospel singers suddenly turns the ragged gypsy caravan into a slick Vegas production. I’ve always been really conflicted about Street Legal. On one hand you’ve got this brave new experimental band giving the songs a wide variety of possible sounds. On the other, the LP was recorded almost as muddily and murkily as The Basement Tapes leaving most of the subtle nuances buried in the mix (subsequent attempts to re-mix the album have produced no effect audible to my ears). On the plus side you’ve got three of my all-time favorite Dylan tunes: “Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)”, “New Pony”, and “Changing Of The Guards”. “New Pony” even shows a return of Bob writing an entire song around one simple magnetic riff, something we haven’t heard since “The Wicked Messenger” on John Wesley Harding. However, the other two-thirds of the songs on there are as unremarkable and forgettable as Planet Waves. The band on this album is great. I don’t know why it gets knocked as too show-biz-y. I even liked their live At Budokan album. I generally don’t pay much attention to live albums (If the songs are too close to the original arrangements, then why not just listen to the original. If the songs are too far off of the arrangements, then they just seem sacrilegious). But the constant way that Bob and his quote-unquote Vegas band deconstruct and rearrange the most notable songs from Bob’s catalog is both fascinated and brave, if not always successful (“Going, Going, Gone”). I find myself listening to Street Legal a lot – if just out of curiosity, though not usually enjoying it as much as I think I should.