Bob Dylan Street-Legal CD

This is a multi-channel hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Dylan's last pre-Christianity batch of tunes, STREET LEGAL achieves a comfortable balance between the staid professionalism of the same year's live recording AT BUDOKAN and the rough-and-ready aesthetic of previous albums like DESIRE. As was often the case in his post-BLOOD ON THE TRACKS records, some of the most effective tunes on STREET LEGAL are those that he seems to have labored over least. A good example is the way the simple 12-bar blues of "New Pony" eclipses the more elaborately constructed opener "Changing of the Guards."

Naturally, that's not to say Dylan's vaunted wordplay had hit a valley on STREET LEGAL. Anyone who can rhyme "where we're headin'" with "Armageddon," as he does on "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)," plainly has more than a few lyrical tricks left up his sleeve. Those searching for subtext in the tunes here may note the evidence of a spiritual turmoil that would soon lead to Dylan's theological metamorphosis.

Arriving after the twin peaks of Blood on the Tracks and Desire, Street Legal seemed like a disappointment upon its 1978 release, and it still seems a little subpar years after its release. Perhaps that's because Bob Dylan was uncertain himself, not just writing a set of songs with no connecting themes, but replacing the sprawl of the Rolling Thunder Revue with a slick, professional big band, featuring a horn section and several backing vocalists. The interesting thing about this is that the music and slick production don't jibe with the songs, which are as dense as anything Dylan had written since before his motorcycle accident. So, Street Legal becomes an interesting dichotomy, filled with songs that deserve close attention but recorded in arrangements that discourage such listening. As such, Street Legal is fascinating just for that reason -- in another setting, these are songs that would have been hailed as near-masterpieces, but covered in gloss, they seem strange. Consequentially, it's not surprising that there are factions of Dylanphiles that find this worth the time, while just as many consider it a missed opportunity. [In 2003, Columbia/Legacy reissued 15 selected titles from Dylan's catalog as hybrid SACDs, playable in both regular CD players and Super Audio CD players. Each title is packaged as a digipak, containing the full original artwork. On each of the titles, and on each of the layers, the remastered sound is spectacular, a considerable upgrade from the initial CD pressings.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Arriving after the twin peaks of Blood on the Tracks and Desire, Street Legal features a set of songs with no connecting themes, and Bob Dylan replaced the sprawl of the Rolling Thunder Revue with a slick, professional big band featuring a horn section and several backing vocalists. The interesting thing about this 1978 release is that, despite the music and s

Originally released in 1978, this reissue is a hybrid CD consisting of remastered regular version playable on all players and a super audio CD version for players equipped with the format. 9 tracks. Digpak. Sony.

Recorded at Rundown Studios, Santa Monica, California.

Personnel: Bob Dylan (vocals, electric guitar); Steven Soles (guitar, background vocals); Billy Cross (guitar); David Mansfield (mandolin, violin); Steve Douglas (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Steve Madaio (trumpet); Alan Pasqua (keyboards); Jerry Scheff (bass guitar); Ian Wallace (drums); Bobbye Hall (percussion); Jo Ann Harris, Helena Springs, Carolyn Dennis (background vocals).

Recording information: Rundown Studios, Santa Monica, CA.

Photographers: Howard Alk; Joel Bernstein.

Unknown Contributor Role: Ava Megna.

Personnel: Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar); Steven Soles (guitar, background vocals); Billy Cross (guitar); David Mansfield (mandolin, violin); Steve DougQ (7/95, p.141) - 5 Stars (out of 5) - "...the songs are brilliant and the preoccupations that fuel them only add to the slightly fevered atmosphere..."
Dirty Linen (10-11/99, p.81) - "...[producer, Don DeVito] remastered the tapes to give them an added punch....not without its charms, and certainly worth it just under $10 list price."