Street Legal-Dylan’s most underrated release?

He put a lot of work into the lyrics of some of the songs on Street Legal. It contains canonical songs for sure. At least three: Changing of the Guards, Senior, and Where are You Tonight? These three aren’t just good songs: they are top tier Dylan at his best.

 

New Pony is a highlight for me. I love the intensity and how the music builds throughout the strong.

 

“Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)”
‘Nuff said.

 

Yes, you made your feelings quite clear in your initial post.
As that old Dave Mason song (and Dylan gospel-era cover) goes, we just disagree.

 

My thoughts on this album: it's one of his worst albums with some of his very best songs on it, if that makes any sense.

 

Yup, disagree on your altered track list, as well. Quite fine as is.

 

I see that this has been reissued on vinyl this weekend. Anybody pick it up? Is it the remix version? How does it sound?

 

As good as any of his 80s albums. Poorly produced which throws people. The songs are mostly very good. "Where Are You Tonight" is a terrific song with a great vocal.

 

I never cared for the original mix. It was the worst sounding Bob Dylan CD in my view. The 1999 remix made me appreciate the album much more. I still find some of the lyrics inscrutable. “Changing Of The Guard” sounds like a great song but I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is about. It is also an album that reveals Bob’s troubled relationship with women - “New Pony” sounds great on the remix but it is a nasty song nonetheless. I really like “We Better Talk This Over”and “Where Are You Tonight?” which I agree is an underrated deep cut. The troubled relationship with women is present in that song but it provides a revealing look inside Bob’s mind at the end of his marriage before his conversion.

 

His last really good album (barring a version of Infidels that isn't legally available) until his last really good album, Love and Theft.

 

Listening to the 1999 remix right now on cd. With all respect to our forum host, who insists that the original mix is best, I agree that this version is top notch.

 

That (lifeless, out-of-tune) version elevated the original?!?!?

 

Anyone have any thoughts on the Blu-Spec version?

 

I only knew the remastered remix until I read that Our Host preferred the original mix. I found the original CD at a CD Warehouse. Indeed, while it doesn't sound clean, I think the original mix is where the magic is and I prefer it.

 

Maybe you mean a poorly produced album with some of his very best songs on it?

It's my favourite Dylan album and I think that while I love a lot of the songs, Is Your Love In Vain and Baby Stop Crying just don't cut it with true Dylan fans who know a lot more than me anyway.

But I have this album in mind to do midweek in the next edition of The Weakest Link.

See you then, I'm off to ride a new pony. Name's Lucifer, the little devil.

 

I think it sounds great. It’s the remix.

 

There's a color and a quality to the original 1978 LP that is missing in the remix.
You hear it in Dylan's voice and the guitars especially.

I like the remix for its clarity and separation insofar as separation is possible,
but it's missing a color and a quality that's very, very important.

That having been said, I love STREET LEGAL. An important album in my life.

 

It's the remix. I listen to it often. No complaints, knowing it's the remix.

 

I have been listening to this album the last couple nights. I always liked it, but was once turned off by the backing vocals and overall production. I was wrong. I was trying to rate Dylan albums in order of preference and this kept moving up the list the more I listened to it. I now believe it is one of his most underrated. Fantastic songs that fall between the style of Desire and Slow Train Coming. I can't quit listening to it now. I love this record!

 

"Changing of the Guards" is the Dylan song I listen to most often.
Sometimes I listen to it on repeat for 90 minutes or longer.
The singer conveys the feeling that's he's running from something terrible
that's catching up with him. He might be skipping across time as he flees.
Perhaps the song is a pentimento (go ahead look that word up). It's both
a chase and a hunt, and a fight, too. There is tension and mystery but it's
the emotion that Dylan invests in the words that grounds the song and
gives it meaning. He's desperate, but resolute.

pen ti men to (noun)
a visible trace of earlier painting beneath a layer or layers of paint on a canvas.

The song has a brother: "Dark Eyes" on Empire Burlesque.

 

The remix is a huge improvement on the original. The remaster of the original mix is in the complete album collection box.

Interesting that this album was panned in the U.S., but received rapturously in Europe. That hasn't ever really happened before or since with Dylan.

I didn't like it much myself until I heard the remix, which opened it up for me in a huge way. I would agree that it is very underrated, although I'm not sure about "most" underrated. I might go with Shot of Love or Empire Burlesque for that honor. Or even World Gone Wrong.

 

It's about his experience as an artist in the music business, reconciling his artistry with the records he puts out as "banners in the fields" for his fans.

 

I like your interpretation. Tell us more about it.

 

definitely in my top three Dylan albums!
I think the songs are fantastic and engaging.

real transitional …..I find most artists transitional albums the most rewarding. (even though they tend to diss them)
I can also hear Dylan at the crossroads

Standing in the doorway deciding to enter or not

a troubled man ready to "let go of the steering wheel" to quote Bono...
a weary soul looking for Divine intervention …..or.....ANYTHING!
desperate and tired.
ready for salvation

it's all in there.....SENIOR, IS YOUR LOVE IN VAIN, CHANGING OF THE GUARDS, WHERE ARE YOU TONIGHT?

it's not always about chicks!

 

Let's hope for a good audience when Street Legal comes to The Weakest Link soon!