Rank #8. Street Legal

(****) June 15, 1978. 18th Studio Album.

Dylan has worked with background gospel singers before, but never to the extent he did on Street Legal, and with a full band with sax, trumpet, violin,  electric guitar solos, drums and organ, the whole album has a coherent, blues/ballroom/holy roller  feel throughout. Dylan’s lyrics are poignant and his vocal delivery on the money. While not yielding any hits, it does contain another of my all-time favorites, “Journey Through Dark Heat (Where Are You Tonight?) as a raucous closing number. This is an under-appreciated album in the catalog, and while it suffered slightly upon initial release with a  somewhat muddled production, the digital remastering resolves those issues. A great album to listen to outside or driving at night.

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One Reply to “Rank #8. Street Legal”

  1. Tremendous…tremendous….tremendous…top 5 release!
    Not a weak spot and includes one of his greatest songs “True Love Tends to Forget.”
    I attended that Trocadero show with you and one of the highlights of that show was when he played “Senor.”

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