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Released: June 15, 1978


Rating: 3.328 (average of 16 ratings)


Genre: folk rock


Quotable: --


Album Tracks:

  1. Changing of the Guard
  2. New Pony
  3. No Time to Think
  4. Baby Stop Crying
  5. Is Your Love in Vain?
  6. Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)
  7. True Love Tends to Forget
  8. We Better Talk This Over
  9. Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)


Sales:

sales in U.S. only ½ million
sales in U.K. only - estimated 300,000
sales in all of Europe as determined by IFPI – click here to go to their site. --
sales worldwide - estimated 3.5 million


Peak:

peak on U.S. Billboard album chart 11
peak on U.K. album chart 2


Singles/Hit Songs:

  • Baby Stop Crying (5/78) #13 UK
  • Is Your Love in Vain (10/28/78) #56 UK
  • Changing of the Guard (12/78) --


Street Legal
Bob Dylan
Review:
“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” (Erlewine).


Review Source(s):


Related DMDB Links:

Previous Album: Desire (1976) Bob Dylan’s DMDB page Next Album: Slow Train Coming (1979)


Last updated March 31, 2008.