Bob Dylan's "Street Legal" - Classic or Dud?

http://www.discogs.com/image/R-150-422866-1111337042.jpghttp://www.discogs.com/image/R-709497-1151810668.jpeg

Do you have these yet?

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc000/c011/c01153113xe.jpghttp://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd800/d810/d81005d02kr.jpg

http://www.bobdylan.com/albumpic/shot.jpg

http://www.debaser.it/resize.aspx?path=/files/2005/debaser_bob_dylan_saved.jpg&width=250

the album is pretty bad either way.

that "dylan" thing isn't in print, is it? i thought it was taken out of print when dylan resigned with columbia in the mid-1970s. not that it's difficult to find on vinyl.

incidentally why hasn't "times they are a-changin'" been remastered?

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:c95g8qztbtv4

trust me, it will be a disappointment

Anyway, "Street Legal" - it's also one of my favorites... I don't know much about Neil Diamond or Leonard Cohen, so I can't speak to Alfred's interesting points about middle-aged singer/songwriters. I will say that I think that the lyrics are fascinating - the album as a whole presents this image of Dylan at the end of the '70s, looking back at all the heavy trips and changes he's been through - fame, relationships, etc. - which are worked up into this quasi-mystical lather - "There's a white diamond gloom on the dark side of this room, and a pathway that leads up to the stars / If you don't believe there's a price for this sweet paradise, remind me to show you the scars" (I love that line!).

Ultimately, he seems to keep concluding that love is his way forward (though he doesn't seem to fully believe this). The album climaxes (and sums itself up) terrifically in the final verse - "I can't believe it, I can't believe I'm alive! But without you, it just doesn't seem right..."

(Of course, knowing what comes soon afterward in Dylan's real life makes it even more juicy - as if Christianity is what he actually ends up seizing on to cut through all the mumbo jumbo. But that's just having fun and fooling around with his image and history - not something I usually do or care about, though the way this album itself engages with his personal mythology seems to make it OK to keep playing along.)

I also think the songs are just so pleasurable to listen to; they're really neat structurally, the way they keep repeating - most of them are just long series of verses, punctuated by those horn figures - and the way his voice and the portentous lyrics interact with the swelling of the music (I guess it is pretty Neil Diamond-y).

Some of the lines are corny ("A full-blooded Cherokee, he predicted it to me, the time and the place that the trouble would start"), but in a way that "works" - the whole thing is kind of a swaggering, chutzpah-y concept album about one dude and his ego at some kind of self-inflated mythic crossroads.

(I do think "Is Your Love in Vain" is a big dud, musically and lyrically - it's a too straightforward and silly iteration of the album's themes).

"Street Legal" also has a great title and cover photo!

One more thing - I was disappointed with the florid remixed CD that come out five or so years ago (this was before those remastered CDs came out; I assume the new "SL" also uses the new mix). I like the orig. mix a lot more - it's minimal and tense, and fits the album better.

I'm nobody's audiophile, but this is one of the few albums I've dismissed partly because of the shite recording quality. Maybe the remaster addresses that, but wow, the original vinyl sounded like it was recorded in Dylan's ass.

Also I am terrified that my good friend grimly fiendish will see me talking about Bob Dylan because he hates Dylan with a passion.

1. I realize I'm too drunk to drive to the CD shop to get the two Dylan CD's my heart desires.

2. I realize that the only way is to actually walk there, despite it possibly being as much as an hour away on foot and they close in 45 minutes.

3. I run part of the way, hoping to catch them before they close.

4. When I get there, they are playing Bob Dylan in the shop.

5. But I filter that out as insanity and assume I am only imagining that they are playing Bob Dylan.

6. When I get to the register with my CD's the guy asks me "so what do you think of THIS Bob Dylan?". I say it's weird that he's playing, that I'd been thinking of him more and more over the last month and the guy tells me that what is playing is a new Dylan album that is out on Tuesday. I say I didn't know he was having anything new out.

I remember a live video for Tangled Up In Blue, though - does anyone remember that? He had sweat on his forehead, and a great big hat. It was on MTV. That was actually the first time I liked him ever, was that song/video. But I'm telling you he's really not been a big part of my life at all until now. Even when I saw the ads on the busses here in town advertising a Dylan exhibition at the local Art Museum, that was about 6 months ago, and I didn't blink an eye. "oh Dylan" I thought "how boring". !!!

Maybe he's not as good as The Stooges or Velvet Underground, but

there's no reason not to rejoice in Bob Dylan.

Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat, etc.

What was the name of that goddamn movie?

Don't Look Back! I FOUND IT! OH MY GOD I FOUND IT!

So is it any good??! What say you ILXORS?

That's weird, I don't really know, though I've seen the movie and read the book. Can anyone confirm this??

If it was anyone but dylan, Joker! Hysterical! Face!, i'd be worried that you were building this up a bit too much. but if you like him, the catalogue goes on forever. your next two purchases should be the freewheelin' bob dylan, and bringin it all back home, imo.

anyway I'm playing Kate Bush now so things have got very complicated, I'm afraid. But I will rent the Bob Dylan video of Don't Look Back. Is there any Donovan in the video????!

BTW, guess it was in the High Fidelity movie, too:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146882/quotes
Barry: Don't tell anyone you don't own "Blonde on Blonde". It's gonna be okay.

sorry, anyway, High Fidelity, yeah. I should probably own that on DVD. They talk about Stereolab in that don't they? And Beta Band too.

It's all good.

Remember Joy Division loves your mother.

Sorry this is a Bob Dylan thread. I understand that. Sorry.

Not sure! Nothing blatant, I don't think. She's in the film an awful lot, though. I think there's a scene where she's singing Love is Just a Four-Letter Word and he's ignoring her, typing away. That could be interpreted as something. I need to watch my DVD again ASAP.

i was trying to sort that out. i actually thought momentarily of dylan crossed with gingivitis.

anyway I'm playing Kate Bush now so things have got very complicated, I'm afraid. But I will rent the Bob Dylan video of Don't Look Back. Is there any Donovan in the video????!

Basically the Donovan thing in Don't Look Back goes like this. The whole first part of the movie Bob keeps hearing about Donovan in the papers and such. "Who's this Donovan?!", he's never heard of him before. Eventually they meet in a hotel room and Donovan plays "To Sing For You". Bob goes, "That's a good song, man!" and then Donovan asks him to play "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". Bob throws down a searing version, occasionaly throwing Donovan a glance that seems to say "I'm eating you alive", but he kind of always looks like that so I'm not sure if it's intentional. So, whether or not Donovan just got pwned is up to you, most people say yes.

I smile a little and say: "Yeah."

found here:
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article314344.ece

He certainly didn't try to humiliate Donovan, but singing "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" after Donovan's forgettable little ditty did the trick.

As for "Saved" and the other albums from his Jesus-period, the lyrics are kind of weird, but musically they aren't all that bad. Sure the Knopfler-style was more realized on the less fundamentalist "Infidels", but really, musically, Dylan was a lot worse on "Down In The Groove" than he was during any of his Jesus-albums.

I really like this record. I've never attended carefully to the lyrics so I can't answer Alfred's initial comments right now. But I like the way it sounds: punchy and direct. "Changing of the Guard" is an excellent song and opens the album strongly: "Eden is burning"! The melodies are quite strong throughout, even if the lyrics aren't. For instance, "Baby Stop Crying" is pretty dreary on paper, but the song is greater than the sum of its parts, and the chorus gets you singing along (as my daughter and I were this morning): high praise in my book! Are the backing vocals on the album cheesy, like a Neil Diamond revue? I don't think so, though they're certainly striving for grandiosity and so I can see how that could come across as cheesy. On the whole I think it's a very enjoyable listen.

Compare it to Knocked Out Loaded, which sounds like it's recorded in an empty arena: kinda mining a similar groove to Street Legal but for the most part not living up to it. Still, it's not a bad album either: not a million miles away from Are You Passionate?

re the backing vocals on the album cheesy, like a Neil Diamond revue?

Dylan admitted at the time that he was going for this sound.

not a million miles away from Are You Passionate?

Never thought about that!

As a rule you find fpolks in two camps re. Street Legal: they love it, or they hate it [or Classic, Dud if you will]. I have to say I'm someplace in the middle. I believe its good, not great - but some of the points made in this thread have gotten me thinking. I may need to revisit this platter. Thanks everyone!

Street Legal is great. I think I might prefer it to Desire, actually. But (in keeping with my role as Captain Bootleg here), people should check out tapes from the 1978 US tour for really excellent versions of these songs. It's definitely still that glitzy, Neil Diamond band, but with a kinda hard rock edge that I really like. The versions of Changing of the Guards are like runaway trains.

I have a show from LA on November 15, 1978 in the queue.

I also prefer Street Legal over Desire: someday I think Desire'll really click for me but even the live performances don't really do it for me (listened to Live 1975 last night---I like "Love Minus Zero / No Limit" and the other solo-ish numbers a lot, the whole band performances less).

whoa, Katey Sagal was in Dylan's band at the time? but she's not on the album, alas.

I definitely prefer it to Desire – it's weirder and unpleasanter in more interesting ways – but I don't want to listen too closely to find out.

another middle-aged perv

Not sure I'd describe Bob as middle-aged here. He was all of 37 when he made this.

This record is wildly uneven, but Changing of the Guard and Where Are You Tonight alone make it essential.

i think we talked about the LA 78 show on some other thread. It's killer. you don't like the band on Live 75? They're definitely weird sounding, but I dig it. Kinda glam-country-rock.

I think I need to put it on at the ~right~ kind of party because it (= Live 1975) never clicks for me in more, uh, casual listening.

I think Bob's shouty singing voice on Live 1975, Desire, & Before the Flood, is my second least favorite Bob voice: least favorite remains the The Times They Are A-Changing voice (which I listened to this morning with no new affection resulting).

woah, weird. rolling thunder dylan is high up for me on favorite live dylan. first track on 75 is mad joyous.

The "Hard Rain" on Live 1975 is pretty great; was Bob emulating Bryan Ferry's version?

and yeah, agree on preferring Street Legal to Desire. Higher highs (opener and closer for sure xp), and less grievous lows (no Joey)

ha, i like Joey, though I can see why some do not like it at all. I think it's too bad he didn't play it live on the Rolling Thunder tour, because most of those songs are improved upon live imo. There's an amazing version of "Mozambique" on a bootleg I have.

Yeah, the "Sara" on Live 1975 is terrific.

yeah Rolling Thunder 'Desire' takes are the definitive for me, coulda used Joey I suppose. Hurricane and One More Cup of Coffee and especially Isis are like woah on that tour

The first leg of the Rolling Thunder tour is second only to the 1966 shows in the Dylan tour book for me. Great stuff.

xpost yeah, I think One More Cup of Coffee is kind of a silly song, but Bob sells it on the Live 75 set!

1975 is interesting because I think it might be the only time in Dylan's career where he and his audience seemed to actually be in sync, where he delivered what people wanted of him ...

The Hard Rain live album has the best version of Shelter From The Storm. What a huge omission leaving that off the Bootleg Series Rolling Thunder set.

well, that was from the 1976 leg of the Rolling Thunder tour ... don't think they played it in 1975. but yeah, amazing version.

"Mozambique" is twaddle, ain't it?

yeah, it totally is! but it's fun on this live version ...

I love Mozambique

So, having it given a few years to sink in since my first post above, I would never rank Street Legal above Desire...but weirdly, lately it's the Dylan album I'm putting on most often. There's a long stretch in the middle that basically washes past without making any impression, but the big loud numbers are kind of wonderfully craggy and washed-up and grungey sounding. Yeah, I wish the vocals weren't so muffled and weak on "Changing of the Guard," but "Where Are You Tonight" really benefits from the "still drunk the next day" vibe of this whole thing. And yeah, "New Pony" is awesome. BROW-DANNNG! The only thing is I keep hearing it as "I had a pony / her name was Lucy-Poo" which isn't quite what he's going for but whatever.

revive inspired by this:

Street-Legal has a few stinkers, especially the one that goes -

Can you cook
can you sew
can you make flowers grow
can you understand my pain?

sung as if he were held at gunpoint.

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, May 24, 2011 2:09 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

This is my new favorite Dylan album... it's very #based

Out of all the Dylan albums I've listened to, which includes many but not all of the supposedly bad ones, this is the ugliest and the hardest to understand.

i have a very half baked theory that this record is dylan's first born again record ... before he knew he was born again.

i don't even know what that means but ... hey is the Street Legal on this new Complete Albums thing the remixed version or a new remaster of the original mix? Important!
I feel like they could do an 'Another Self Portrait' style rehab of this period, tho, with cool rehearsal outtakes and live stuff.

If it means it shows his contempt for other people, then yes.

this music makes me uncomfortable

.... I'm ready when you are, senor

I feel like they could do an 'Another Self Portrait' style rehab of this period, tho, with cool rehearsal outtakes and live stuff.
― tylerw, Sunday, December 29, 2013 8:50 PM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oops haha I meant I agree and I'm seeing signs that since New Morning/SP are officially critically rehabbed via the bootleg series that Street Legal is the hippest Dylan album right now in the underground

Changing of the Guards is my favorite Bob Dylan song of all.

It's hard to dismiss any record with songs like Changing Of The Guard and Where Are You Tonight.

yeah I've dug this record since that remaster

I have it on old vinyl, sounds great to me, was it the CD that was bad or something?

It's generally considered to be the beginning of his long schlocky period. Some of the songs are real bad. But some aren't.

Changing Of The Guard is in my Top 10 Bob songs. Never get tired of hearing it. The Jack White band Dead Weather actually did a very credible job covering New Pony.

This is the mid-life crisis album after his divorce was finalized. Where Desire was filled with hope-against-hope and a romanticizing of The Past (outlaws, love in far-off lands/times, and of course "Sara, Sara, don't ever leave me, don't ever go"), Street-Legal is a lot more miserable, self-loathing and looking for a way out. I totally agree with tyler about it being the first of the "born-again" albums, it's leading directly into the religious trilogy.

I have it on old vinyl, sounds great to me, was it the CD that was bad or something?
i guess the OG mix was a rush job for one reason or another -- the producer phil ramone went in and re-did it in the late 90s. it was definitely an improvement, did more justice to the bog-ness of the band.

is street legal remaster CD available for single purchase or is it only as a part of the complete albums box set?

i think the remix has been used in all reissues from 1999 or so on (also it was don devito not phil ramone, my badddd)

Actually I'm listening to this on my better stereo now and it is a little ragged sounding.. Though I don't necessarily mind

O
M
G

amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrDr7wKp-Ss

the guy dress up as dylan on the cover is amazing, not to mention that this is a opera metal cover of "senor (tales of yankee power)"

My take, from the thread Dylan's Christian Period, incl. some points made earlier in this thread, which I've never seen before, but def. see he needed and knew he needed some kinda change from this state of mind--still, it's listenable, and yet another nobody-but-Dylan type experience, in this case, his own kind of midlife crisis ("Middle-Age Crazy," as a country song of that era put it):

I finally listened to Changing of the Guard: good singing (the choral group is used effectively, for the most part), good music (except for the drums); but lyrics incl brain of homeless prophetic imagery and serenades which start suavely but quickly go so wrong ("Can ya cook and sew, make the flowers grow," he sounds like even he knows this is hopeless as soon as he hears it--and/or he already knew it, but it's still like,) "No? Course not, but come 'ere and show me what you can do, then.") Performance-wise, the most successful (and stylistically, the most unusual here) is "New Pony," which morphs into bizarre bluesoid porn, though not in a good way (to my taste). Overall, sounds like he's really moving toward some desperate change.
(Before this album came out, Renaldo and Clara incl Dyl paying much attention as Ginsberg tells him about Jesus and the ladies---think some of this was from the Apocrypha, but some from the Protestant-approved Gospels).

― dow, Friday, April 11, 2014 5:27 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

brain *stew* of homeless, Ah meant to say.

― dow, Friday, April 11, 2014 5:28 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not that all the lyrics are bad, but this set incl. recurring, off-putting syndromes.

― dow, Friday, April 11, 2014 5:31 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oops, I should've read this whole thread---my repost is superflous--sorry.

I might have said this before, but holy shit "changing of the guards" is terrifying and insane and amazing

The whole album is, really. Forensic carnival fun.

Roky and Daniel got nothin on him.

Actually, they do at their best, but, considering how far from his best this is, its amazingness is even more amazing. it may be his best bad album. Is it? I haven't heard them all.

listening to this for the first time

see you on the other side!

señor

godspeed!
not much footage of the 78 tour -- this is a blast though, you get a good sense of the weird vibes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsgHi_DvmM8

oh my goodness

that is awesome

yeahhhh. i would love to see a whole show ... seems weird that there wouldn't have been some kind of film of at least one show.

he's in really good form there! surprising, most of what i've read about that time is that he was pretty miserable (pre-born again years which 'renewed' him)

also i just want a put in a little plug for 'baby stop crying'

it is terrible but also really wonderful

also i don't know how often it is acknowledged but his background singers from this period through the eighties are all really great imo, even the shitty songs they just do a marvelous job

idk what version of this I have in terms of remastering or not but ... mmm the backing vocals all over this are really awkward. not all the way through it yet (had to go to a meeting)

feel like the work better on the gospel stuff

they

that's a terrible clip! The horns, Dylan's stepping on the backup singers' lines, the hair.

He got better at employing the backup singers....but not on SL.

that's a tremendous clip! The horns, Dylan's stepping on the backup singers' lines, the hair.

i kind of love that the backup singers have to sing bizarro/awkward things in changing of the guards -- "RENEGADE PRIESTS!"

without collapsing into laughter

oh yea that is so great

it's like he's backed by the Saturday Night Live band n that clip

you know what this is reminding me of is not so much "Death of a Ladies' Man" as Lou Reed's "Take No Prisoners", or maybe "Rock n Roll Heart". the old lyricism is there but so are the saxophones, the r&b backup singers, the air of exhaustion. basically it sounds like the late 70s boomer experience.

is Senor typically cited as the standout track cuz it sure feels like it

that's really the only one that became a live standard post 78...

even that has this terrible saxphone line. Feel like this was the dawn of the classic saxophones-in-everything era of pop music

changing of the guards i always thought was the standout, at least its the one that made it on the greatest hits vol iii selecton

like 1978 was the year the saxophonists union finally got their big contract

xp

Springsteen / E-Street Band influence?

dylan denied it at the time, but it can't have hurt that broooce was doing so well at the time w/ clemons

Did Lou ever dare deny it?

having never been able to stomach Springsteen that would never have occurred to me but the E Street Band as ground zero makes sense. Probably where Lou got the idea too (altho Rock and Roll Heart is two years earlier than Street Legal)

xp

i'm sure lou denied it. but he also said "springsteen's alright" (grudgingly!) on take no prisoners...

...and Bruce cameos on "Street Hassle"

that was lou influencing bruce, not the other way around. "c'mere bruce, i'm going to influence you!"

ok gettin to the end here - lol has anyone sampled the opening of Where Are You Tonight yet

Well, isn't that the blatant "Like a Rolling Stone" rip off?

"Senor" isn't bad and I saw him do a ripping version in '05 but it's like a parody of a Dylan song.

I remember my mom looking at the album cover after I bought it in the early '80s and remarking, "What a sexy photo." I was slightly grossed out.

Well, I think when I saw him in Birmingham in the late 70s, it was on a long, maybe international tour, maybe to promote this album? Whole thing was very metamorphic, judging by concert reviews and pix: started out with this Hot August Night Neil Diamond look---they had some of the same people, like same lawyer and management, I think, of course Neil was in The Last Waltz, Robertson produced Beautiful Noise---and reportedly was using scripted stage patter, like, "Well, as my friend Jerry Garcia says, I must be getting down the road." Then (at campus paper ect) starting getting pix where he's in sort of Blonde On Blonde cover mode, only tailored, and some times with eyeliner etc like his Rolling Thunder look, total effect getting toward Prince--though some on campus swore he had all the signs of going toward **transexualism** (transgender)---he certainly seemed to be going some kind Period of Transition (toward the Lord, for instance, but we didn't know that til Slow Train Coming, soon enough).

And when he finally got to B'ham, came out in this Cisco Kid outfit (which I later saw him wear in every show of a VHS collection at a record show; there's plenty of documentation of this era somewhere), with dirty white tennis shows and the side of his poodle coiffure flattened, like he just got up, and no makeup. He and the chorus were the only constants up front, but he had different subsets of musos upstage, and people he'd call out from the wings as well. I've heard of Ornette Coleman and Doug Sahm doing this too, and for the same reason: to shift styles at will. None of it sounded like the original studio versions either: the gospel singers got all of "Rainy Day Women," a flute player accompanied Dyl's finger-picking (and voice, in good tuneful shape) on "Blowing In The Wind," proto-speed metal big band got "Masters of War," kind of a rockabilly bluegrass "Tombstone Blues," "Senor" (or was it "Silvio"?) between mariachi and Gil Evans.

Actually some of the versions weren't *that* different from the originals, he just brought selected elements way forward and dropped others, like mixing with live players (tempted to say "on the fly," but most of these rearrangements sounded fairly polished).

haha, would've loved to see one of those shows... those semi-scripted monologues he'd do were great.
I was riding on a train one time from Durango, Mexico to San Diego. I fell asleep once and I woke up and the train was parked outside Monterey. I was a little bit groggy, so I stared into the window which was a like a long mirror. An I saw about one family get off the train. About 17 or 18 kids, I saw them get off the train, and I saw this old man step up to the train. Anyway, in the mirror he looked, all he was wearing was a blanket. Must have been about 150 years old at least. Anyway, he came up the aisle and he sat down next to me on the other side of the aisle. And finally I just couldn't stand it anymore, I just had to turn and look at him. I looked at him, I could see that both his eyes were on fire, were burning, and his nostrils had smoke coming out. I figured this was the man I wanted to talk to.

^^^into "Senor"

ok I spent some time with this and this is ... not good. Senor is hardly the only parody-of-his-former-self type song on here, so much of it feels disconnected and aimless, especially lyrically. I wonder if he was trying to return to his mid-60s stream-of-consciousness style and just couldn't do it, there are so many non-sequiturs here, lines and images that seems strung together for no particular reason, and with plenty of groaners in among the decent ideas (ugh New Pony). The big 70s rock band is stiff as hell and there's saxophone and r&b backing vocals all over the place where they shouldn't be - it's hard not to hear this as a response to Springsteen now that he's been mentioned. There are hints that seem to presage Slow Train Coming, which is a far superior record, but not much to grab onto here imo.

it's too bad New Pony's lyrics are so godawful I kinda like the skeevy groove of the music

i kind of love that the backup singers have to sing bizarro/awkward things in changing of the guards -- "RENEGADE PRIESTS!"

― tylerw, Thursday, May 7, 2015 2:26 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

without collapsing into laughter

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, May 7, 2015 2:28 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

one of my <3 Nick Cave moments is when he cracks up his backup singers on "Hiding All Away" when they try to follow his ridic phrasing of some line and they leave it on the track

haha yeah, that is great. i bet nick cave likes street legal.

& i probably had a pretty similar reaction to street legal as shakey did when i first heard it. but i guess i keep coming back to it as an interesting/bizarre failure.

that's a terrible clip! The horns, Dylan's stepping on the backup singers' lines, the hair.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, May 7, 2015 2:17 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's a tremendous clip! The horns, Dylan's stepping on the backup singers' lines, the hair.

― tylerw, Thursday, May 7, 2015 2:25 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha both of you OTM i'm loving this

who plays lead on that clip? all i see is a blonde blur

billy cross is his name... i think that's all i know about him. Billy Cross!

he sounds like an interesting guy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Cross

In 2010 published a book of his memoirs "Så langt så godt – et liv med rock"

as songs about Legionaire's disease go, "Legionaire's Disease" by the Delta Cross Band is pretty good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdmQD_fNPUM

If you think "New Pony" is bad, the bit in "Is Your Love in Vain is worse:

can you cook
can you sew
can understand mah PAAAIIIIINNNN

great sentence
In 1979 he recorded the album No Overdubs with the Danish Blues/rock band Delta Blues Band

"New Pony" is half the reason I pull this record out, y'all are crazy. Not for any of the same reasons I pull out Highway 61 or Blood on the Tracks but it's cool.

why do dylan records from mid-late 70s through 90s /sound/ so awful? like, who was producing/mastering his records? some of the worst-sounding major-label records of all time, IMO.

haha yeah, that is great. i bet nick cave likes street legal.

― tylerw, Monday, May 11, 2015 3:05 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"New Pony" (which is awesome btw) feels very proto-Grinderman to me, even some of Dylan's phrasing I think Nick lifted.

Great record! LEGAL HASSLE!!

And speaking of the back-up singers on ""No Time to Think" every time they get to the "huuuu-mility!!" line I want them to sing "Hu-midity!!!"

Not sure of the exact source on this but from a Will Oldham fan site:

Nick Cave and Will Oldham met at Lollapalooza 1994 and talked about music. Will recalls: "We then regularly played "New Pony" from Bob Dylan's Street-Legal album. The pattern of Jack The Ripper from Cave's Henry's Dream is based on that of "New Pony", and he has some other songs which borrow extensively from "Street-Legal". Cave apparently saw one of our shows, came to me later on and said "Street-Legal" was his favorite Dylan album. To which I said: `I Know` [Will grins]"

why do dylan records from mid-late 70s through 90s /sound/ so awful? like, who was producing/mastering his records? some of the worst-sounding major-label records of all time, IMO.

― he quipped with heat (amateurist), Tuesday, May 12, 2015 12:19 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agree w/ this except for 'slow train coming' i think that album sounds amazing

Great record! LEGAL HASSLE!!

― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, May 12, 2015 7:46 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha Legal Hassle: The Tribute Band That Only Plays Songs off Street Legal and Street Hassle needs to happen. Tyler, all you need to do is relocate your family and life Minneapolis, let us know the timeframe on that.

We can also do a mash-up of "Junior Dad" & "Tempest" for the encore

LULU & the Legal Hassles: A Tribue To Street Legal, Street Hassle, and LULU

"a tribute band so specific only the people actually in the band would want to see it - 4 1/2 stars" - Rolling Stone Magazine

"The greatest disappointment. 10.0" - The ghost of Lou Reed.

can my yoko ono tribute band (Three Virgins) open

As long as you have a draw of 6 people or less, then yes

why do dylan records from mid-late 70s through 90s /sound/ so awful? like, who was producing/mastering his records? some of the worst-sounding major-label records of all time, IMO.

― he quipped with heat (amateurist), Tuesday, May 12, 2015 12:19 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agree w/ this except for 'slow train coming' i think that album sounds amazing

― marcos, Tuesday, May 12, 2015 8:45 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well, jerry wexler produced that one, and yeah, it sounds pretty good. but the rest of 'em from the late 70s/80s... ugh.

Infidels sounds great! No complaints about its sound, which is crisp, shaped, and considered. It's the songs that suck.

Yeah. I certainly don't have an audiophile record player (even when it's working), but the last time I heard Empire Burlesque, most of it sounded still sounded good fine (Arthur Bell produced; "Disco Dylan," some snarked---ha, if only). Also Under A Red Sky, the two solo covers albums, and most everything since (though I haven't heard Oh Mercy or the Sinatra album).

"most of it still sounded good," that is.

I'm a fan of Empire Burlesque -- it's his best eighties album -- but the combo of synth chimes and gospel overtones on stuff like "Never Gonna Be the Same Again" makes my skin crawl.

maybe i've only heard shitty CD masters of some of the albums, but they always sounded muddy to me, like the various instruments are unhelpfully invading one another's timbres.

Dylan's voice unhelpfully invades its own timbres.

yeah he does a lot of /yelling/ on those albums. ugh, just count me as someone who thinks his discography after "new morning" is mostly disposable.

/mostly/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B436avtEXzs

Renegade priests
RENEGADE PRIESTS

^^The backing vox on "Changing of The Guard" are hi-larious.

woah funny I was listening to this just a few hours ago. the clunkiest lyrics are really some of dylan's worst but I still love the vibe/sound of the thing. it's not draggy, except maybe "señor."

I just became acquainted with the whole record finally, after many years of changing of the guard being in my top 10 dylans and knowing senor from biograph.

I dig its vibe a whole lot. The nick cave reveal upthread is perfect. Similarly to desire, a lot of the details do not repay closer scrutiny but it has this great addled rambler feeling. I do wish changing of the guard could have been a whole side long though, fucking love it unreasonably

HOW MUCH
HOW MUCH LONGAH

without "new pony" and "changing of the guard" I would never have gotten into this record at all. still prefer to hear it as "I had a pony; her name was Lucy-Poo" tho.

i'm ready when you are.......

....senor

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCe6JyBUAAAHWF8.jpg

Doctor Casino otm, "New Pony" and "Changing of the Guard" are aces

I even love "Señor" now.

GENTLEMEN, he said, I DON'T NEED YOUR ORGANIZATION!!

THEY SHAVED HER HEAD (shaved her head!!!)

http://images.entertainment.ie/images_content/rectangle/620x372/LeaveBritneyAlone.jpg

I see Robbie Fulks is touring his cover of this album (& putting it out as a 2lp). Only know him vaguely through Bloodshot, has anyone seen this? Love Street Legal and like Fulks cover of Is Your Love in Vain that's up on youtube.

I love the way he channels bo diddley on “new pony”

she could feel my despair
as i climbed up her hair

It's amazing how "Baby Stop Cryin'" was the hit...in Europe.

Renegade priests
RENEGADE PRIESTS

― or at night (Jon not Jon), Monday, July 10, 2017 5:44 PM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink