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 slick production, the songs are as dense as anything
Dylan
had written since before his motorcycle accident. So,
becomes an interesting dichotomy: although the arrangements might discourage close listening, the album is filled with songs that deserve attention. And
is fascinating for just that reason -- in another setting, these are songs that would have been hailed as near-masterpieces. Consequentially, it's not surprising that, while some consider
a missed opportunity, there are factions of
Dylanphiles
that find the album worth the time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine