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1976
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"...True Love Tends To Forget..."
You never can
pin Bob Dylan down. Take the artwork for 1978's "Street- Legal"
(itself apparently a phrase for a modified hoodlum’s car or a dodgy hot rod).
He stands there all elusive-like outside the entrance to the makeshift Rundown
Studios (as he called it) – looking to his left down a street from the safety
of some steps and a layback. Dylan looks cool – alluding to something – seeing
the bigger picture we mere fan-schmucks cannot see. He is after all the
spokesperson for a generation – and a renewed one too since 1975 and the
magisterial "Blood On The Tracks" LP that took the whole world by
storm.
But then you
turn over the cover to read the credits on the rear sleeve – and you’re
presented with something truly garish and staggeringly unflattering – Dylan in
what appears to be a white clown's outfit with mascara running down his face
looking like he’s auditioning as an extra for the Alice Cooper Travelling
Horror Show. It's a really crappy and unbecoming photo that no other artist
would have let pass. But this is Bob Dylan - cool one moment - a putz and a let-down the next
- a legend within a mystery within an enigma (and that's just the left leg)...
And in some ways
that 'who gives a crap' attitude permeates everything about this much
anticipated and yet (at the time) much derided LP. As one insider put it -
"Street-Legal" was recorded in a week, mixed the week after and
released regardless the week after that. The inference was of course that the
new record was a rushed half-assed effort. And in some ways – recording-wise
anyway – it is. His band entourage were supposed to be using Rundown Studios
(in Santa Monica, California) as a rehearsal space for the Japanese Tour – so
the material was recorded in a haphazard ad-hoc way (missed cues, vocals
panning in and out etc) with the perceived idea that they’d return to the songs
and the sessions and record them properly somewhere else. But Dylan liked what
he had – describing it as "the closest to where I am" – and released
the unwieldy poorly-recorded beast anyway (all 50 cramped-on-vinyl minutes of
it).
The backlash also
came from waiting. After the career highs of "Blood On The Tracks" in
1975 and "Desire" in 1976 and the filler live album "Hard
Rain" in late 1976 – by June 1978 anticipation for more studio goodies was
at fever pitch. As I recall the public liked/disliked "Street Legal"
in equal measure - but critics were less kind – especially the famous Greil
Marcus review which once again dragged out the 'crap' word whilst throwing in
'fake' and 'sexist' too for good measure (lyrics in "New Pony" stood
accused). Dylan reacted angrily saying that even if the Production values
weren't exactly Steely Dan – the music was good and his lyrics had meaning and
were not just convenient quotes taken from the rhyming-couplets dictionary sat
alongside his Woody Guthrie songbook and recent divorce papers in whatever
place the Rambler called home.
Which brings us
to this re-constructed Stereo CD Remaster from 2003 – carried out by the mighty
GREG CALBI – a name synonymous with transfer greatness for me. Given what they
had to work with and knowing how bad my initial 1980s CBS CD sounded – the
transformation here is amazing and I for one feel should lead to a reappraisal
of this slice of lyrical haphazard Bobness. Here is the changing of the
guards...
UK re-released
March 2004 – "Street-Legal" by BOB DYLAN on Sony /Columbia 512355 2
(Barcode 5099751235521) is a straightforward CD Remaster of his 1978 9-Track
LP.
It was initially reissued September 2003 as a CD/SACD Hybrid Dual Format
release in a gatefold card digipak (Columbia 512335 6 – Barcode 5099751235569)
but that quickly deleted and replaced with a standard jewel case issue. The
2003 Remaster has been used on this Reissue (repressed in 2009 and 2016). It
plays out as follows (50:26 minutes):
1. Changing Of
The Guards
2. New Pony
3. No Time To
Think
4. Baby Stop
Crying
5. Is Your Love
In Vain?
6. Senor (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)
Tracks 1 to 9
are the album "Street-Legal" - released July 1978 in the USA on
Columbia JC 35453 and June 1978 in the UK on CBS Records CBS 86067. Produced by
DON DeVITO - it peaked at No. 11 in the USA and No. 2 in the UK.
You'd have to
say that the gatefold slip of paper that laughably calls itself an insert is a
huge disappointment - especially on a reissued Remaster. As the original had no lyrics, this was a perfect opportunity to finally provide them - words being a tad important when it
comes to Bob Dylan. But at least we get that stunning GREG CALBI Remaster - a
man whose had his mitts on McCartney's "Band On The Run", Paul
Simon's "Graceland", Supertramp's "Crime Of The Century"
and "Breakfast In America" and even John Mayer's Remastered
catalogue. Calbi has turned a pig's ear into something prettier than a sow's
rump...a job well done it has to be said.
A quick glance
at the original LP playing time for the Side 1 opener "Changing Of The
Guards" shows a 6:34 minute duration – but the 2003 remaster and remix has
the ‘endless road’ song extended to 7:04 minutes - suddenly packing a
live-in-the-studio Band punch it never had. Now you can actually hear David
Manfield’s Mandolin and the three ladies crooning after every line – Carolyn
Dennis, Joanne Harris and Helena Springs on backing vocals. And the guitar on "New
Pony" is now more menacing and in your face as are the drums (its also
increased from 4:28 to 4:39 minutes - how much longer indeed).
I always thought
"No Time To Think" had a great hook (as you slowly sink) - the clever
rhymes come fast and furious and that rolling piano is now more to the fore in
the mix even if it is overly long at 8:20 minutes. Side 1 ends with the first
single "Baby Stop Crying". Released July 1978 on CBS Records S CBS
6499 and unlike most BD 45s "Baby Stop Crying" actually charted -
peaking at No. 13 and enjoying an 11-week run and the wild luxury in 1978 of a
12" single issue in a picture sleeve (not sure why). With the guitar chug
of "New Pony" as the flipside on all formats - it was an excellent
double-header.
Side 2 opens
with the cheery "Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)" as Bob asks
"...can you tell me where we're heading...Lincoln County Road or
Armageddon..." and at 5:42 minutes it remains the same but the clarity of
that strummed acoustic guitar and the sax solo is better than before. "Is
Your Love In Vain?" was the second single lifted from the LP in Blighty
(CBS Records S CBS 6718 in September 1978 with "We Better Talk This
Over" on the B-side) and its whiny theme made an impression at the time
even if it did feel like some dismissive 60ts outtake ("...alright...I'll
fall in love with you..."). But my fave-rave on the album is "True
Love Tends To Forget" which feels like a great Bob Dylan song complete
with actual emotion and not just snide observation.
The musical
arrangement of "We Better Talk This Over" signals what is to come
with "Slow Train Coming" and its lyrics are so emotion-confessional
they can at times become uncomfortable. Speaking of which - were the lyrics
"...if you don't believe there's a Christ...and sweet Paradise...just
remind to show you the stars..." in the album's final cut "Where Are
You Tonight (Journey Through Dark Heat)" about his lost 10-year marriage
or leaning into the religious trio of albums that began with "Slow Train
Coming" in August 1979 - probably both. And that "Like A Rolling
Stone" organ sound – wow - a good end to a really good album.
Not as
heart-wrenching as "Blood On The Tracks" or as lyrically hard-hitting
as "Desire" - nonetheless 1978's "Street-Legal" is a winner
on re-listen – it’s an all-good Bob Dylan album when such things were something
you hoped for in the later decades but rarely got. "Street Legal"
deserves another go-round and this superb 2003 Remaster has finally given the
LP the aural oomph it always needed.
"...Missing
her so much..." - Bob Dylan sang on "Where Are You Tonight..." -
I felt the same re-playing this street hoodlum of a record...
