On this album, I took a few steps backward, but I also took a bunch of steps forward because I had a lot of time to concentrate on it. I also had the band sounding like I want it to sound. It’s got that organ sound from ‘Blonde on Blonde’ again. That’s something that has been missing.
~Bob Dylan (to Robert Hilburn – May 1978)
Jonathan Cott interview – Sept. 1978:
Jonathan Cott: What do you think of all the criticisms of Street Legal?
Bob Dylan: I read some of them. In fact, I didn’t understand them. I don’t think these people have had the experiences I’ve had to write those songs. The reviews didn’t strike me as being particularly interesting one way or another, or as compelling to my particular scene. I don’t know who these people are. They don’t travel in the same crowd, anyway. So it would be like me criticizing Pancho Villa.
First of all… “Street-Legal” is a fantastic album. I have never “understood” all the criticism it got.. and still gets, and I even dig the original overall sound & production.
The first & second recording session (April 25 & 26) did not produce much (probably only a master of “We Better Talk This Over”), but on this sessions we (probably) got 4 masters: No Time To Think, Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat), True Love Tends To Forget & Changing Of The Guards.
Continue reading April 27: Bob Dylan 3rd Street-Legal recording session, 27 April 1978 →
Sixteen years
Sixteen banners united over the field
Where the good shepherd grieves
Desperate men, desperate women divided
Spreading their wings ’neath the falling leaves
Fortune calls
I stepped forth from the shadows, to the marketplace
Merchants and thieves, hungry for power, my last deal gone down
She’s smelling sweet like the meadows where she was born
On midsummer’s eve, near the tower
This is a gem!
Municipal Auditorium
Nashville, Tennessee
2 December 1978
- Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
- Billy Cross (lead guitar)
- Alan Pasqua (keyboards)
- Steven Soles (rhythm guitar, backup vocals)
- David Mansfield (violin & mandolin)
- Steve Douglas (horns)
- Jerry Scheff (bass)
- Bobbye Hall (percussion)
- Ian Wallace (drums)
- Helena Springs, Jo Ann Harris, Carolyn Dennis (background vocals)
Continue reading December 2: Bob Dylan performs “Changing Of the Guards” in Nashville – 1978 (Video) →
If anyone is in doubt about Dylan’s 78-concerts… check out this one!
Great stuff!..
Richfield Coliseum
Richfield, Ohio
20 October 1978
- My Back Pages
- I’m Ready (Willie Dixon)
- Mr. Tambourine Man
- Shelter From The Storm
- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
- Tangled Up In Blue
All right, this is a ballad I wrote a few years back, concerning three people who were in love with each other, all the time.
- Ballad Of A Thin Man
This is a song I’ve been singing for quite some time. Funny how it means more to me now than it did when I wrote it.
- Maggie’s Farm
- I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
- Like A Rolling Stone
- I Shall Be Released
- Going, Going, Gone
- The Times They Are A-Changin’
- It Ain’t Me, Babe
- One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)
- Blowin’ In The Wind
- Girl From The North Country
- Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)
- Masters Of War
- Just Like A Woman
- Simple Twist Of Fate
- All Along The Watchtower
- All I Really Want To Do
- It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
- Forever Young
—
- Changing Of The Guards
–
Band:
- Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
- Billy Cross (lead guitar)
- Alan Pasqua (keyboards)
- Steven Soles (rhythm guitar, backup vocals)
- David Mansfield (violin & mandolin)
- Steve Douglas (horns)
- Jerry Scheff (bass)
- Bobbye Hall (percussion)
- Ian Wallace (drums)
- Helena Springs, Jo Ann Harris, Carolyn Dennis (background vocals)
-Egil
June 15: Bob Dylan released Street-Legal in 1978
“On this album, I took a few steps backward, but I also took a bunch of steps forward because I had a lot of time to concentrate on it. I also had the band sounding like I want it to sound. It’s got that organ sound from ‘Blonde on Blonde’ again. That’s something that has been missing.”
~Bob Dylan (to Robert Hilburn – May 1978)
Jonathan Cott interview – Sept. 1978:
Jonathan Cott: What do you think of all the criticisms of Street Legal?
Bob Dylan: I read some of them. In fact, I didn’t understand them. I don’t think these people have had the experiences I’ve had to write those songs. The reviews didn’t strike me as being particularly interesting one way or another, or as compelling to my particular scene. I don’t know who these people are. They don’t travel in the same crowd, anyway. So it would be like me criticizing Pancho Villa.
First of all… “Street-Legal” is a fantastic album. I have never “understood” all the criticism it got.. and still gets, and I even dig the original overall sound & production.
Continue reading June 15: Bob Dylan released Street-Legal in 1978 →
Focusing on Bob Dylan & related music
