Word: dylan
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Perhaps it is time to take a look at Dylan-as-Entertainer, as the charges of sell-out begin to ring more and more trite, if no less true; now more than any time in the past few years Dylan is trying out a new style both on the road and in the studio. After seeing Neil Diamond play Las Vegas, Dylan turned his attention to making his own concerts more "entertaining," even going so far as to hire Diamond's manager. Perhaps that explains the liner photo chosen for Street Legal-a shot of Dylan in a white suit...
Street Legal is Dylan's most ambitious album since Blood on the Tracks. Carefully matching vocals with instrumentals and relying heavily on three female background vocalists, Dylan has his new style coming through on every cut. While the songs are linked together by a common style and, to a lesser degree, common lyrical themes, they are far from consistent and stand together almost as an ad hoc collection of musical experiments, with Dylan the Mixer finding still more ways to work background vocals into his songs...
...Your Love in Vain?" is the most popular song on the album-and the most mediocre. The trumpet-heralded introduction sounds smooth, all right, but the pastiche of instrumentals, background vocals and Dylan's lyrics fails to gel. The instrumentals and female vocalists in the chorus only serve to take away what power the lyrics have; in addition, the words themselves are not above suspicion, with lines like "All right, I'll take a chance, I'll fall in love with you" and the chorus "Are you going to risk it all, or is your love in vain?" Smooth...
...Where Are You Tonight," the "new" Dylan strikes his most attractive pose. The song captures that wild feeling of America at night, the America of Thomas Wolfe and Jack Kerouac. The lean background vocals, snappy rhythm and fine lyrics about two-bit criminals and their women ("Her father emphasized, you got to be more than street-wise") work together to make "Where Are You Tonight?" perhaps the most polished song Dylan has written since Tangled up in Blue...
...Time To Think" Dylan is up to his old tricks, making lengthy alliterative lists of words and then complaining (mocking?) that there's no time to think. The short, repetitive rhythm matches the lyrics well and the sparring use of background singers livens up what might otherwise be an oppressively boring song...