In 1978, two years after Desire, Bob Dylan released one of the most divisive albums in his catalog. I’ve read fans and critics alike describe Street Legal as both his best album and his worst.

I don’t share either of those opinions, but I definitely lean more toward the former. This is by no means a bad collection of songs — on the contrary, it contains some tracks that number among Dylan’s finest compositions.

Street Legal is the second album I bought and heard for the first time for the purposes of this blog series (the first was Planet Waves). I don’t know why I had those particular holes in my Dylan collection (less name recognition, I suppose, and spottier reputations than his other work) but I’m very glad I finally own these albums.

Continue reading →