There are few cooler bootleg names out there than Street-Illegal. It’s short, punchy, and it provides an almost exact description of what you can expect from this Bob Dylan compilation. Street-Legal gets a rough time because it precedes a decade-long studio downfall for Dylan. He was far from his best during those days of Empire Burlesque and Knocked Out Loaded. But for those who want to hear more from Dylan at an interesting point in his career, look no further than this bootleg. Alternate takes, live performances of songs which Dylan would never play again, and outtakes from a period of intensity. Divorce proceedings, a rough end to the Rolling Thunder Revue, and the death of Elvis Presley would all play their part in the making of Street-Legal. But little of that influence was truly brought to life on the original release. This is why we must look to bootlegs.
Sweat the heatwave away listening to Dylan get to grips with the death of The King. It is what we were put on this land to do. Twenty songs from a time in the studio, which seems to lose that finer balance between personal life problems and professional perseverance. Blood on the Tracks had it, Desire less so. It’s not burnout which affects Dylan here. He had been on the road for so long that burnout would have been a holiday. This is beyond that feeling of a break. What it affects is the vocal work from Dylan. He sounds a little fractured, a tad more delicate than his earlier recordings. Gone is that confidence heard on a song like Idiot Wind or prevailing social consciousness of Hurricane. Instead, Dylan sounds a tad hollow. It may be why he utilises backing vocalists for the likes of Coming from the Heart and for his tours to follow Street-Legal. These recordings sound as though they are struggling with the Rolling Thunder Revue tour more than anything.
Dylan wanted to move away from that sound and yet assembled the bulk of his instrumentalists from the tour. You can hear him struggle on the two versions of Stop Now featured, one fast, one slow, neither all that great. But it is an interesting listen, as is the case for the likes of live versions of No Time to Think, Baby, Stop Crying, and True Love Tends to Forget. Songs which would rarely return to the setlist on future tours because Dylan wished to distance himself from Street-Legal. It’s a solid piece of work but Street-Illegal shines a light on the studio frustrations and the personal problems which were making those moments so much worse. Bootlegged versions of these songs shine a light on the spiralling, which would soon bring in the role of God on future records.
That much becomes an inevitability. Dylan rekindles his faith during a truly trying time for him as an artist. Rehearsal versions of Baby, Stop Crying give it a nudge towards that gospel feel. Stop Now, the slowed version that is, certainly has a touch of the religious fervour Dylan would use on stage. Street-Illegal is another top-quality bootleg from a very reliable source of tapes. This is a moment which highlights Dylan as an artist trying to figure a new route through his musical output, in the wake of the death of his hero, no less. The likes of We Better Talk This Over and True Love Tends to Forget are that fine line Blood on the Tracks would offer. That blur between influences from literature and life, but the latter wins out this time as the divorce from Sara Lownds affects these early versions so clearly.
