Neil Young: Tonight's The Night

Lineup

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Neil Young - guitar, piano, harmonica, vocals
Danny Whitten - guitar, vocals (on "Come On Baby")
Nils Lofgren - guitar, piano
Ben Keith - slide guitar
Ralph Molina - drums
Billy Talbot - bass

Tracklist:

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Tonight's the Night Pt. 1 4:39
Speakin' Out 4:56
World on a String 2:27
Borrowed Tune 3:26
Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown (Whitten/Young) 3:35
Mellow My Mind 3:07
Roll Another Number (for the Road) 3:02
Albuquerque 4:02
New Mama 2:11
Lookout Joe 3:57
Tired Eyes 4:38
Tonight's the Night Pt. 2 4:52

-all songs by Neil Young except where noted-

After the smash hit 'After the Goldrush', the record company was itching to get their hands on another similar album. However, after the recent heroin-related deaths of both roadie Bruce Berry and Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten, Neil was in no position to make a light-hearted sequel. Instead he went out and, in a recording session where the alcohol flowed like water, recorded most of the tracks for 'Tonight's the Night'. The album ended up being shelved for two years, deemed unpresentable to the public, and 'On the Beach', an only slightly more upbeat album, was released first. In 1975, a much different version of 'Tonight's the Night' was released, with only a few cuts from that whiskey drenched version making the cut.

'Tonight's the Night' is, to me, the greatest album of Neil Young's career. There is not one recognizable hit here and on first listen there doesn't seem to be anything special. But when you actually sit down and listen it's hard not to be caught up first in the raw emotion behind many of the lyrics, then in the brilliant, laid back music. Every single song is a classic, there is nothing even resembling filler.

Part's 1 and 2 of the title song (really just different versions of the same song) of course bookend the album with a rememberance of Bruce Berry, immortalizing the roadie, whose job it was to go unnoticed most of the time behind the scenes. It has the most straight forward lyrics of the whole album with Neil telling us how "it sent a chill up and down my spine...when I heard that he died." The song itself has a spine chilling effect, with the creepy intro and general scary feel of the whole song. "Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown" seems at first like a lighthearted rocker, but when you realize the song (written by Danny Whitten) is about having to go into the city for a heroin deal, trying not to get busted, it takes on a whole new tone. "Borrowed Tune" with it's sad opening harmonica and quiet piano perfectly describes Neil's state of mind:

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"I'm climbing this ladder
my head in the clouds
I hope that it matters
I'm having my doubts.
I'm singing this borrowed tune
I took from the Rolling Stones
Alone in this empty room
Too wasted to write my own."

It really shows how hopeless things must have looked with his friends dropping like flies. "Tired Eyes" describes a true story of a coke deal that went bad. The buyers pulled out guns instead of money and shot four people, killing one. This happened on Neil's ranch one night during a party and the dead man wasn't discovered until the next morning.

In the midst of all this depression, there are a few signs of light. In "Mellow My Mind" Neil seems to take some comfort in girlfriend Carrie Snodgrass, singing:

"Baby mellow my mind / Make me feel like a school boy on good times"

Also the vocals on this song make it quite apparent how drunk he was during the recording session. "New Mama" is a fantastic acoustic song written about Neil's newborn son, with great CSNY-esque harmonizing in the chorus. In "Roll Another Number" it's clear that things have changed since the carefree days of the sixties and things aren't likely to be that way again:

"I'm not going back to Woodstock for a while though I long to hear that lonesome hippy smile I'm a million miles away from that helicopter day No I don't think I'll be going back that way"

This is not an album for the casual fan. I wouldn't make this my first Neil Young CD - "After the Goldrush" or "Harvest would be much better starters. I would wait and not come to this album until you firmly have a foot in Neil Young territory. For someone looking to become a hardcore fan, or just interested in learning more, I'd also suggest reading the biography "Shakey" as it's very, very good and will give you so many insights into the making of this album.

Contents

Neil Young: Tonight's The Night

Lineup

Tracklist:

Index