Tonight's the Night

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
By 1975 Young had written some of the most enduring anthems in rock history. But from the slow, tension-building piano opening of "Tonight's the Night", he downshifts into darkness and Crazy Horse's folk-country melodies take on a guttural hum that would eventually speak to generations of punk and grunge musicians. Inspired by the overdose deaths of two of Young's friends, roadie Bruce Berry and guitarist Danny Whitten, the title track (and its closing reprise) is a hypnotic cry of "why?" Even the relative party songs, "Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown" and "Roll Another Number", fit the album's bus-to-nowhere resignation. --Steve Knopper

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Customer reviews

review by: Mike aging rocker date: 2008-02-22 rating:
First but I will be buying more
I like a variety of music from country through to thrash metal. Enjoy listening to Roy Harper and Bob Dylan so I thought I would give Neil Young a try. Knew nothing about this album before I bought it but the gravely, drawn, folk/rock melodies are simply excellent. I definetly will be purchasing more.

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review by: date: 2007-08-22 rating:
beautiful and tender, yet raw and jagged
"Tonight's the Night" was one of the first few Neil Young albums I bought, almost 10 years ago. At the time I was well into his rock stuff - "Like a Hurricane", "Hey Hey My My" and the like - as well as his acoustic stuff... but this seemed to come from nowhere. On reading the sleeve notes, I was concerned by how little Neil actually plays guitar on the album. He seems to mostly play harp and piano. There's a fair bit of steel guitar too, which I wasn't too optimistic about.

It's difficult thinking back to that time now, since Neil was a big inspiration to me, and I knew a lot of his music, and a lot about him, but there's so much more I know now... I guess all this is leading up to me saying that despite how different this record sounded to the things I liked about Neil Young, I loved it all the more for it, and now it's just a natural and fitting part of the whole. It's a beautiful, tender, and yet raw and jagged album. It's dark, yet playful. The arrangements sooth, while the lyrics and the voices bristle with emotion.

When people who don't know much about Neil Young ask me to recommend an album... well, it's a difficult task because there's so much to consider - nevertheless, I always recommend this one as one of his best, though I know it's not musically representative of the man. And I know that some people who aren't used to this kind of roughness are going to be repelled. However, it is emotionally representative of him, and if a person can open up his mind enough, forget all the autotune of modern records, forget the slick production; he can love this record all the more for it's wailing, out of tune vocals and it's lumbering rhythms.

I'm sure most of you already know that when recording this album Neil and his band would stay up late drinking tequila and smoking weed, and then they would start playing these songs. And that's how they came to sound so perfectly imperfect. This record is a testament to Neil's methods, to his integrity, and to his ability to put his entire heart into his songwriting.

I've said it in a previous review, and I'll say it again: I don't know of any other artist who puts so much of themselves into their music, whose work is as personal as Neil Young's. That quality is was makes people feel Neil's music and what inspires so many guitar players and songwriters.

If you already like Neil Young, get this album and enrich your understanding of him, and your collection. If you're not familiar with him, this probably isn't the best place to start. Do be sure to come back here though; I can't imagine not owning this record - it's that important.

Oh, here's another story about this record: when Neil toured it, as you know, audiences weren't that impressed as he was playing this record all the way through, with none of his hits. I heard from one source that Neil said, "If you stay till the end, then I'll play some songs you've heard before". Then when he finished playing the album, he started from the beginning again. That's pretty funny. And it makes you wonder what you might have done if you had been there. Hopefully you would have stayed.

It's only one source that i heard that from, so I'm not sure if it's true. It probably happened one night. I also read that Neil was drinking a lot of tequila on stage, and some nights would play the title track 3 or 4 times.

Sorry; I've taken a tidy, succinct review and made it messy. I just thought you might like to hear a story if you didn't know it already.

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review by: date: 2006-07-06 rating:
An album to play when you're drunk
It took me years to get this and it may require you're perseverence but whenever you're down and you reach for that bottle or three.... just put this album on and try to sing along without crying. It's impossible! That's what this is all about - EMOTION! An antidote to the computer controlled music of the noughties for sure. This is as close to the blues that you can get. Every song is raw and hewn from the sorrow and useless loss of life that Young was feeling at the time. But this also a celebration of life and a fitting remembrance of those who had passed away so young, cut short by drug abuse. 'Tonight's The Night' can be a wake every night if you want it, if you'll just 'Mellow your mind' and 'Roll another number (for the road)'

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review by: tristan date: 2005-08-17 rating:
timeless
for me this is one of the greatest albums of the last 30 years, it has not dated one iota as many of the records of the time have. Tired Eyes is the most unearthly song about drugs ever written and every song has moments of sublime beauty. to those who bemoan the rough edges, you're missing the point.


review by: mdaread date: 2005-06-24 rating:
The best album ever made?
This is Neil Youngs best album and consequently, one of the greatest ever. Rough, messy, dark and pure genius. Stand out tracks are Tired Eyes, Mellow my mind and the title track. Get it.

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