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Neil Young
Tonight's the Night


4.5
superb

Review

by Broken Arrow USER (10 Reviews)
February 16th, 2006 | 35 replies


Release Date: 1975 | Tracklist


“You keep me searching for a heart of gold, you keep me searching and I’m getting’ old”

Yes, 1972 and “Heart of Gold” reached number one on the charts. The album Harvest had also reached number one, people were flocking to Neil Young concerts, this album had people going nuts over Neil’s brand of soft folk rock that was suitable for the whole family. After 7 years of making records he finally had the audience in his the palm of his hand. The immediate response to a hit album is “why don’t I write a bunch of laid back folk tunes and score myself another hit record”. Instead Neil opted for the opposite response to his chart-topping album.


"This song put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I met more interesting people there."

And the ditch he did go. In 1973 he had material that needed recording and let’s just say that when Neil Young and his band are cooped up in a dark makeshift studio armed with a years supply of tequila the results will in fact differ from the album Harvest, they would differ enough to inspire Neil to write two more albums (On the Beach, Time Fades Away) and along with Tonight’s the Night they would go on to form the much loved yet much criticized “Ditch Trilogy”. It was the first of the three written and recorded but due to complications with Reprise Records it would be released as the last installment in 1975.

From the opening tinkle on the piano, the soft guitar fill and the fade in of the vocals the listener can start to tell, this is not Harvest. Tonight’s the Night starts the album off with the raw vocal harmonies, scratchy vocals and the story about Bruce Barry, a roadie who had overdosed on heroin. “If you never heard him sing/ I guess you won’t to soon/ now people let me tell you it sent a chill up and down my spine/ when I picked up the telephone and heard that he died out on the main line” The lyrics tell quite a personal story about what heroin can do to a man. Heroin had already taken Crazyhorse guitarist Danny Whitten, who Neil was quite close with, in 1972.

After the haunting opening track the album slides into a more playful atmosphere with the song Speakin’ Out. A typical blues song with Neil singing his non-sensical lyrics and providing a piano solo, while guitarist Nils Lofgren providing the first ever guitar solo on a Neil Young album that’s not by Neil Young himself. The album sets a pattern of sorts as they go to the more upbeat song with another raw vocal track, World on a String than back to a softer song with the solo piano ballad Borrowed Tune.

Again the soft song is replaced a straight up rock song, Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown. The song was recorded live at the Fillmore East in 1970 and was put on the album as a tribute to the late Danny Whitten who takes lead vocals on this song with Neil singing back up. The song is followed up by, Mellow My Mind, you guessed it another mellow song. (No pun intended) The song is followed up by 2 more songs, which are of the same mood and sound, Roll Another Number (for the Road) and Albuquerque . Chilled out rock music with Neil’s vocals in desperate need of over-dubs, slapped together vocal harmonies and the country tinged sound of Ben Keith’s lap steel guitar.

The next song, New Mama has easily the best vocals on the album. The only instrumentation is an acoustic guitar and sparse piano. It has a flawless vocal harmony done with 3 other the band members and it is the clearest you will hear any of their voices on the whole album.

Lookout Joe is another rock song not unlike Come on Baby Let’s Go Down Town. The fun lyrics, the whole band joining in on the refrain, the shout out right before the slide guitar solo “Take it Ben!” And the pounding chords make this a great feel good song. Don’t get to comfortable though the mood is about to change again with the song Tired Eyes. “Well he shot four men in a cocaine deal/ left them lying in an open field/ full of old cars with bullet wholes in the mirror” Neil half sings, half says telling the true story with a few fabrications of a man he knew in Topagna Canyon. Neil pleads over and over to “please take his advice and open up our tired eyes” to music that would immediately remind you of Albuquerque.

The dark groove comes bursting out your speakers again! “Tonight’s the night, Tonight’s the niiiight”. Yes the final chapter to the album, the finale is Tonight’s the Night – Part 2 a reminder of the life of Bruce Barry that you can remember from the opening track. This is truly a great way to close the album.


4.5/5

Highlights-
Tonight’s the Night
World on a String
New Mama
Tired Eyes



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4.2
excellent
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doctorjimmy (3)
Colorless, tasteless, odorless. Proceed with a beer in hand....



Comments:Add a Comment 
AlienEater
February 16th 2006


716 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Quite a good review

Neoteric
February 16th 2006


3243 Comments


Nice review, tracklisting maybe?

Broken Arrow
February 16th 2006


220 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Oh sorry, there already was a review of this so I thought it would already be included.



/adds

Zebra
Moderator
February 17th 2006


2647 Comments


The descriptions throughout the review were decent, but sometimes you didn't really describe the track and just gave me a vague idea of the sound.
I'm not much of a Neil Young fan, but my dad is. I don't think I have ever heard this album.

Broken Arrow
February 17th 2006


220 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Yeah thanks for the help, I haven't written a review in a long, long time and I was typing it up in Word and it was looking a bit long. It's also funny because usually its the opposite and I focus too much on the music and not enough on the other part.



I"ll try it out when I do my review for "On the Beach" which I'll probably start tomorrow and will be up sometime during the weekend.



Thanks for the response!

pulseczar
February 17th 2006


2385 Comments


Nice review, Ol' Neil's always a hit or miss with me, but this is pretty good. My favourites are probably After the Goldrush, Freedom, Harvest and more recently, Greendale.

Broken Arrow
February 17th 2006


220 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

On the Beach is my favourite.



I acctually love each album of the "Ditch Trilogy" even though I don't own Time Fades Away because it was only pressed on viynl, I have the mp3 though.



Greendale is indeed awesome, cool concept. I"n not crazy about Freedom, and Harvest is pretty good. After the Goldrush is definitly a great album and in my top 5 Neil Young albums.



I have around 25 albums and bootlegs by Neil. Nearly 30 if you count his other bands. ;)This Message Edited On 02.16.06

masada
February 17th 2006


2733 Comments


I've known Neil Young since around 1492, when he sailed the ocean blue.

He was a bit more fun in those tdays.

pulseczar
February 17th 2006


2385 Comments


Neil was born in 1945 so there goes your story mister

MrKite
May 2nd 2007


5020 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

in his the palm of his hand.


David Briggs was so pissed when Neil and whoever else edited this.

Jimmy McDonough (sp?) loves this and I trust his opinion so this is a must buy.

Jarvig
December 20th 2010


168 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Millimeters from being a classic (rating 5).



But amazing album. Cant get enough of Tired Eyes, New Mama and World on a String.

ExcentrifugalForz
July 2nd 2014


2124 Comments


if you are not listening to this bumpin some lines

than you are not listening as Neil intended

NorthernSkylark
January 5th 2015


12134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

haven't heard this yet!

DePlazz
March 5th 2015


4681 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Monumental album. Dangerously deep & dark.

NorthernSkylark
March 5th 2015


12134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

i dunno man, i don't love his voice on this

the songs are great tho

DePlazz
June 24th 2015


4681 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Alright Nils, alright.



Lofgren's lead on Speakin' Out is one of the sweetest guitar solos ever.

StarlessCore
July 12th 2016


7813 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

underrated by you idiots

zakalwe
December 1st 2016


40148 Comments


Away

grannypantys
August 1st 2017


2582 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

was he just a loser?

He was a friend of yours

What do you mean, he had bullet holes in his mirrors?

DePlazz
August 2nd 2017


4681 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

He tried to do his best

But he could not



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