Tonight's the Night (vinyl)

by

Neil Young

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In my senior year in high school (1975) I was a huge Neil Young fan. I had all his solo albums, had seen him in concert several times, knew virtually every one of his tunes by heart, and I even looked like the guy. When I heard that he had released a new album, "Tonight's the Night", I hustled down to the local Tower Records, forked over my ...,and rushed home to give it listen. I hated it. "What," I asked no one in particular, "is this mess?" Neil's lack of polish and affectation were always part of his appeal, but "Tonight's the Night" was too much. Neil and his band were so loaded they could hardly play, Neil singing was so bad it was laughable, and the whole record sounded like it had been recorded in a barn. I dismissed the thing as some kind of joke and filed "Tonight's the Night" away on the shelf. I then put on "After the Gold Rush" and thought about what I could have bought with that ... I wasted on "Tonight's the Night".

A few weeks later I was telling a friend how bad "Tonight's the Night" was and pulled it off the shelf to play for him. But, on second listen the album didn't sound as bad as I had remembered. "Come Baby, Let's Go Downtown" was a nice rockin' tune, "Roll Another Number" was an amusing druggie tale, and "Tired Eyes" seemed like an sad, even pretty, ballad. "Hmmm," I thought "Maybe this isn't a joke after all." I still didn't think it was a good album, it sure wasn't "Harvest", but I decided to give it a few more listens before I wrote it off for good.

So over the next few weeks I listened to "Tonight's the Night" again. And again. And again. And again. I listened to it drunk and I listened to it sober. I listened to during the day and I listened to it at night. I listened to it loud and I listened to it soft. I just couldn't stop listening to it. It replaced "Live at Fillmore East" as the album that was constantly on my turntable. It was absolutely hypnotic. "Tonight's the Night" sure wasn't "Harvest"; it was far better. It was some strange kind of Canadian, whiteboy, folk blues that reached right inside you, in the same way that Robert Johnson did, or Roscoe Holcomb did. It was the real thing, and it didn't matter if Neil couldn't carry a tune to save his life, or that the steel guitar was out of tune; it was pure, unaffected emotion that could send chills down your spine. And the songs! Each one was gem and I soon knew them all by heart (and I still do). Needless to say, my initial impression of "Tonight's the Night" underwent a complete revision. I now thought it was a bloody masterpiece and I've had no reason to change my mind since then. Although I no longer listen to "Tonight's the Night" obsessively, or even frequently, every time I put it in the changer it still sounds . . . "fresh"? "unique"? "original"? "raw"? All that and more. It always sounds like "Tonight's the Night". It's still the real thing.