Neil Young – Tonight’s the Night Review

Those post-Harvest and On the Beach days are a difficult route to follow. Not because Tonight’s the Night is a lesser album, but because the mood had changed. Alienation prevails in a way it did not on the preceding albums, despite it being a core theme. Gone is the freedom of the beach or the isolation of Harvest, and in comes a tension which would completely capitulate on Tonight’s the Night. Grief is the prevailing message, reaction to it is what guides the messier, harsher sounds. A black-and-white album cover hides a spirited yet fatigued creative at the heart of this, as Neil Young tries to rekindle his love for a career that, for two years and counting, had become a hindrance. A desolate sense does well to hide the softer flourishes, the charms and heartbreaks which were defining Young at the time.  

Tonight’s the Night may be stuffed full of depressive blues and jagged edges but it is in this rough patch that Young rekindles those passions. In the face of grief and genuine heartbreak comes a flow of hope and expectation. Tonight is, indeed, the night. Those slow builds on the title track, the drunken stupor-like delivery, and a slight echo from Young standing so far from the microphone, is all part of the process. What tonight is the night for is completely alien to a listener until those bass grooves take hold of your skull, until the percussion starts hammering on your brain. Return to Speakin’ Out, while it snows outside if you can. Writing this while a blizzard hits, kissing the already soggy ground, is the way to do it. Tonight’s the Night is a bonafide experience where Young has nothing particular in store. Tonight is just another. One where opportunity is present, with nothing yet nailed on as a plan.  

That throwaway piano note at the end of Speakin’ Out is a jagged last punch. It does nothing to lead into World on a String, a song all about the comings and goings of luck, but it feels necessary. Every move Young makes, erratic as it may sound, is filled with a confidence that provides intent. All those flutters of trust in his self are unravelled by Borrowed Tune, as he looks out on the peaceful lands which he was once in for Harvest, longed for. Disturbing but familiar all the same, Tonight’s the Night reserves those stripped-back tones for moments of deeper contemplation. Losses of his friends, his loved ones, to drugs he still hammers against, are all part of the fabric making this album. Young darts between those soft heartbreakers and the sudden adrenalin of moving on and out with Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown, an erratic piece of work to say the least.  

Softer country tones can be heard towards the start of the B-Side with Roll Another Number (For the Road). On he goes, for the sake of it at times. Young is adrift through Tonight’s the Night and yet, try as he might to figure out where his career starts and ends, he comes through with another punchy, long-lasting read of the times, Woodstock mentions and all. Standout track Albuquerque toys with a need for isolation and yet the strongest moments Young provides here are in unison with the ample instrumentals brought on by the rest of the band. Tired Eyes and Lookout Joe are stellar arrangements too – standards of the Young sound which would swing from strength to strength through the decade, despite itself, at times.