Premier Rock Forum

Hear a lot of different opinions on this one (and "Harvest"). Curious as to what you guys think.

Sheeeeet... I thought you meant the Rod Stewart one.

This may be my favorite Neil Young album...

I'm also often queer for Rust Never Sleeps, but this one seems to contain the best of what Mr. Young does, all rolled into one record. It also sounds very desperate, and makes things like Zuma sound really well-planned and formulaic.

Not Crap. At all. No waffle whatsoever...

I give a NOT CRAP to both Neil AND Rod for each of their "Tonight's The Night"s.

Neil had Crazy Horse, of course. Rod had the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Both heavy great bands in their prime (yes, each had a long prime).

Neil's is about sadness and loss... Rod's is about busting a cherry. Both fine themes in rock.

Superking wrote:[Tonight's the Night] makes things like Zuma sound really well-planned and formulaic.

This is nearly my exact response upon first listening to Tonight's the Night, though I still prefer Zuma.

Been listening to a ton of Neil Young these days. I've even gained an appreciation for Sleeps with Angels, and I suddenly really like Harvest after having written it off years ago. Never thought that would happen.

Everybody was lip flapping about recently,
But i loves me some "On the Beach".

The real test for the individual listener on Tonight's The Night comes halfway through "Mellow My Mind", when he gets to the second "Ain't got nothin' on those feelings that I haaaa-a-aaa-aa-aaad" -- and he's, well, as off-key as off-key gets, plus he's swaying in front of the microphone.

I love it. It's one of my favorite records. (In high school, I spent many wintery Minnesota mornings on my 45-minute bus ride listening to a cassette with "Tonight's The Night" on side A and "Nebraska" on side B.)

It's one of the best examples of a record with a specific occasion to it, a unified feeling, which is kind of a marvel considering the wide range of arrangements (solo piano/harmonica, quiet acoustic, full rock band, live song, etc.).

I suspect this record will always clock in somewhere in my top 5 albums of all time.

DefinitelyNOTtheSWEDE wrote:Everybody was lip flapping about recently,
But i loves me some "On the Beach".

Just recently got into this record. Amazing that i took this long to get into it.

Tonights the night is beautiful ramshackle music. Not Crap.

Not one of my favorites of Neil's, but still pretty damn good. 'Tired Eyes', 'Albuquerque', 'Come on Baby, Let's Go Downtown' (feat. Danny Whitten) all great. You can practically smell how drunk Neil is on 'Roll Another Number'. As raw a record as it gets.