Tonight’s the Night

Me llamo dexter morgan

Even more Neil Young, he really does feature a lot on this challenge.

I went into Tonight’s the Night expecting something similar to the other Neil Young albums I’ve heard, but this turned out to be very different.

This album feels raw, bruised, and emotionally exposed in a way that Harvest or After the Gold Rush never quite are. There’s an unpolished, almost uncomfortable honesty running through it, and that’s what makes it so compelling. It sounds like an album made out of grief and exhaustion rather than craft.

Borrowed Tune, Lookout Joe, and Tonight’s the Night really stood out for me. There are genuinely great tracks here, but more importantly, the album works as a complete statement. Every song feels necessary, adding to the atmosphere and emotional weight rather than padding out the runtime.

This might actually be my favourite Neil Young album so far, its messy, imperfect, and deeply human.

Favourite track: Borrowed Tune
Least favourite track: None, everything earns its place
Album artwork: Effortlessly cool and perfectly matches the mood of the record

It's not one of his better ones. It's a bit generic and just not very engaging. His singing also seems a bit off. It's genuinely terrible at times. The music itself is accomplished enough.

2.5 rounded up.

Not the best Neil Young album from this time IMO. It has a few good songs like Albuquerque but a lot of the other songs don't interest me all that much. Still, I like Neil young so a Neil Young album is never gonna be something I don't want to listen to. Just think a lot of his other work outshines this.

I’m used to more introspective, dour songs from Neil Young, so it’s interesting to hear him in more of an impish, chipper mood on Tonight’s the Night. The singles are not as iconic as you can get elsewhere but this only underlines how strong his base-level sound is. It’s amazing what a difference playing music with a smile on your face makes.

I disliked this less than other Neil Young efforts.

This felt more bluesy than folk, I quite liked it - apart from those harmonica parts!

Still don't really get Neil Young. I like the mood set by the stripped-down instrumentation and harmonica parts, I'd say it's fairly pleasant, but that's not even the point or focus of this album as I understand it.

People describe the songs on here as powerful and devastating, and I just can't relate.
It could be that I'm just not used to engaging with folk music this personal. I think back to Springsteen's Nebraska, though, and that one hit me pretty hard on several occasions. By contrast, this one failed to grab me in any meaningful way.

Standouts: Mellow My Mind • Roll Another Number (For The Road) • Albuquerque

Neil Young is one of those artists who is always solid. He may not be my favorite musician of all time but I'll usually listen to him whenever he comes on. And be happy about it. I'm not so much a CST&Y fan (or any of his other bands, really), but his solo work is all great. This album is no exception. It's kind of a vibe album for me, not something I would want to throw on all the time but one that I would want to play every now and then when I was in a certain mood. I think that's how all his music is. I typically don't like the harmonica, at least this kind of harmonica, so I suppose it loses a little for that. But it's not like fucking Bob Dylan where every available breath is used on harmonica. Anyway, I enjoyed this album a lot, I don't think it's his best but even a second tier album from Neil Young is still pretty good. 3.5/5 but rounding down because it's just not quite good enough for a 4 and that damn harmonica.

Neil Young should stick to songwriting. This is not appealing to listen to at all. The band is fine, but there's not too much going on there ever. This was a chore to sit through

I’m not a fan of his voice, and not much into folk music. This was a miss for me.

Mixed bag with this one. I was hating it until Borrowed Tune. Picked up after that with the odd track I wasn’t fussed on

Top Track - Borrowed Tune

Did not vibe with this one. Strange as I like Neil Young, but only really liked Tired Eyes here.

There is far too much Neil Young on here and his voice is annoying.

This is a weird album. At first I thought it was awful, but once your ears adjust and you get used to it, it actually becomes sort of pleasant. I wouldn’t ever seek it out, but I wouldn’t be mad if it came on. I could never recommend this album to anyone as I don’t really think it’s very good…but it’s also not that bad. 2.5 stars.

Great songs in dark times for Neil Young.

Not the greatest NY. 2.5/5

Currently one of the top reviews for this album on this site mentions that this is what a shitty bar in the 70s would sound like and they would not want to go to that bar. I fully agree that these are the sounds of a 70s bar, but we clearly don’t like the same sort of establishments because I would absolutely love to spend time in this bar.

I absolutely cannot stand Neil Young, and this album is a distillation of everything I dislike about his artistic output. The music is generic, the lyrics are meandering and bordering on incompetent, and either the man cannot sing, or he badly needs someone to tell him not to strain for notes he can’t reach.

Other reviews describe this as unfiltered tragedy, and I can certainly see that, but unfiltered tragedy only works if the performer is actually expressive and capable of delivering. This just ends up whiny and annoying.

Hot take, I just don't enjoy Neil Young's voice, but then again I just don't like it when singers aren't trying to hit the notes. 2*