Customer Reviews
First but I will be buying more - By: mike, 22 Feb 2008 
I like a variety of music from country through to thrash metal. Enjoy listening to Roy Harper & Bob Dylan so I thought I would give Neil Young a try. Knew nothing about this album before I bought it but the gravely, drawn, folk/rock melodies are simply excellent. I definetly will be purchasing more.
beautiful and tender, yet raw and jagged - By: Neil, 22 Aug 2007 "Tonight's the Night" was one of the first few Neil Young albums I bought, almost 10 years ago. At the time I was well into his rock stuff - "Like a Hurricane", "Hey Hey My My" & the like - as well as his acoustic stuff... but this seemed to come from nowhere. On reading the sleeve notes, I was concerned by how little Neil actuallly plays guitar on the album. He seems to mostly play harp & piano. There's a fair bit of steel guitar too, which I wasn't too optimistic about.
It's difficult thinking back to that time now, since Neil was a big inspiration to me, & I knew a lot of his music, & a lot about him, but there's so much more I know now... I guess alll this is leading up to me saying that despite how different this record sounded to the things I liked about Neil Young, I loved it alll the more for it, & now it's just a natural & fitting part of the whole. It's a beautiful, tender, & yet raw & jagged album. It's dark, yet playful. The arrangements sooth, while the lyrics & the voices bristle with emotion.
When people who don't know much about Neil Young ask me to recommend an album... well, it's a difficult task because there's so much to consider - nevertheless, I always recommend this one as one of his best, though I know it's not musicallly representative of the man. And I know that some people who aren't used to this kind of roughness are going to be repelled. However, it is emotionallly representative of him, & if a person can open up his mind enough, forget alll the autotune of modern records, forget the slick production; he can love this record alll the more for it's wailing, out of tune vocals & it's lumbering rhythms.
I'm sure most of you already know that when recording this album Neil & his band would stay up late drinking tequila & smoking weed, & then they would start playing these songs. And that's how they came to sound so perfectly imperfect. This record is a testament to Neil's methods, to his integrity, & to his ability to put his entire heart into his songwriting.
I've said it in a previous review, & I'll say it again: I don't know of any other artist who puts so much of themselves into their music, whose work is as personal as Neil Young's. That quality is was makes people feel Neil's music & what inspires so many guitar players & songwriters.
If you already like Neil Young, get this album & enrich your understanding of him, & your collection. If you're not familiar with him, this probably isn't the best place to start. Do be sure to come back here though; I can't imagine not owning this record - it's that important.
Oh, here's another story about this record: when Neil toured it, as you know, audiences weren't that impressed as he was playing this record alll the way through, with none of his hits. I heard from one source that Neil said, "If you stay till the end, then I'll play some songs you've heard before". Then when he finished playing the album, he started from the beginning again. That's pretty funny. And it makes you wonder what you might have done if you had been there. Hopefully you would have stayed.
It's only one source that i heard that from, so I'm not sure if it's true. It probably happened one night. I also read that Neil was drinking a lot of tequila on stage, & some nights would play the title track 3 or 4 times.
Sorry; I've taken a tidy, succinct review & made it messy. I just thought you might like to hear a story if you didn't know it already.
An album to play when you're drunk - By: demeni, 06 Jul 2006 It took me years to get this & it may require you're perseverence but whenever you're down & you reach for that bottle or three.... just put this album on & try to sing along without crying. It's impossible! That's what this is alll about - EMOTION! An antidote to the computer controlled music of the noughties for sure. This is as close to the blues that you can get. Every song is raw & hewn from the sorrow & useless loss of life that Young was feeling at the time. But this also a celebration of life & a fitting remembrance of those who had passed away so young, cut short by drug abuse. 'Tonight's The Night' can be a wake every night if you want it, if you'll just 'Mellow your mind' & 'Roll another number (for the road)'
timeless - By: Mr. T. Abbott, 17 Aug 2005 for me this is one of the greatest albums of the last 30 years, it has not dated one iota as many of the records of the time have. Tired Eyes is the most unearthly song about drugs ever written & every song has moments of sublime beauty. to those who bemoan the rough edges, you're missing the point.
The best album ever made? - By: Mr. M. Read, 24 Jun 2005 This is Neil Youngs best album & consequently, one of the greatest ever. Rough, messy, dark & pure genius. Stand out tracks are Tired Eyes, Mellow my mind & the title track. Get it.
