Neil Young - Tonight’s The Night

First off, there’s no Spotify link for this album because Neil Young’s music isn’t on Spotify, as of this writing. YouTube it is, then, like I’m some kind of millennial or something. So I’ll be hearing about 15 State Farm ads in between songs, which will certainly give some interesting context to break the flow of listening. But we will survive, friends. 

This album was released in 1973 and #302 in the Rolling Stone top 500 list. 

Now I know from previous experience that Neil Young’s singing voice is an acquired taste. You’re not here for the voice, you’re here for the lyrics, the music, and the rawness of the songs he writes. This was the sort of preparation I wish I’d had before listening to Lucinda Williams in Week 3. 

“Tonight’s The Night” hits you with full Neil Young energy from minute 1, which is useful because my ears need a bit of warm-up time to listen to Neil Young sing for an extended length of time. I love following along with his lyrics, and this song is no exception. I also got into the bluesy second song, “Speakin’ Out.” “Borrowed tune” was beautiful, sad, and still somehow a little tongue-in-cheek in true Neil Young fashion. “Albuquerque” was hauntingly great, in a small-Southern-town kind of way, slow and run-down and grey.

That’s a good way to describe the album, in fact. I have so much respect for the songwriting that’s on display in this album. It’s an expression of grief after the loss of two close friends, and those emotions come across clearly. Writing a song is often an attempt to communicate emotions too deep to express any other way, and the ability to translate those emotions, even when the writer is in such a dark mood, is always impressive to me. 

Despite my jokes about Neil’s singing chops, this album is absolutely beautiful start to finish, and the only reason my Taste Rating is low is because I tend to hide from sad music, which is another story altogether. This is the kind of album that would certainly resonate with many people going through difficult times. 

New Jams

• “Tonight’s The Night”

• “Borrowed Tune”

• “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown”

• “Lookout Joe”

Originally part of Why Music Curation is More Important Than Ever.