#330 - Neil Young - Tonight's the Night (1975)
MUSIC HISTORY COMPILED BY ADAM BERNARD:
NEIL YOUNG BIO
The 75 year old Canadian singer/song-writer was born in Toronto, grew up in Winnipeg, and started touring Canada as a solo artist in the mid-1960s. After a couple of years he moved to Los Angeles and formed Buffalo Springfield. After great success with their self-titled debut, the band broke up almost two years later. He released one solo album in January of 1969before “borrowing” three members of the band Rocket to release “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” in May-credited to Neil Young with Crazy Horse (named after the historical figure of the same name). The marriage was short lived, as Young joined Crosby, Stills & Nash(who released their debut in May as well) in August, and performed at Woodstock. Neil would return to solo work, releasing the iconic albums "After The Gold Rush" in 1970 and "Harvest" in 1972. A live album called Time Fades Away came out in 1983, and "On The Beach" was released in1974, which was written while the release of today's album was delayed.
Neil Young was inducted twice into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame–in 1995 as a solo artist and 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield
BACKGROUND – TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT
This album was written in August & September of 1973 (mostly in one day), but the release was delayed almost 2 years until June 1975. The album is a direct expression of grief over the loss of Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and Young's friend and roadie Bruce Berry. Both died of drug overdoses in the months before the songs were written. It was the work of a man trying to turn his torment into art and doing so unflinchingly.
The album's release was delayed because Reprise Records rejected it due to the album's dark tone and rawness. Young had to pressure them for two years before the album finally came out.
One of the reason's Neil struggled so much with Danny's death is he felt partially responsible. Young said"[We] were rehearsing with him and he just couldn't cut it. He couldn't remember anything. He was too out of it. Too far gone. I had to tell him to go back to L.A. 'It's not happening, man. You're not together enough.' He just said, 'I've got nowhere else to go, man. How am I gonna tell my friends?' And he split. That night the coroner called me from L.A. and told me he'd OD'd. That blew my mind. I loved Danny. I felt responsible. And from there, I had to go right out on this huge tour of huge arenas (an album of live material called "Time Fades Away" was released from this tour in 973, Young's least favorite release). I was very nervous and ... insecure. "Included with the early original vinyl releases of Tonight's the Night is a cryptic message written by Young: "I'm sorry. You don't know these people. This means nothing to you."
The band assembled for the album was known as The Santa Monica Flyers. It consisted of Young, Ben Keith, Nils Lofgren, and the Crazy Horse rhythm section of Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina.
On the delayed release of the album, Reprise Records rejected it due to the album's dark tone and rawness. Young had to pressure them for two years before the album finally came out.
This album peaked at #25 on the Billboard 200 in the United States and at 12 in Neil's home of Canada.-During the recording sessions for Tonight's the Night, at Studio Instrument Rentals in Hollywood, the musicians would show up in the evening, shoot pool and drink tequila until midnight, and then start recording. The songs were recorded live in the practice space, with no overdubs and minimal editing. This album is one of the most sonically raw albums ever released by a major artist.
This makes sense, because in talking to Cameron Crowe in an interview, Young said "If you are going to put on a record at 11 in the morning, don't put on Tonight's the Night. Put on the Doobie Brothers."