Neil Young revisits one of his masterpieces with 6 bonus tracks

Tonight is the night. A title that made history and that deserves to be (re)discovered as it deserves. “Tonight’s The Night” turns 50 and its author, Neil Young, announces a reissue enriched by six unreleased songs recorded during the original sessions, including “Raised On Robbery” with the participation of Joni Mitchell.

Recorded in 1973 on analog tape and released two years later, the album is considered one of the pinnacles of Young’s production. For the fiftieth anniversary comes a “Deluxe limited edition” enriched by six bonus trackswhich aims to restore the spirit of those recordings as faithfully as possible.

“Tonight’s The Night” comes out in a historical moment of change: the end of the war in Vietnam, an evolving political climate. The album represents the third chapter of the so-called “ditch trilogy“, the “abandonment” trilogy with which Young reacted to the multi-million dollar success of “Harvest” (1972). Three darker and more experimental albums were released: “Time Fades Away” (1973), “On The Beach” (1974) and “Tonight’s The Night”. What profoundly marks the last album of the trilogy is above all Young’s personal mourning for the loss of two central figures in his life, Danny Whitten of Crazy Horse and Bruce Berry, trusted member of the crew.

“Tonight’s The Night” was recorded largely in 1973 at SIR Studios in Los Angeles, featuring Nils Lofgren on guitar, Ben Keith on pedal steel and Crazy Horse’s rhythm section, Billy Talbot (bass) and Ralph Molina (drums), with additional contributions recorded at Broken Arrow Ranch.

The new edition — available tomorrow November 28 on vinyl, CD and digital, with the original artwork reworked for the occasion — includes two unreleased versions from 1973: “Lookout Joe” and “Walk On”, both recorded at the S.IR sessions in Los Angeles. The first replaces the take originally published, recorded later at Broken Arrow Studio, while the second is part of the same creative cycle.

Alongside these two additions appear six bonus tracks from the session originals: the new versions of “Lookout Joe”, “Walk On” and “Tonight’s The Night” (Take 3) had never been released; “Everybody’s Alone”, “Raised On Robbery” with Joni Mitchell and “Speakin’ Out” Jam had already appeared on “Neil Young Archives Vol. II”; “Wonderin’,” also previously unreleased on the album, had only been available for streaming on NYA. It is the first occasion in which all six are collected together on vinyl, thus defining the most organic and faithful edition to the original project.

The tracklist of “Tonight’s The Night – 50th Anniversary Edition”

1. Tonight’s The Night
2. Speaking Out
3. World On A String
4. Borrowed Tune
5. Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown
6. Mellow My Mind
7. Roll Another Number (For The Road)
8. Albuquerque
9. New Mama
10. Lookout Joe (1973 version)
11. Tired Eyes
12. Tonight’s The Night (Part II)

Bonus Tracks – Original TTN sessions (SIR, 1973)

Walk On
Wonderin’
Everybody’s Alone
Raised On Robbery (feat. Joni Mitchell)
Speakin’ Out Jam
Tonight’s The Night (Take 3)