Night On The Town is not quite up to the standards of Rod Stewart’s early work on the Mercury label (Every Picture Tells A Story & Never A Dull Moment to name two), but is still an excellent album and the best he did on the Warner Brothers label.
On the original vinyl release, the album was broken up into the slow and fast sides and it shows that Mr. Stewart could rock as good as anyone and had the ability to take the lights down low.
The Balltrap˝ and ˝Trade Winds˝ are solid rockers as is ˝Pretty Flamingo˝, but it is the slower songs that carry the album.
˝Tonight’s The Night˝ is the big hit from the album (spending eight weeks at number in late ’76) and is ode to a girl’s first sexual encounter. He takes Cat Steven’s ˝The First Cut Is The Deepest˝ and makes it all his own by giving it his classic, whiskey-soaked vocal treatment.
The best track on the album is ˝The Killing Of Georgie (Parts I & II)˝ which tells the tale of the demise of a gay friend.
The song could have made the situation seem contrite, but Mr. Stewart sings the song in such a genuine way, he overcomes the possible sappiness.