Tonight |
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Released: September 24, 1984 Peak: 11 US, 11 UK, 4 CN, 4 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.1 UK, 3.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock |
Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.
Songs written by David Bowie unless indicated otherwise. Total Running Time: 35:32 The Players:
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Rating:  2.577 out of 5.00 (average of 24 ratings)
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About the Album: After achieving the best-selling album of his career with 1983’s Let’s Dance, David Bowie followed up with an album in much the same formula with dance-oriented pop inflected with blue-eyed soul. Unfortunately, the album was missing a few of the key players that made Let’s Dance so successful, namely Chic’s Nile Rodgers as producer and Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar. Blue Jean, the lead single, is generally viewed as the best song on the album, which isn’t surprising since it followed the same formula as the hits from Let’s Dance. Other than that song, “none of the material equals the songs on Let's Dance, but that doesn’t stop Tonight from becoming another platinum success.” AMG The Serious Moonlight tour in support of Let’s Dance brought a new audience which Bowie didn’t even recognize. He was uninspired to record a new album, but was pressured by the record label to come up with a quick follow-up. As on the previous album, Bowie didn’t play any instruments, focusing exclusively on vocals. He didn’t even provide much direction to the other musicians in the studio. WK He also stepped back on the writing, covering the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows and Chuck Jackson’s I Keep Forgetting, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Biographers Nicholas Pegg and Chris O’Leary have both called Bowie’s version of “God Only Knows” “the worst recording he ever made.” WK Author David Buckley called “I Keep Forgetting” “unmemorable.” WK Bowie originally wrote Neighborhood Threat and the title cut with Iggy Pop for Pop’s 1977 Lust for Life album. Don’t Look Down was written by Pop for his 1979 New Values album. The pair also wrote the new songs Tumble and Twirl and Dancing with the Big Boys. Pop duets with Bowie on the latter. In addition to “Blue Jean,” the song Loving the Alien was released as a single, but it didn’t even scratch the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Bowie felt the song didn’t fit with the rest of the album because of its darker nature. WK The “reggae-influenced” WK “Tonight,” featuring Tina Turner, reached #53 in the U.S. They sang the song face-to-face in the studio together. WK Almost immediately upon the album’s release, Bowie seemed almost apologetic in interviews. WK Critics weren’t too kind in judging the album. All Music Guide’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine said, “The record stands as one of the weakest albums Bowie ever recorded.” AMG Rolling Stone said “this album is a throwaway, and David Bowie knows it.” WK Stylus magazine did, however, say “It’s a much better album than you think it is” and that even though it isn’t a great album, it is a good one. WK The New Statesmen’s Yo Zushi said, “no album that begins with the seven-minute masterpiece ‘Loving the Alien’ and contains the rocking ‘Blue Jean’ should have received the drubbing it got.” WK Notes: “As the World Falls Down,” from the Labyrinth soundtrack, and singles “This Is Not America” (with Pat Metheny – from the soundtrack for The Falcon & the Snowman) and “Absolute Beginners” (from the soundtrack of the same name) were added to the Virgin Records CD reissue. |
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First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 8/2/2021. |
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