Rocktrospectiva: The Fairly Decent "Tonight" Turns 40

 

Released on 24 September 1984, "Tonight" was the sixteenth studio album by English artist David Bowie, it was the follow-up to his most commercially successful album Let's Dance, under the production of Bowie, Derek Bramble and Hugh Padgham, indeed,  much of Bowie's creative process was the same as he used on Let's Dance, similarly playing no instruments and offering little creative input to the musicians, the album spawned three singles "Blue Jean", "Tonight" & "Loving The Alien". 

The music has been characterised as pop, blue-eyed soul, dance and rock. Much of the album's sound is the same as its predecessor's, due to Bowie's effort to retain the new audience that he had recently attracted, although some tracks contain R&B and reggae influences. Devoid of new ideas from touring, Bowie wrote only two new songs himself. Three songs, including the title track, were covers of Iggy Pop songs, who was present during most of the sessions and co-wrote two tracks. The title track is a duet with singer Tina Turner. The artwork, featuring Bowie blue-painted against an oil painting backdrop, was designed by Mick Haggerty.

The album was a commercial success due the singles "Blue Jean", "Tonight" and "Loving the Alien", Tonight was a commercial success, reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart, unfortunately the critical reception was poor, with most finding a lack of creativity, due of that, Bowie felt this album wasn't one of this stronger efforts, despite its success, Bowie found himself at a creative stalemate; he realised he no longer knew his audience and later admitted that touring left him devoid of new ideas.

The process wasn't rushed althought it took five weeks, two more than "Let's Dance" recordings, because according to Bowie, there wasn't so much of my writing, during the tour, I hadn't assembled anything to put out, one of the album's major contributors was Iggy Pop, who later said: "There's a lot more work there than is reflected in just the simple co-writing credit for two songs and some of the old stuff. The two's new collaborations resulted in "Tumble and Twirl" and "Dancing with the Big Boys".

The album features a guest appearance from singer Tina Turner, who sings a duet with Bowie on the title track, "Tonight". Padgham hated many of the songs, specifically the "too poppy" "Blue Jean" and "Tonight", preferring the "more left-field" compositions that were left off the final album. 

The album starts with "Loving the Alien" a very personal bit of writing that he did not feel fitted in with the rest of the album because it is such a dark song amidst lighter fare. Alomar thought the song concerned the Major Tom character from 1969's "Space Oddity", a claim Bowie rejected. The lyrics are religious and politically charged, next one is Bowie's rendition of "God Only Knows" incorporates strings and saxophone, and he sings his vocal in a croo, but is considered one of the worst recordings ever done by Bowie, the reworking of "Don't Look Down" is influenced by reggae music. Bowie had attempted it in different ways, including jazz rock, march and ska, eventually settling on reggae. For "Tonight", Bowie eliminated Pop's original spoken word introduction, believing it an "idiosyncratic thing of Pop's that it seemed not part of my vocabulary", his cover, a duet with Tina Turner, is reggae-influenced; her vocals are placed low in the mix. 

The second part starts with "Neighborhood Threat" features a heavier guitar sound than Pop's original, although Pegg says that Bowie's version lacks the original's "doom-laden percussion and wall-of-sound atmospherics". "Blue Jean" is generally viewed as the best song on the album, it is an "uptempo throwback" to 1950s and 1960s artists, particularly Eddie Cochran, next one is "Tumble and Twirl" recounts Bowie and Pop's exploits while holidaying in Bali and Java at the conclusion of the Serious Moonlight Tour. On the cover of "I Keep Forgettin'", Bowie said at the time that he "always wanted to do that song", and finally "Dancing with the Big Boys" is, according to Bowie, about the "little guy" being crushed by "oppressive corporate structures".

The critical reception was diverse, although it did receive some positive attention. some called the album as a dizzying variety of mood and technique, while other said the album takes yet abother turn, highlighting a number of strong songs and stating that Bowie "loses none of his unique songwriting and vocal adventurousness" with an album that lies in the "same commercial vein" as Let's Dance. On the other hand, many reviewers criticised it for lacking creativity, a throwaway, and David Bowie knows it. A disappointing by Bowie's standards. Bowie later distanced himself from his 1984–1987 period following the critical dismissal of Never Let Me Down.  In 1989, he stated that both efforts had "great material that got simmered down to product level", believing the demos were superior compared to the studio recordings.

 

Tonight Track List:

 

1. Loving The Alien

2. Don't Look Down

3. God Only Knows

4. Tonight

5. Neighborhood Threat

6. Blue Jean

7. Tumble And Twirl

8. I Keep Forgettin'

9. Dancing With The Big Boys