Personnel: Rod Stewart (vocals); Steve Cropper, W. Peek, J. Davis, David Lindley, Fred Tackett, Joe Walsh (guitar); J. Jumonville, Plas Johnson (tenor saxophone); Tower Of Power Horns (horns); J. Jarvis, David Foster, Barry. Beckett, J. Smith (keyboards); Donald "Duck" Dunn, Robert Glaub, D. Hood, Willie Weeks, Lee Sklar (bass); Roger Hawkins, R. Schlosser, Andy Newmark, Al Jackson (drums); T. Vig, J. Lala (percussion); J. Horowitz, M. Lewis, Arif Mardin (string arrangements).

Recorded at Cherokee Recording Studios, Hollywood, California and Muscle Shoals Sound, Alabama.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Coming on the heels of his departure from The Faces, A NIGHT ON THE TOWN was Rod Stewart's first solo album. With his usual collaborator Ron Wood now a member of the Rolling Stones, Stewart gathered together an impressive group of backing musicians that included Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn and Al Jackson of Booker T & The MG's, Joe Walsh, the Tower Of Power horn section and multi-instrumentalist David Lindley. Dividing the album up into fast and slow sides, Stewart chose an interesting batch of songs, included some notable self-penned compositions. These include the tragic "The Killing Of Georgie (Part I And II)," about the murder of a gay friend, and the ultra-sexy ballad "Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright)." Along with a delicate rendering of Cat Stevens' "The First Cut Is The Deepest," these songs provided a perfect springboard for the more sprightly fast side. "The Balltrap" is a clever Stewart composition about a sinister femme fatale. "The Wild Side Of Life" and Gib Gilbeau's "Big Bayou" make for a perfect marriage of Chuck Berry stomp and country twang.

What the critics say...

Q (11/00, p.133) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...More coherent [thanhis debut, ATLANTIC CROSSING]...home to both the stunning, self-penned 'Killing Of Georgie'...and Stewart's superlative reading of 'The First Cut Is The Deepest'..."