A Night on the Town

A Night on the Town is Rod Stewart's seventh album, released in 1976. The cover art is based on Pierre-Auguste Renoir's painting Bal du moulin de la Galette, with Stewart inserted in the centre in period costume. On 30 June 2009, Rhino reissued the album as a two-disc CD with bonus tracks. Stewart performed "Big Bayou" regularly with The Faces during their final US tour the previous year, although that version was based on the one Ronnie Wood released on his solo album, Now Look. A Night on the Town was Stewart's last UK number-one studio album until Time in 2013.
The album is regarded as one of Stewart's finest. "The Killing Of Georgie" is one of Stewart's most hard hitting set of lyrics, a melancholic tale of a gay friend who is cast out by his family and becomes a sensation in the New York nightlife, only to be mugged and beaten to death by a New Jersey gang in New York City. Controversial "Tonight's the Night" was a No. 1 hit but was banned by some radio stations due to the very obvious lyrics about sex and loss of virginity. A cover of Cat Stevens' "The First Cut Is The Deepest" was also a success and has since become one of Stewart's signature songs. Another controversial song, "The Balltrap", again had explicit sexual references in its lyrics as well as a touch of racism towards a trashy woman.