A Night on the Town was the last album that Bruce Hornsby released with the Range – and, as I mentioned in a recent discussion about the 1990 LP on my podcast, the only proper group project they ever did.
Yes, it was actually the third album credited to Bruce Hornsby and The Range, but the prior Scenes from the Southside and their debut The Way It Is were mostly Hornsby on piano and synthesizer programming, with only occasional contributions by the likes of George Marinelli, Pete Harris, and David Mansfield.
The Don Gehman-produced Night on the Town changed all that. Guitarist Marinelli was involved in the arranging and playing in the studio, along with long-standing bassist Joe Puerta and drummer John Molo. The album also saw significant guest contributions from Bela Fleck on banjo, Jerry Garcia on guitar, Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, and Charlie Haden on double bass.
“Another Day” came the closest to the rock feel that the band was trying to achieve. Its Leon Russell-style rhythm-and-piano intro are unmistakable. A drum machine sets the initial pace instead of Molo, but the drummer provides accents and fills to fortify the pace. Joe Puerta gets into the act too, with his best bass contributions in three albums. Arnold McCuller and the late David Lasley provide appropriately soulful backing vocals.
Bruce Hornsby handles all the music and lyric writing on the song, not seeking a contribution from his brother John. This may contribute to the causal directness of the narrative. Still, “Another Day” fits nicely among significant themes of Night on the Town, which revolve around life in a small southern town:
Turn off the lights honey, then turn off the set
Life around here don’t make a lot of damn sense
As I closed my eyes, I saw in my mind
Somebody selling me a nickel for a dime
Here we go? What do you say, what do you know?
You’ve got your life and you watch it away
It’s just another day in this old town
So get down, ain’t no big thing, so let it ring
No highfalutin’ themes here. Just a man sitting on his porch sharing his observations while guitarist George Marinelli lets it ring. What a rocking way for the Range to go out.
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