After bouncing back to life with Atlantic Crossing, Rod Stewart crafted his most self-consciously ambitious record with A Night on the Town. The centerpiece of the album, "The Killing of Georgie, Pts. 1 & 2," was a long, winding Dylanesque tale of the murder of one of Stewart's gay friends and was one of his better songs of the mid-'70s. Even if "The Killing of Georgie" was the conscious artistic focal point of A Night on the Town, the true masterpiece of the album was an eloquent rendition of Cat Stevens' "The First Cut Is the Deepest." Apart from the flawed political platitudes of "Trade Winds," the rest of the album was filled with competent, professional pop/rock, highlighted by the number one hit "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)," a ballad where the gallant Rod relieves a teenager of her virginity. And, again, the "Slow Half" was more convincing than the frequently perfunctory "Fast Half."