Photo: Alec Byrne

Dark and dramatic sunglasses quite rightly define Neil Young’s visual image. You get the feeling he would spec up well-shaded even in a hurricane. Rust never sleeps, and that likely goes for Young as his career deepens with both acoustic and electric flourishes both recorded and live. We’ve spent these last few months feasting on images from photographer Alec Byrne’s London Rock but thought a startling break should be due as we step outside of the Brit Invasion for this exclusive Byrne image of Young in his most intense “Tonight’s the Night” phase. By the very position of his hands on the guitar, you can tell he’s about to unleash a screaming wall of wailing.

Visit alecbyrnearchive.com in order to peruse many of the other images by Byrne and also have a look at his book London Rock with its rich treasure of rock and pop culture captures. In a future issue, we’ll be detailing more info about this incredible book and the pioneering photographer Alec Byrne.

–James J. Spina