"Shot Down in the Night" | ||||
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Single by Hawkwind | ||||
from the album Live Seventy Nine | ||||
B-side | "Urban Guerilla" | |||
Released | 27 June 1980 | |||
Recorded | November 1979 | |||
Genre | Space rock | |||
Length | 4:15 | |||
Label | Bronze Records - BRO98 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Steve Swindells | |||
Producer(s) | Ashley Howe and Hawkwind | |||
Hawkwind singles chronology | ||||
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"Shot Down in the Night" | ||||
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Single by Steve Swindells | ||||
from the album Fresh Blood | ||||
B-side | "It's Only One Night of Your Life" | |||
Released | 27 June 1980 | |||
Recorded | 1979 | |||
Genre | Rock music | |||
Length | 5:12 | |||
Label | ATCO – K11532 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Steve Swindells | |||
Producer(s) | Steve Swindells | |||
Steve Swindells singles chronology | ||||
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Shot Down in the Night is a 1979 song written by Steve Swindells, who was at that time keyboardist with the UK rock group Hawkwind. Swindells and Hawkwind released different versions of the song as a single on 27 June 1980. Hawkwind's version reached #59 in the UK singles chart, being a slightly different version to the one on the album Live Seventy Nine.
The song was written by Steve Swindells while rehearsing with Hawkwind (then working under the name "Hawklords") at Rockfield Studios in 1979. He presented it to the band, and they agreed on its potential as a future single. However, Swindells was then offered a solo record deal by ATCO, and left Hawkwind to pursue a solo career. His studio version of Shot Down in the Night was released as a single on the same day as Hawkwind's live version.
Swindells claims that his version was "waaay harder, more dramatic and simply better than Hawkwind’s version. In both the battle of the butch and the artistic, the queer won." [1] Despite that claim, Simon King (drums) and Huw Lloyd-Langton (guitars) played on both recordings, giving the two versions a musical closeness, although Swindells' gruff vocals perhaps make his version heavier than Dave Brock's folky vocal on Hawkwind's version.
Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard rock, progressive rock and psychedelic rock. They are regarded as an influential proto-punk band. Their lyrics often cover themes of urban life and science fiction.
"Urban Guerrilla" is a 1973 song by the UK rock group Hawkwind. It was originally released as a single in the UK on 27 July 1973 with "Brainbox Pollution" as the B side, reaching #39 on the UK singles chart before being withdrawn after 3 weeks. It is also on the remastered version of Doremi Fasol Latido.
Levitation is the tenth studio album by English rock group Hawkwind, released in 1980. It peaked at No. 21 on the UK Albums Chart.
Steve Peregrin Took was an English musician and songwriter, best known for his membership of the duo Tyrannosaurus Rex with Marc Bolan. After breaking with Bolan, he concentrated on his own singer-songwriting activities, either as a solo artist or as a frontman for several bands.
Inner City Unit were a London based popular music group active from 1979 through to 1985, their music style encompassing psychedelia and punk rock. They recorded four studio albums, one studio EP and one compilation album of previously unreleased material.
"Motorhead" is a song written by Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister while he was a member of the English space rock band Hawkwind. It was later recorded by Motörhead, as he called it this instead of Bastard on his then manager's advice.
"Coming Up" is a song written and performed by the English rock musician Paul McCartney, released as the opening track on his second solo studio album McCartney II (1980). Like other songs on the album, the song has a synthesised sound, featuring sped-up vocals created by using a vari-speed tape machine. McCartney played all instruments.
Doremi Fasol Latido is a 1972 album by English space rock band Hawkwind. Recorded at Rockfield Studios and released on United Artists Records, it was their third album since their debut, Hawkwind, in 1970. It reached No. 14 on the UK album charts.
PXR5 is the ninth studio album by the English space rock group Hawkwind, released in 1979. It reached No. 59 on the UK album charts.
Live Seventy Nine is a 1980 live album by Hawkwind recorded on their Winter 1979 UK tour. It reached #15 on the UK album chart.
25 Years On is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Hawkwind, released in 1978. The band released it under the name "Hawklords" for legal reasons, as there was a dispute over ownership of the name "Hawkwind" at the time. It reached No. 48 on the UK album charts. It was originally titled 25 Years On and the first 25000 were pressed as this until the band decided to simply call it Hawklords. Subsequent re-releases have reverted to the name 25 Years On and the band also now use this name on their website.
Steve Took's Horns was an English rock band with blues rock and punk influences formed in 1977 by former Tyrannosaurus Rex percussionist turned solo artist Steve Peregrin Took together with Trev Thoms, later of Nik Turner's Inner City Unit. The band was the first in which Thoms worked with his future Inner City Unit bandmate Ermanno Ghisio Erba aka Dino Ferari, in what would be a long string of collaborations until Thoms' death in 2010. A 2004 posthumous album of the band was reviewed in Classic Rock magazine, a 1978 live performance was reviewed in Melody Maker, the band's 1977 recording session was described at length in a Forced Exposure interview with eyewitness Larry Wallis and the band was euologised in a Record Collector article about Took written by Luke Haines.
"Kings of Speed" is a 1975 song by the British space rock group Hawkwind. It was originally released as a single in the UK (UP35808) on 7 March 1975 and was subsequently included on the album Warrior on the Edge of Time, although its B-side, "Motorhead", was not. Although failing the chart in both the U.S. and the U.K., the track became an underground success, particularly with significant play in dance clubs. The parent album also did well, climbing up the Billboard album chart in the U.S.
Hawklords were an English music group active between 1978 and 1979. Members were from Hawkwind, who were inactive during that period, and a local Devon group named Ark with the addition of former Pilot keyboardist Steve Swindells.
"Silver Machine" is a 1972 song by the UK rock group Hawkwind. It was originally released as a single on 9 June 1972, reaching number three on the UK singles chart. The single was re-issued in 1976, again in 1978 reaching number 34 on the UK singles charts, and once again in 1983 reaching number 67 on the UK singles charts. The original mix has been re-released on the remasters version of In Search of Space.
Simon King is an English drummer most noted for his work with Hawkwind. He was described in 1985 by British rock magazine Sounds as the 'definitive rock drummer.'
Steve Swindells is an English singer-songwriter, keyboardist, party organizer, club promoter and journalist.
Fresh Blood is the second studio album by the English singer-songwriter Steve Swindells. The album was originally released in late 1980 on the label Atco. The album was Swindells' first solo album following his departure from Hawkwind, due to an offer that had been made to him by Atco to make this album. It was produced by Swindells himself, after being unable to afford advances offered by Jim Steinman, Jimmy Iovine, and David Bowie. Bowie would later praise the album, along with Messages as sounding "pretty good"
Richard Hugh "Huw" Lloyd-Langton was an English musician, best known as the guitarist for the rock band Hawkwind at various times. He also had his own band, The Lloyd Langton Group, and was the session lead guitarist for UK band The Meads of Asphodel.