I have written before in the ‘Audiolab, of my veritable library of Hawkindiana, and as they are one of my favourite bands, I have no qualms about writing more about them.
I first heard them around 1978, at the flat of a mate’s older brother, it was the album ‘In Search of Space’, that fired my imagination, especially the track ‘ Master of the Universe’, which , at the time reminded me of Black Sabbath, albeit with sci-fi lyrics, which grew, in time, to be a firm favourite of mine.
A couple of years later, 1980, Motorhead’s star was ascending, and I was aware that Lemmy Kilmister had been a member of Hawkwind, I knew he was bassist /vocalist on the hit single ‘Silver Machine’, so as the completist collector I was becoming , I started buying Hawkwind albums. ‘Live ’79’, and ‘Levitation'(on blue vinyl!) were first, these were released on the Bronze label, the same label as Motorhead, and were two great introductions to the band for a fledging collector like me.
Next , I discovered the re-release of ‘Hawkwind’, the band’s first album in 1980, a release which came after the aforementioned, ‘Live ’79’, and ‘Levitation’ , but this album was a very different sound to the propulsive metallic space rock riffs of yore, the screaming guitar solos of Dave Brock and Huw Lloyd Langton, and the rippling keyboards /synthesisers of Tim Blake or perhaps Keith Hale.
Originally released in 1970, the sound of the ‘Hawkwind’ album was not what I was used to , maybe ‘psychedelic’ covered it, I was not attuned to the electronic weirdness of some of the tracks at first , but soon they grew on me, in the end of the day it was Hawkwind after all, a document of their early years, what was not to like?
My favourite song , the one I played again and again, was ‘Hurry On Sundown’, a folk-blues song with liberal doses of harmonica, and strummed acoustic guitars, almost Dylan-esque, this one harks back to Dave Brock’s busking days prior to Hawkwind,
‘Hurry on Sundown, see what tomorrow brings’, say the lyrics, a nice positive message , which is reminscent of ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’, to my mind, that slogan you often see on T-shirts, or badges, spreading a positive vibe.
I latched onto this song again, in the two week Lockdown in 2020, had I been a person who listened to music through headphones while walking, ‘Hurry On Sundown’ would surely have been on my I-Pod or I-Phone playlist , a soundtrack to my walks across the deserted streets of Aberdeen in the early days of the Covid pandemic. It was a song with message that certainly raised my spirits in those times, of uncertainty, with the not knowing what tomorrow would bring, and its still a song I play every so often!
The Eclectic Audio Lab 
eddiesrockmusic
/ August 14, 2022Still love Hawkwind and ‘Hurry On Sundown’ is one of their best – uplifting .