Earlier this year, Cherry Red Records released The Machine Stops, the new studio album from prog-rockers Hawkwind.  The Machine Stops continued the label's long association with the band which has also encompassed deluxe remastered editions of albums such as Palace Springs and Warrior on the Edge of Time and expanded live releases like Coded Languages - Live at Hammersmith Odeon November 1982.  Now, Cherry Red's Stonehenge imprint (itself an offshoot of Esoteric Recordings) has collected Hawkwind's Charisma Records period on a new 4-CD box, The Charisma Years 1976-1979, which will soon be followed on November 4 by the 3-CD set The RCA Active Years 1981-1982.

Formed in 1969, the "space rock" group since endured more than 40 different line-ups, with the current iteration led by founding member Dave Brock, a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist.  Hawkwind's earliest label affiliation, with United Artists Records (and Liberty in certain territories), was collected last year by Parlophone as the 11-CD box set This Is Your Captain Speaking...Your Captain Is Dead: The Albums and Singles 1970-1974. Immediately following that period came 1975's Warrior on the Edge of Time.  (Note that Warrior was originally a United Artists release in the U.K., but was recorded under a separate contract and no longer resides with UA's successor.  It was issued on Atco in the United States.) Stonehenge's new box set picks up immediately after Warrior, and contains the following four albums, each on a separate disc with no bonus tracks.  (Previous Atomhenge reissues had featured copious bonus material.)

• Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music (1976, No. 33 U.K.)
• Quark, Strangeness and Charm (1977, No. 30 U.K.)
• Hawklords: 25 Years On (1978, No. 48 U.K.)
• PXR 5 (1979, No. 59 U.K.)

Hawkwind signed to Charisma, most famously the home of Genesis, in time for the release of the band's sixth album Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music.  The album had a number of musical changes from Warrior, including the replacement of lead bass guitarist Lemmy with Paul Rudolph, and the return of lyricist Robert Calvert as vocalist.  The line-up of Brock, Rudolph, Calvert, Nik Turner (saxophone/flute), Simon House (violin/keyboards/sitar), Simon King (drums) and Alan Powell (drums) underwent changes throughout the Charisma period.  Brock, Calvert, House and King were joined by bassist Adrian Shaw for Quark, Strangeness and Charm, while 25 Years On (initially released by "Hawklords" due to a contract dispute over the Hawkwind name) featured Calvert, Brock and King plus bassist Harvey Bainbridge, keyboardist Steve Swindell, and drummer Martin Griffin.  Simon House did contribute violin to a trio of tracks.  Lastly, PXR 5 reunited the Quark, Strangeness and Charm line-up of Calvert, Brock, Shaw, House and King.

The Charisma Years 1976-1979 is housed in a clamshell case, with each album in its own original picture sleeve and Charisma-style labels on the discs, as well.  The case includes an illustrated, foldout poster with album credits on the back side, but no liner notes.  Coming on October 28 in similar fashion is The RCA Active Years 1981-1982.

1980's Levitation, on the independent Bronze label, marked the departure (again) of Robert Calvert and welcomed legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker to the Hawkwind fold.  Levitation captured the spirit of Hawkwind's debut album; the group was rewarded with a No. 21 album hit in the U.K., Hawkwind's highest placement since Warrior made No. 13 in 1975.  After Levitation, the band - consisting of Dave Brock, guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton, Harvey Bainbridge, and the returning Martin Griffin - signed to RCA's young metal imprint Active Records.  The affiliation was short-lived, and so The RCA Active Years 1981-1982 includes just three albums in that brief but successful and creatively fertile period:

• Sonic Attack (1981, No. 19 U.K.)
• Church of Hawkwind (1982, No. 26 U.K.)
• Choose Your Masques (1982, No. 29 U.K.)

The four-piece line-up remained consistent for all three of the RCA/Active albums, with some guest musicians joining them.  As with the Charisma albums, the RCA/Active LPs have been previously reissued by Atomhenge with bonus tracks; the box set presents only the original album track listings.

Hawkwind remains active today, led by the indefatigable Dave Brock.  These two sets are an affordable way to pick up the band's core catalogue from some of its most productive years.  You can order The Charisma Years 1976-1979 and pre-order The RCA Active Years 1981-1982, due November 4, at the links below!

Hawkwind, The Charisma Years 1976-1979 (Atomhenge/Cherry Red ATOMCD 41041, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music (Charisma CDS 4004, 1976)

1. Reefer Madness
2. Steppenwolf
3. City of Lagoons
4. The Aubergine That Ate Rangoon
5. Kerb Crawler
6. Kadu Flyer
7. Chronoglide Skyway

CD 2: Quark, Strangeness and Charm (Charisma CDS 4008, 1977)

1. Spirit of the Age
2. Damnation Alley
3. Fable of a Failed Race
4. Quark, Strangeness and Charm
5. Hassan I Sabbah
6. The Forge of Vulcan
7. The Days of the Underground
8. The Iron Dream

CD 3: Hawklords: 25 Years On (Charisma CDS 4014, 1978)

1. PSI Power
2. Freefall
3. Automaton
4. 25 Years
5. Flying Doctor
6. The Only Ones
7. (Only) The Dead Dreams of the Cold War Kid
8. The Age of the Micro Man

CD 4: PXR 5 (Charisma CDS 4016, 1979)

1. Death Trap
2. Jack of Shadows
3. Uncle Sam's on Mars
4. Infinity
5. Life Form
6. Robot
7. High Rise
8. X.R. 5

Hawkwind, The RCA Active Years 1981-1982 (Atomhenge ATOMCD 31042, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Sonic Attack (RCA Active 6004, 1981)

1. Sonic Attack
2. Rocky Paths
3. Psychosonia
4. Virgin of the World
5. Angels of Death
6. Living on a Knife Edge
7. Coded Languages
8. Disintegration
9. Streets of Fear
10. Lost Chances

CD 2: Church of Hawkwind (RCA Active 9004, 1982)

1. Angel Voices
2. Nuclear Drive
3. Star Cannibal
4. The Phenomenon of Luminosity
5. Fall of Earth City
6. The Church
7. The Joker at the Gate
8. Some People Never Die
9. Light Specific Data
10. Experiment with Destiny
11. The Last Messiah
12. Looking in the Future

CD 3: Choose Your Masques (RCA Active 6055, 1982)

1. Choose Your Masks
2. Dream Worker
3. Arrival in Utopia
4. Utopia
5. Silver Machine
6. Void City
7. Solitary Mind Games
8. Fahrenheit 451
9. The Scan
10. Waiting for Tomorrow