Reefer Madness

Curated by the band’s current label, Cherry Red Records, this three disc box set was released in 2008 to herald a complete overhaul of the band’s catalogue from 1976 to 1997. Cherry Red acquired the rights to these albums, and rolled out a reissue programme that saw each album get a dramatic upgrade in sound quality, accompanied by bonus discs of previously unreleased songs or live takes. However, while Hawkwind’s legacy is impressive, it’s fair to say that not every album is a winner, and certainly in the later years the albums suffered from a lot of filler, and leader Dave Brock tended to recycle and re-record older tracks and simply badge them with new titles. This set manages to filter out a lot of the weaker material, and concentrates on the tracks that define Hawkwind at their best…

This album, originally released in 1976, marked the return to the band of Robert Calvert who would be a major influence on the creative direction of the band lyrically and as vocalist. Including such classic tracks as "Steppenwolf" and "Reefer Madness," this reissue has been re-mastered from the original master tapes (a first for any CD issue of this album) and features previously unreleased mixes of "Back on the Streets" and "The Dream of Isis" along with the 1976 single "Kerb Crawler" and "Honky Dorky" as bonus tracks.

California Brainstorm is a natural complement to the Palace Springs live album - Palace Springs having been recorded shortly before the production of Space Bandits, whilst California Brainstorm was recorded on the tour for that album, and with the track list not having that many overlaps. Indeed, the two go so well together that on the recent Atomhenge 2CD rerelease of Palace Springs the California Brainstorm set is provided on the bonus disc. Overall, this period of Hawkwind found them taking a turn for extended cosmic jams and progressive electronic soundscapes, perhaps as a deliberate recalibration after the mid-1980s saw them taking an increasingly hard rock-oriented direction.