Out on October 7th is “Psychopuppets”, the new album by the legendary Leuven based post-punk band Soviet War.

The release comes out on Track & Traces, a sister label of Starman Records founded by veteran Roland Beelen (Antler). Via Tracks & Traces Beelen releases material from artists who at the same time have strong roots in the past and enough creativity to produce new material in the present. Previous albums have been released by, among others, TB Frank & Baustein, TV Smith, Honeymoon Cowboys (Siglo XX) and Suns of Arqa.

Included on the release is archive and live material from the early 80’s, plus new material. The band is also touring again and recently played support for The Stranglers in Het Depot , Leuven.

Formed as The Soviets the primitive punk of the early years evolved into post-punk, as a result the band changed their name to Soviet War. The band recorded a cassette ‘Bootleg’ and sold hundreds of copies at concerts, but when the Anything But label put one of their songs, “The Nuthouse”, on its compilation “No Big Business 2” the band also recorded “Just a Story” during the same sessions. The track would end up on the “Koude Golven” compilation. In 1982 a second recording session resulted in the single “It became a problem/Guns for fun” on the same Anything But label and two other unreleased tracks, which you can finally find on this LP.

In early 1983, guitarist Leon left and the band split up. 36 years later, in 2019, Soviet War reformed with the three remaining original members, Bergy, Tirre and Zip joined by new guitarist Koen. Corona prevented their comeback concert from taking place, Instead they started work on new songs. As soon as the live circuit regained some breathing space in the autumn of 2021, concerts finally followed.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: New-wave, post-punk.

Content: Timothy Smith is a name, which will instantly appeal to lovers of punk music. Smith was member and singer of The Adverts. The band was mainly active during the late 70s while Smith went on during the 80s under the moniker TV Smith.

The song “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes” was originally released by The Adverts in 1977 and became one of their biggest hits. The song deals about Gary Gilmore, a criminal and murderer who was executed early 1977 in Utah by firing squad. There’s more info about Gilmore on the detailed info sheet inside this vinyl.

TV Smith recovered this song from dust by releasing some new versions. The A-side takes off with the great “Half Circle”-mix by KGB (aka Kenny Germain B from Simi Nah). Martin Bowes (Attrition) contributed to this song as well by taking care of the electronics while there also is a guest guitarist (Ian Arkley) and female backings by TyLean (Attrition) and Christine Reid (formerly member of Attrition as well). So this EP is a more a kind of collaboration between this British punk legend and electronic pioneer Attrition.

But let’s get back to this “Half Circle”-mix by KGB, which is a perfect match between pure electronics and a bass line reminding me of The Chemical Brothers and the punkish vocals by Smith. The guitars add some extra raw power.

The 2nd song is a mix, which has been meticulously accomplished by Attrition and that’s for sure an element you’ll rapidly notice because of the typical dark electronics and bass line. I here like the female backing vocals, which remain an essential element of Attrition as well.

The B-side don’t captivate me a similar way. KGB accomplished another mix (cf. “Let’s Do It”), which is more into rock music while the ‘Unplugged – The Naked Song” sounds a bit like entering an Irish pub for its folk-like approach. It for sure adds some extra diversity to this 12”. Notice by the way that next to the vinyl there’s also a CD included featuring the same songs.

Conclusion: I like the idea of hearing an old and successful punk-song getting reworked into something more electronic and modern. It’s fun and it could become an idea for future releases in a similar genre.

Best songs: “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes – KGB – Half Circle Mix”, “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes – Attrition vs TV Smith Mix”.

Rate: (Elise Din:7)Elise Din.

Band: www.tvsmith.com / www.facebook.com/TVSmith77

Label: www.facebook.com/tracksandtraces

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I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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