‘Compared To What’: the Austrian soul stomper that took 50 years to be released
Good things come to those who wait, or so the old adage goes. Within the context of the music industry, however, people are always looking forward. In such a fast-paced industry, there is often no time to look back and ponder the missed opportunities or the artists who fell through the cracks. Nevertheless, if those previously forgotten artists are of a high enough quality, their talents will soon rise into the spotlight once again, fulfilling the cyclical nature of cultural trends. This idea explains the recent resurgence of soul singer Stefanie Vyhnak.
If you have never heard the name Stefanie Vyhnak before, you are likely in the majority. A budding young Austrian vocalist during the 1960s, Vyhnak cut her teeth in a four-piece all-female soul group by the name of Soul Magics. Despite her obvious quality as a vocalist, Soul Magics never really got anywhere in their native Austria and eventually dissolved in 1969, as global interest in funk and soul music waned somewhat.
Undeterred by her previous failures in the music industry, Vyhnak relocated to the United States for a few years during the early 1970s, gaining a rich education in the sweet sounds of Chicago soul and Detroit Motown, as well as performing in a variety of soul and jazz groups. Upon her return to Austria, the talented vocalist entered and won the televised talent show Show-Chance, which first established her within the musical mainstream, both in Austria and wider mainland Europe.
This slice of success spurred Vyhnak, now going solely by the name Stefanie, to release her first solo records. Supported by the Austrian national broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), Stefanie unveiled her self-penned debut single ‘Tomorrow’ in 1972. Over the next decade, the vocalist and songwriter would release a plethora of singles, covering a variety of popular pop, soul, and jazz tracks, in addition to writing her own original material.
Ultimately, though, her early successes on Show-Chance failed to carry through into the rest of her career, and she eventually gave up on music, taking up a job as a tram driver in Vienna. The talented soul vocalist eventually passed away in 2013, having never fully realised her dream of becoming a successful recording artist. However, funk and soul obsessives around the world would eventually begin to take note of her work, thanks to an unearthed recording from 1972.
Ever since Vyhnak appeared on ORF’s Show-Chance in 1972, the Austrian broadcaster kept hold of an obscure recording made by the vocalist: a song called ‘Compared To What’, originally penned by Gene McDaniels and once recorded by Roberta Flack. A driving soul stomper, the song was never given an official single release during Stefanie’s lifetime, although it was included on the obscure 1973 compilation album Canned Hits.
Clearly, the infectious power and danceability of the song were far too great to be relegated to a compilation record, so in 2024, the Viennese soul institution Record Shack sought to release the song as a single for the very first time. Taken from the original master recordings and remastered for modern audiences, ‘Compared To What’ immediately became a hit among soul fans, receiving repeated airplay within Europe’s soul scene, in addition to the ever-growing northern soul scene in the United Kingdom.
Soul has always been a scene that reveres the obscure and forgotten artists of the past, and Stefanie Vyhnak is certainly no exception. Her brilliance as a vocalist and performer might never have been recognised during her lifetime, but her anachronistic excellence never fully subsided.
The fact that ‘Compared To What’ has become a hit within the modern soul scene speaks to its trailblazing quality, sounding as fresh and exciting today as it must have done over 50 years ago when it was first recorded. The music industry might be a fast-moving, cut-throat world but, at the end of the day, quality always prevails eventually.
