LP has 16 tracks, CD 20!!! The Schnitzelbeat goes on ..... and we find ourselves at the transition of two decades. Woodstock has just officially ended the Summer Of Love, The Beatles are in the state of decay and The Stooges are ushering in a new era with relentless noise. Back in Austria ... the city of Vienna continues to dawn blissfully in the narrow-minded fug of the post-war period.

Occasionally the wind blows the sound of an accordion and a yodel from the countryside towards St. Stephen's Cathedral. However, the initiated listeners of the Schnitzelbeat series already suspect it: there was something else, something wild, bad, a booming punch in the horn-rimmed faces of the philistines. But who would have thought that the most successful approach to proto-punk the Blue Cheer or MC5 would appear on the folk music label Alpenton of all places? (Albatross, "I am dead"). A cry of horror comes out of the lederhosen. And a smile of pure happiness on the faces of enlightened fans of obscure rock music.

The Seals also proved themselves to be worthy fighters in the war of generations in 1969: "You know nothing about the new generation / because you live in the U-Bahn station" is what the psychedelic punks from Vienna interestingly put in their number "Stop this War". firmly. War is a common theme elsewhere, too: World War II (The Cop Stigh, "War History"); the Vietnam War (Maybe Hair, "War"); the war of the sexes (Young Society, "It's War"). But what would the time of the hippies and communards be without free love, flower arrangements and states of emergency supported by all sorts of substances? "It's not about the flowers in your hair, it's about your heart / because love alone can change everything" sings the casting boy band The Wallflowers, excellently accompanied by a children's choir, which unfortunately is not always completely sure of the lyrics. The V-Rangers would certainly also sign the statement itself ("Make Love"). Or Hannes, Erich, Peter and Arno from the Salzburg beat band Les Marquis, who bring a West Coast love dream to life on the beaches of the Salzkammergut ("Sand on the Shore").

Halfway through Schnitzelbeat Vol. 3, an unforgettable highlight is served. In 1973, Rocky F. Holicke released the ultimate homegrown psychedelic anthem: "Ready for Take Off" is an indescribable monument of a song, a truly otherworldly experience of musical transcendence. If it's already going over the clouds, please do so, Mr. Reinhard Mey. And of course on Holicke's own label, Aero-Sound. Where else? While Hide & Seek walk in the footsteps of Cream and also freed from any fear of flying through the orbit ("I can fly"), scorching hot "White Flames" blow out of the engines of Karl Ratzer's guitar. The legendary musician and frontman of the Charles Ryders Corporation is not only one of the best jazz guitarists Austria has ever had - he also takes on James Marshall Hendrix when all the effect pedals are pushed to the stage floor. At about the same time, a band of altar boys from Upper Austria met - secretly, at night - at the weekend in the music room of an elementary school in Muhlviertel. And picks up a highly explosive, psychedelic garage punk highly explosive grenade there. With more fuzz, wah-wah, echo and farfisa organ than even The Devil himself allowed (The Hush, "Giny").

And this isn't the only largely unknown super rarity that archivist, subculture researcher and rare track DJ Al Bird Sputnik and his team have amassed from the Trash Rock Archives: the lost first single from Novak's band appears here for the first time in one complete set restored version, without needle jumping and with relatively few annoying background noises ("Garbage Man"). Of the only 10 copies of the only Austrian Brothers record ("Brother") made, it was possible to find the only copy without any pressing errors. And in order to finally get hold of The Cop Stigh's 7", someone even had to sell their shirt and pants down to their ankles. But "All right", to use the words of the Styrian acid rockers Generation 2000 : it paid off. Schnitzelbeat Vol. 3 adds numerous fascinating chapters to the forgotten early history of Austrian rock music. Embark on another journey with Al Bird Sputnik and the labels Konkord and Digatone into the depths of well-stocked record cases and make a pilgrimage in front of you Sky full of Swedish bombs and Manner cuts over mountains of distorted guitars to the most remote regions of Austrian pop culture.NOVAK