Soundtracks (Can album)

{{Infobox album

| name = Soundtracks

| type = compilation

| artist = Can

| cover = Can-Soundtracks (album cover).jpg

| alt =

| released = September 1970

| recorded = November 1969 – August 1970

| studio = Schloss Nörvenich (Nörvenich, West Germany)

| venue =

| genre = Krautrock

| length = 35:09

| label = Liberty, United Artists

| producer = Can

| prev_title = Monster Movie

| prev_year = 1969

| next_title = Tago Mago

| next_year = 1971

| misc = {{Singles

| name = Soundtracks

| type = Compilation

| single1 = Soul Desert" / "She Brings the Rain

| single1date = 1969

}}

Soundtracks is a 1970 compilation album by the German krautrock group Can, containing music written for various films. The album marks the departure of the band's original vocalist Malcolm Mooney, who sings on two tracks, and his replacement by Damo Suzuki. "Don't Turn the Light On, Leave Me Alone" features Suzuki's first recorded performance with the band.{{cite web |last=Czukay |first=Holger |title=A Short History of the Can – Discography |url=http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/hysterie2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530232533/http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/hysterie2.html |archive-date=30 May 2019 |access-date=2 November 2011 |work=Perfect Sound Forever |publisher=furious.com |quote='Don't Turn the Light on, Leave Me Alone' was Damo's first recording with CAN ever.}} Stylistically, the record also documents the group's transition to the more meditative and experimental mode of the studio albums that followed.

The back cover of the album states:

"CAN SOUNDTRACKS" is the second album of THE CAN but not album no. two ... Album no. two [Tago Mago] will be released in the beginning of 1971.{{cite AV media notes |title=Soundtracks |others=Can |year=1970 |type=back cover |last=Liberty |author-link=Liberty Records |id=LBS 83 437 I |location=Germany |url=http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=653389}}

"She Brings the Rain", written for the 1969 film {{Interlanguage link multi|A Big Grey-Blue Bird|de|Ein großer graublauer Vogel}} by {{ill|Thomas Schamoni|de}}, was later featured in Wim Wenders' 1994 film Lisbon Story, Oskar Roehler's 2000 film Die Unberührbare and Tran Anh Hung's 2010 film Norwegian Wood.

Reception

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{AllMusic |class=album |id=soundtracks-mw0000653737 |label="Can: Soundtracks > Review" |first=Jason |last=Ankeny |accessdate=2 November 2011}}

| rev2 = Pitchfork

| rev2Score = 7.6/10{{cite web |url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/reviews/albums/11698-monster-moviesoundtrackstago-magoege-bamyasi/#review-album-1263 |title=Can: Soundtracks |date=11 November 2004 |first=Dominique |last=Leone |author-link=Dominique Leone |publisher=Pitchfork Media |access-date=2 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170512165210/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11698-monster-moviesoundtrackstago-magoege-bamyasi |archive-date=12 May 2017 |url-status=dead}}

| rev3 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev3Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite book | author1= Nathan Brackett | author2= Christian David Hoard| title = The new Rolling Stone album guide | publisher = Simon & Schuster | page = [https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/134 134] | location = New York | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-0-7432-0169-8 | url = https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac | url-access= registration }}

| rev4 = Stylus Magazine

| rev4Score = B{{cite web |url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/can/monster-movie-soundtracks.htm |title=Can: Monster Movie / Soundtracks |first=Nick |last=Southall |date=7 January 2005 |publisher=Stylus Magazine |access-date=2 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418234117/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/can/monster-movie-soundtracks.htm |archive-date=18 April 2016 |url-status=dead}}

}}

In a retrospective review in Stylus Magazine, Nick Southall called Soundtracks "a strange beast of a record" that "appear[s] directionless", but has some "absolutely sublime moments". Dominique Leone wrote in her retrospective review for Pitchfork that while many of the tracks on Soundtracks lack the "artistic reach" Can achieved on Monster Movie and other albums, they are not "throwaways". Leone called "Mother Sky" the album's highlight, adding that it "has an intensity matching anything on the debut". In another retrospective review of Soundtracks, for AllMusic, Jason Ankeny remarked: "The dichotomy between the two singers is readily apparent: Suzuki's odd, strangulated vocals fit far more comfortably into the group's increasingly intricate and subtle sound, allowing for greater variation than Mooney's stream-of-consciousness discourse."

In March 2005, Q placed "Mother Sky" at number 48 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks".{{cite journal |journal=Q |issue=#224 |date=March 2005 |title=100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever! |location=London |publisher=EMAP Metro |issn=0955-4955 |url=http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/qlistspage3.htm#Guitar%20Tracks |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060224054627/http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/qlistspage3.htm#Guitar%20Tracks |url-status=usurped |archive-date=February 24, 2006 |access-date=2 November 2011}}