Soundtracks (Can album)

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.^[1] Stylistically, the record also documents the group's transition to the more meditative and experimental mode of the studio albums that followed.

Soundtracks
Compilation album by Can
Released	September 1970
Recorded	November 1969 – August 1970
Studio	Schloss Nörvenich (Nörvenich, West Germany)
Genre	Krautrock
Length	35:09
Label	Liberty, United Artists
Producer	Can
Can chronology
Monster Movie (1969) Soundtracks (1970) Tago Mago (1971)
Singles from Soundtracks
"Soul Desert" / "She Brings the Rain" Released: 1969

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.^[2]

"She Brings the Rain", written for the 1969 film A Big Grey-Blue Bird [de] by 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

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Pitchfork	7.6/10[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[5]
Stylus Magazine	B[6]

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".^[6] 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".^[4] Leone called "Mother Sky" the album's highlight, adding that it "has an intensity matching anything on the debut".^[4] 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."^[3]

In March 2005, Q placed "Mother Sky" at number 48 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks".^[7]

Track listing

Side 1

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Deadlock" (from the film Deadlock, 1970, dir. Roland Klick)	Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Suzuki	3:27
2.	"Tango Whiskyman" (from the film Deadlock)	Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Suzuki	4:04
3.	"Deadlock (Titelmusik)" (from the film Deadlock)	Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Suzuki	1:40
4.	"Don't Turn the Light On, Leave Me Alone" (from the film Cream – Schwabing Report, 1970, dir. Leon Capetanos)	Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Suzuki	3:42
5.	"Soul Desert" (from the film The Brutes [de], 1970, dir. Roger Fritz)	Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Mooney	3:48

Side 2

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Mother Sky" (from the film Deep End, 1971, dir. Jerzy Skolimowski)	Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Suzuki	14:31
2.	"She Brings the Rain" (from the film A Big Grey-Blue Bird [de], 1969, dir. Thomas Schamoni [de])	Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Mooney	4:04
Total length:			35:16

Personnel

Can

• Holger Czukay – bass guitar, double bass
• Michael Karoli – electric guitar, violin
• Jaki Liebezeit – drums, percussion, flute
• Irmin Schmidt – keyboards, synthesizers
• Malcolm Mooney – lead vocals (5, 7)
• Damo Suzuki – lead vocals (1, 2, 4, 6), percussion