SOUNDTRACKS

The second album from Can called Soundtracks is a bit of a dissapointment after their outstanding debut album Monster Movie which I found was very original and exciting. Soundtracks is more polished and the songs are generally shorter than on Monster Movies.

The repetitive Krautrock beats are there of course but my complaint is that the songs don´t have time to evolve in the short time many of them last. It´s pretty saying that the best song here is the only really long song. Mother Sky is a real treat though. Lots of different instrumental bits are build on the repetitive groove and because the song is given time to develop it seems whole. The shorter songs are also very good, but I think the Krautrock format is better suited for long songs.

There are two different vocalists on Soundtracks and even though original vocalist Malcolm Mooney who sings on Soul Desert and She brings the Rain and new vocalist Damo Suzuki who sings on the rest of the songs have very similar sounding voices, I prefer Malcolm Mooney´s dull almost sleepy vocal style. I don´t know the history of Can but I guess Malcolm Mooney stepped out of the band during the recording process ?

The musicians seem a bit tighter than on Monter Movies and I´m in doubt if that is a good thing as I really liked the very raw and unpolished debut album.

The sound quality is pretty good for the time and I enjoy it.

Even though Soundtracks is not as good as Monter Movies it´s still a very good album and it deserves 3 big stars.