CAN - Soundtracks (1970-2005) RM / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Soundtracks is the second album from Can but it is also made up from many movie soundtracks that the band had contributed music to as well. The album has a kind of cut and paste feeling, as many of the songs fade in and out in a rather awkward and hurried manner. However, the big improvement is in the new singer Damo Suzuki, who sings “Tango Whiskeyman” and “Deadlock” in a style that could not be more opposite than Mooney’s: hushed, intricate, solemn, but still dynamic when needing to be. The fact that he sings in a mix of three languages- English, Japanese, and German- is a mere footnote. The lyrics are improvised and SOUND like it, but this only adds to the album’s internal mechanics. Songs such as “Don’t Turn the Light On, Leave Me Alone” have a new sonic clarity to them as the busy toms of Liebezeit merge with the whispering of Suzuki and add a new dimension the band’s moody textures.

“Mother Sky” is the band’s first monumental achievement, a 14 minute work of hypnotic beauty and forward thinking that at first uses elements of drone music (pretty much done solely by Czukay’s bass) and later elements of electric guitar noise and off kilter bass and keyboard playing to form a controlled jam of intensity where it feels like anything can happen. Unfortunately, they let two of Malcom Mooney’s last songs exist on the record as well, and “Soul Desert” and “She Brings the Rain” are truly trying experiences that recall the problems of the debut. The former song is completely unnecessary to the tone and flow of the record, bringing a kind of ragged, garage album feel to an album that is completely nuanced and flavored differently, while the latter song is simply bad beatnik poetry that any Lou Reed / Bob Dylan wanna be of the era could produce. The reprise of “Deadlock” is also slightly overlong and unwelcome so early in the record. Still, most of the record succeeds and points toward a bright future for the band with Suzuki as lead vocalist. The band sounds renewed and alive on Soundtracks, as scattershot and as inconsistent as it is. by Trevor Evans

Tracklist:
1 Deadlock 3:25
2 Tango Whiskyman 4:02
3 Deadlock 1:40
4 Don't Turn The Light On, Leave Me Alone 3:42
5 Soul Desert 3:46
Vocals – Malcolm Mooney
6 Mother Sky 14:30
7 She Brings The Rain 4:04
Vocals – Malcolm Mooney
Credits:
Bass, Engineer, Edited By – Holger Czukay
Drums – Jaki Liebezeit
Guitar – Michael Karoli
Keyboards – Irmin Schmidt
Vocals – Damo Suzuki (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 6)
Written-By, Producer – Can