The album marks the departure of the band's original vocalist Malcolm Mooney, who sings on two tracks, and his replacement by Damo Suzuki.

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.