Customer Reviews

Tron

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For reasons unbeknownst to us (but knownst to Disney), the soundtrack to their 1982 film "TRON" completely missed the digital revolution. You would think that a movie whose whole premise is digitally-grounded would have been an early adopter of compact disc technology. But it wasn't. I still have my old LP version of the soundtrack, but it certainly doesn't fit in my car's CD changer, and my tape of the soundtrack is old and over-used.

Well, just in time for the movie's 20th anniversary year, Walt Disney Records has finally brought the soundtrack to the CD format, and believe me, it was worth the wait.

The album has been completely remastered with the full assistance of the composer, Wendy Carlos. The CD's liner notes include a recent interview with Carlos, who details the creation of the unique digital/orchestral score that accompanies the on-screen computer animation. Being something of a novice when it comes to modern music composition, many of the terms sailed clear over my head, but she managed to provide more than enough context to make her descriptions make sense.

On to the tracks: All the tracks from the original LP soundtrack are here, arranged in an order reasonably consistent with the progress of the film. What makes this soundtrack so intriguing is not so much how it evokes memories of the film (which it certainly does) but how the merger of sythesized music with the work of a symphony orchestra came across so well. Considering the movie itself was a merger of traditional film techniques with cutting-edge (for the early 80s) computer animation, the fact that the soundtrack is similarly composed makes it that much more engrossing.

As owners of the original soundtrack might recall, 80s supergroup Journey prepared two tracks (one song, one instrumental) for use with the movie. Both tracks are in the movie, but there's nothing to call attention to them; check the arcade scenes in the film and you'll hear them. They do seem somewhat out of place, especially the anacronistically-named "90s Theme," but not so much that you'll skip them.

An added bonus on the CD is three previously unreleased tracks; Carlos mentions in her interview that they were intended for the original soundtrack, but were left out because of lack of space on both the LP and cassette formats. The first track is an early "draft" of one of the action themes, the second is a piece that was used in the film but not on the old album and the third is a simple single-instrument version of the "TRON" theme (being the last track on the disc, it's a welcome cool-down). The liner notes go into greater detail about how these tracks came to be.

The fact that this disc has never been available before is enough of a selling point. If you're on the fence, however, you would do well to pick up this exceptional compilation that was some twenty years in the making.

This is truly one of the great soundtracks. Composer Wendy Carlos explains on her Website (an excellent site, BTW) why some of the recordings (soundtrack and otherwise) of the early to mid-80's may not be able to be heard again. It could be the answer to the Dark Crystal, and Black Hole OSTs not being released on CD.

Wendy explains--
"--Ampex introduced another even higher output oxide, with a newly formulated binder as well, that exacted a deadly curse upon all who used it. Of course it wasn't realized at first, it took a few years. The new binder was no longer the stable, inert formulation it had been. The supplier of the new batches had inadvertently allowed many short molecules, much shorter than before, to dominate the mix. These are very hygroscopic molecules, which simply means they absorb water readily, right out of the air.

The water causes a change in the state of the binder -- it becomes a semi-liquid, and migrates from behind and in between the oxide particles, gluing them together and to the backing, up to the front oxide surface, where in its softened state it acts as a pretty effective glue, sticking to heads, guides, leader tape, fingers, rat hairs and floor sweeping... all the things you don't want attached to your magnetic tape surfaces, which ought be smooth, dry, clean, and slippery!"

Her TRON and Shining analog masters (on 3M tapes, who decided to use the same kind of oxide/binder formulation) were basically turning into strapping tape (she had digital mixes, "perfectly playable" according to her) but without these analog masters, it would be pretty hard to do new Dolby Surround mixes. Hence, the solution offered by one of the writers at EQ magazine; bake the tapes to dry them out, then back them up to new stock.

Wendy did, and since it is TRONs 20th anniversary, Disney decided to commission a new CD of the soundtrack. Thank God!

It has been years of waiting. And I must admit it was worth it. Wendy Carlos' TRON has finally seen the daylight on CD. This is such a marvelous piece of work. The recording is excellent. The liner notes by Carlos herself explaining the road to composing TRON and having it remastered for this new album are truly great.

All the music as heard on the original LP is here, plus the two songs Journey composed for the film. The bonus tracks are great, especially 'Break In', which tracks Flynn (Jeff Bridges) and friends sneaking into the ENCOM building. The only thing I truly regret is that a piece of music -I call it 'End Of Line', which is played when Dillinger (David Warner) enters his office and discovers, almost at the end of the movie, he's been exposed as the man who stole Flynn's video games -didn't make its appearance on this new edition. Too bad.

However, I am really pleased to have TRON on CD in my hands. There are no extra words to describe my feelings, but now I am playing it over and over in my player. TRON definitely lives!

I'm honestly not all that familiar with the extended catalog of electronic music pioneer Carlos has done outside of her 'Clockwork Orange' and 'Tales Of Heaven And Hell' releases (see my reviews of both), but I was sort of taken with 'Tron'. This is music 'from the future, with a vision'. Really dug the two cuts scored from Journey here, "Only Solutions" and "1990's Theme". 'Tron' may be considered by some to be a bit bizarre, but should be pretty enjoyable to most. Do check this soundtrack out when you can. You won't regret it.

This was the only work of Wendy Carlos I've ever heard, and I thought it was great! For the time period the movie was made in, this music was amazing and ahead of it's time. Watching the movie and listening to the soundtrack go hand-in-hand--I don't think this soundtrack would stand too well on its own. However, for those who've seen Tron, every song will be exciting.

The blending of synth and orchestral music was very well done--so much so that I didn't ever notice it until listening to the soundtrack the first time in my iPod headphones. Every song has a unique blend of synth/live orchestra.

The only reason I gave the CD 4 stars instead of 5 is because it isn't one of those albums that you can listen to over and over again. Rather, listen one or two times, then put it on the shelf, then bring it out again at some later time. The Journey songs on the CD (and in the movie) were defintely not the band's best, so don't get the album just because you're a Journey fan. I'm glad Disney finally published this CD!

This has to be one of the eeriest soundtracks ever recorded. After years of listening to (and totally wearing out) the LP, I acquired a bootleg CD, which was wonderful to have. This new release, however, far surpasses any version I've heard before.

For starters, there is the inclusion of three bonus tracks, one of which is 'Break In', the missing string ensemble piece which accompanies the Real World portions of the movie.

But the bonus tracks are just icing on the already incredibly delicious cake! At center stage is the amazing remastering of the score material, as completed by Wendy Carlos herself. I've had this soundtrack memorized for years, but I must say I never truly appreciated how much percussion there was in nearly every track. And the ultra Hi-D 20-bit sound is enveloping and astounding. Dramatic tracks like 'Wormhole' and 'A New Tron and the MCP' are frighteningly ominous. Audiophiles will love this stuff.

I would've preferred a bit more deluxe packaging with scoring notes, pictures of the recording process, etc., and it would've been nice if the soundtrack had been given more attention in the bonus material on the new DVD, but who wants to split hairs when such a masterpiece has arrived?

Bottom line: It's ABOUT TIME that Disney gave proper respect to Tron. A very special THANK YOU to Wendy Carlos, who rescued the original masters from certain deterioration only a couple of years ago. Tron lives!

A beautiful release of one of the most interesting movie soundtracks of its time, and Wendy Carlos's compositions sound just as lively, fresh and contemporary now as they did then (unlike the Journey tracks and the movie itself, both of which show their age). And to those complaining about the loss of the "Deleted Lightcycle Music" track, there is a beautiful reorchestration and performance of it on one of Carlos's other recordings: It is the movement "Io" on her "Digital Moonscapes" CD.

Wendy Carlos' haunting but lovely soundtrack has always been one of my favorites. The beautiful moog synthesizer arrangement is what made Tron. The music perfectly captured the mood and atmosphere of the movie, that of life in an electronic world transposed with real world conflicts. The real joy is getting the extra tracks that couldn't be included on the original vinyl release due to space limitations.

After unaccountably languishing in the vaults for twenty years, Disney finally has seen fit to release the groundbreaking 'Tron' soundtrack.

Thanks to Wendy's meticulous restoration of the masters -- done well before Disney finally asked her to -- the sound is pristine and detailed, allowing the listener to hear just what an innovative and advanced composer she really is. The merging of synthesized elements with real orchestra and voice is seamless, flawless and -- even today -- unequalled. She is a one-woman audio equivalent of Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic.

(Now, if they just could have done something about those songs by Journey... UGH!)

At long last, TRON is officially released on CD. Not only are the tracks beautifully remastered to a stunning level of clarity, but extra tracks are included: "The Break-In," a major piece in the score which has never been released before, a solo harpsichord rendition of the movie's main theme, and an early demo version of "Tronaction." Even those two pesky Journey songs are included, and the original LP running order is preserved. The liner notes by Wendy Carlos are interesting to read, since even with the recent 20th anniversary DVD release, it seems as though this much-loved score has been oft-overlooked as a key piece of the film's success. Here's hoping Wendy Carlos will be back to score Tron 2.0 next year.