Tron [Soundtrack]

Wendy Carlos

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 29, 2002)
• Original Release Date: July 9, 1982
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Walt Disney Records
• ASIN: B00005V8J7
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #108,230 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Creation of Tron

2. Only Solutions - Journey

3. We've Got Company

4. Wormhole

5. Ring Game and Escape

6. Water, Music, And Tronaction

7. Tron Scherzo

8. Miracle and Magician

9. Magic Landings

10. Theme from Tron

11. 1990's Theme - Journey

12. Love Theme

13. Tower Music - Let Us Pray

14. Light Sailer

15. Sea of Simulation

16. New Tron and the MCP

17. Anthem

18. Ending Titles

19. Tronaction [Original Version][*]

20. Break In [For Strings, Flutes, And Celesta][*]

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Disney's pioneering 1982 effort in computer animation has garnered a small but devoted cult audience, despite--or perhaps because of--its now-dated, rudimentary vid-game aesthetic. But while designers Jean Giraud and Syd Mead gave its visual design a certain streamline moderne panache, its musical score attempts a similar back-to-the-future fusion with somewhat more mixed results. Given the composer's often chilling, landmark synthesized score work a decade earlier on Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, Wendy Carlos seemed like an apt choice for Tron. But without her previous collaborator's taste for Beethoven, Elgar, and Rossini, Carlos's instincts wend from atmospheric, 20th-century European modernism to cheesy '50s B-film melodramatics, with the sonic limitations of '80s synth technology sometimes a burden. Still, those fond of her solo work and collaboration with Kubrick on Orange (and The Shining) will find familiar charms in "Water, Music, and TRONaction," "TRONscherzo" and "Theme from TRON." But Journey's "Only Solutions" and now all-too-ironic "1990's Theme" further fix the score firmly in the '80s. This debut CD-release of the score also features three bonus tracks, the original "TRONaction" and two other unused cues, including a solo synth rendition of the film's anthem. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Been Too Long A Wait ... But Now It's Over, January 30, 2002

By	RandyAU93 (Lithia Springs, GA United States) - See all my reviews

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.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great soundtracks, December 9, 2002

By	Steve "SF Lover" (North Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews

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!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If You Liked the Movie, You'll Love this Album, December 29, 2006

By	J. Geerling (St. Louis, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!