Search - Wendy Carlos :: Tron

It's Been Too Long A Wait ... But Now It's Over

RandyAU93 | Lithia Springs, GA United States | 01/30/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

If You Liked the Movie, You'll Love this Album

J. Geerling | St. Louis, USA | 12/30/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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!"

TRON Shines On CD...At Last!

Luis M. Ramos | Caracas, Venezuela | 02/14/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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!"