Flashback Review: Wendy Carlos: Tron Soundtrack [B]

Artist: Wendy Carlos

Album: Tron: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Released: 1982

Label: Disney Music

Genre: Soundtrack

Purchased: 10 Jan 2011

Format: mp3 files

Source: Amazon

Having purchased the soundtrack to the 30-years-later Tron sequel, I wanted to listen again to Wendy Carlos' 1982 score for the original Tron. Carlos has been a composer for analog synthesizer for close to 40 years now, and back in '82, she seemed the obvious choice to write the score for a movie that was set inside a computer.

Tron was the first film I ever saw that had far more impressive special effects than story. When I watched Tron for a college class in the early '90s, I remember being far more impressed with the soundtrack than the storyline.

The soundtrack itself is a mixed bag. When it's just her on synth, Carlos' music is fascinatingly off-kilter, in odd or shifting time signatures, and often shifts keys abruptly. Strangely, I find synth simultaneously coldly impersonal and wildly expressive. On the other hand, when she uses the full symphony orchestra to embellish or enhance her themes, I find it to become far less personal, and sound more like your basic action movie soundtrack. The 80's power-pop band Journey (who were at the height of their popularity in 1982) add two bland '80s rock numbers, which I honestly don't remember from the movie.

I'm glad I picked up this album. It was a blast from the past, and even included some music that I remember from the old Tron arcade video game. When left to her own devices, Carlos made some very exceptional memorable music for this film. On the other hand, the tracks that are primarily symphonic are mostly forgettable, and the Journey tracks are just bad.

Rating: B

Album listing at Amazon

Album not available at eMusic

Listen to "Scherzo"

Listen to "Love Theme"

Review: Daft Punk: Tron Legacy Soundtrack [C+]

Artist: Daft Punk

Album: Tron Legacy Soundtrack

Released: December 2010

Label: Walt Disney Records

Genre: Soundtrack / Electronic

Purchase Date: 17 Dec 2010

Format: mp3 files

Source: Amazon

While I found the movie Tron: Legacy to be a bit of a let-down, I did like the music of the film. So, when Amazon made this album available for just $5, I bought it.

Daft Punk are amazing electronic artists. For this album, the Disney Corp gave them a huge budget and tasked them to make a big soundtrack for a big-budget film. One of the resources at Daft Punk's disposal was, of all things, the London Philharmonic Orchestra. While the French duo is very much at home using music to tell a story, I feel that the big budget got in the way of their creativity. The main Tron: Legacy theme runs through almost the whole album, and it gets a bit repetitious. Also, the whole thing sounds very, um, movie-soundtrack-y.

That said, when Daft Punk lets go of the orchestra and focuses on being Daft Punk, the results are pretty darn good. One of the highlights of the album, and one of my favorite individual songs of the year, is the album closer "Tron: Legacy (End Titles)" which is a top-notch Daft Punk song.

So, a few standout tracks in a hum-drum electronic background, this is a decent soundtrack but not a standout.

Rating: C+

Listen to Tron: Legacy (End Titles)

Album listing at Amazon

Artist not available at eMusic