Wendy Carlos - Tron (Original Soundtrack) [RePoPo] (CD-Image)

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General Information

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This is a Media Descriptor (.mds) Image file from the retail CD of Wendy Carlos'

1982 Tron Movie Soundtrack. It contains (uncompressed) the 100% of the

information contained on the original retail CD.



You can use a tool to mount this image on your PC and use it virtually as a

regular Audio-CD, or either burn it with your regular burnig soft on a CD.



So, if you prefer a .FLAC, .MP3 or whatever other audio format, now you have

the basic tool to encode the CD and upload it for others, that'd be OK for me.



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Release Notes

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Wendy Carlos - Disney's TRON Original Soundtrack

Release date: January 29, 2002

Original Release date: July 9, 1982

Label: Disney

Total running time: 58:47



Tracklist



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

12. Love Theme

13. Tower Music - Let Us Pray

14. The Light Sailer

15. Sea of Simulation

16. A New TRON and the MCP

17. Anthem

18. Ending Titles

19. TRONAction (Original Version)

20. Break In (For Strings, Flutes and Celesta)

21. Anthem for Keyboard Solo



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SOME REVIES

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by David A. Koran (Soundtrack.net)

on May 13th, 2002



This review has been a long time in coming, due to both my procrastination, and

the length of time it's taken for Tron to be released on CD (and properly on

DVD). In the day, both the movie and the music were the seminal works of their

time: one with groundbreaking animation and computer generated graphics and

another integrating synthesized music with a full orchestra. Since its release

in 1982, the movie has inspired many, from filmmakers, animators, and scientists

all the way to musicians, designers, and artists. One of the more particularly

innovative items from the film, the music, has been the one item languishing in

obscurity. A "digital" film (in many respects), Tron had not had the advantage

of releasing its music on the most popular format of today, that being a compact

disc. Listeners in 1982 were treated to cassette tapes and vinyl LPs for their

fix.



There were hopes of a release back in the early 1990's when composer Wendy

Carlos was asked by Disney to re-master her surviving tapes for a collector's

edition laser disc release. However, the only isolated example of her hard work

was relegated to a section of the special features of the discs. Upon the rise

of the Internet, I was able, under my own fruition, to contact Carlos's

representatives and asked the status of the tapes, since Ms. Carlos has become

quite expert at the fine art of "baking" master tapes. As it came to be, the

Tron masters were some of the first bit of this work she had actually completed,

however, there were rights issues with Disney (as it has been for many of their

works by other composers for their films), and a future release was in legal

limbo that would take more than a technical achievement to overcome. Fast

forward a decade or so, and, according to Ms. Carlos, Disney called out of the

blue about preparing a release to accompany their special edition DVD set. No

sooner said than done, we have the release that is the subject of this review,

which, is the same as the LP released in 1982 (in content) plus three additional

tracks.



For the casual listener, one could easily write the sound off as dated, due to

the over saturation of electronics in modern (if you can call it that) music.

However, to fans, and aficionados of classic "electronic" music (akin to

comparing CDs versus LPs), one cannot overlook the warmth that analog synths

bring to the overall atmosphere of the score. An interesting item mentioned in

the liner notes (and on Carlos' website), is that the score was to be split

along a full orchestra, representing the "analog" flesh and blood world, and the

synthesizers, representing the "digital" computer world. The only superbly

discernable crossover (outside of live percussion) between the two occurs during

the "Creation of TRON", a blend of orchestra, chorus, and electronics, "Miracle

and Magician" and "End Titles", which occur, coincidentally when the analog

human world comes in contact with the digital computer world. At times, some of

the pieces are dissonant in sound, but it helps provide a transition between

some of the major melodies and overt passages in the score. However, if one

looks back on Carlos' entire recording career, the solo works as well as the

coverage of Bach, this approach wouldn't sound as strange as it may appear.



The most recognizable themes from the score (some of which even my co-workers

have a penchant for humming incessantly all day at times) are from three pieces

on the album, "TRON Scherzo", "Theme from TRON", and "The Light Sailer".

Although the themes that comprise these three pieces do show up earlier in the

score, these tracks represent a coming together of each musical idea (in

correspondence to the plot progression) that had been given birth in other areas

of the film. Carlos mentioned that she had intended two thematic motifs to be

used: one a militaristic sounding theme, corresponding to the MCP and it's

cohorts, and a second theme, based on love story between Tron (Bruce Boxleitner)

and Yori (Cindy Morgan). Although there is a "Love Theme" track, the full theme

is best realized during the "End Titles" piece where every major musical point

is brought to a resolution. A nice touch on that track is the addition of the

large pipe organ, which really acts as a successful middle ground between the

synthetic and organic elements of the score.



The 20th Anniversary DVD set is truly worth the investments if you grew up

admiring the film. For those that find the CGI special effects of today as

something that has become second nature, it's also a history lesson as to how

far we've come since those days. In fact, I purchased the latest advance in CGI

animation the same day I picked up the DVD for Tron as a comparison, which was

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Both shared a few central ideological themes,

but other than that they are entirely different films, both in look and feel as

well as the technology. Tron sparingly used CGI effects since it took so long to

generate even the most simple computer animation, whereas the latter film was

completely computer generated, even down to the actors within. One could only

wonder what will happen within the next 20 years. As for the music, one could

say it's gone backwards, from introducing electronics in the production of film

scores to add something unique, to where the more popular scores are completely

generated within a computer (which I have a tendency to dislike). However, for

Final Fantasy, composer Elliot Goldenthal chose the classic route with a full

orchestra and very little, if any electronic support. You can use Tron as a

history lesson, and example of a genre, or let it stand alone as it may, but I'm

sure you'll find it as fun and as interesting as I have for the past 20 years.



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RandyAU93 (Lithia Springs, GA United States) (Taken from Amazon)



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.



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Some additional info... thanks to Amazon!



01.- Creation of TRON

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



02.- Only solutions

Composed by Jonathan Cain, Steve Perry, Neil Schon

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



03.- We've Got Company

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



04.- Wormhole

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



05.- Ring Game and Escape

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



06.- Water, Music, and TRONaction

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



07.- TRON Scherzo

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



08.- Miracle and Magician

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



09.- Magic Landings

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



10.- Theme from TRON

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



11.- 1990's Theme

Composed by Jonathan Cain, Neil Schon

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



12.- Love Theme

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



13.- Tower Music-Let us Pray

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



14.- The Light Sailer

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



15.- Sea of Simulation

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



16.- A New TRON and the MCP

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



17.- Anthem

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



18.- Ending Titles

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



19.- TRONaction

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



20.- Break In (For Strings, Flutes, and Celesta)

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley



21.- Anthem for Keyboard Solo

Composed by Wendy Carlos

Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra

with Wendy Carlos, Martin Neary

Conducted by Annemarie Franklin, Douglas Gamley

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