Tron Legacy R3C0NF1GUR3D Review
As with the original versions of Daft Punk's music from the film, I purposefully avoided listening to many previews of the songs contained on this identity disc before its release. Pretty much every track seemed to have made it onto the shadier parts of the Grid before it even dropped. Here are my unedited thoughts, from my first-listen, tweet-by-track review of Tron Legacy: R3C0NF1GUR3D this afternoon:
Via @LinerNotes:
@TronLegacy #R3C0NF1GUR3D
Track 1: The Glitch Mob slows down and adds a grinding groove to "Derezzed". Solid opening track.
Track 2: didn't like at first. Doesn't fit the rest of the album. Lose the vocalizations to make better.
Track 3: Vintage Crystal Method! Exactly what I'd hoped this would sound like and yet even better. Fav so far.
Track 4: Teddybears decompile this one nicely. "Adagio for Tron" barely recognizable but well done. Nice breakdown.
Track 5: Ki:Theory do a good job of adding original sounds on top of the existing piece, "The Son of Flynn".
Track 6: Paul Oakenfold constructs heavy walls of trancy synth around "C.L.U." Strings sound even more sinister.
Track 7: Moby keeps "The Son of Flynn" intact, with trademark beats to add to the overall sound.
Track 8: Boys Noize gloss "End of Line" with some clever electro flourishes. Among top 3 favs so far.
Track 9: Kaskade turns "Rinzler" from an acrobatic security Program into the most dance-floor worthy mix here yet.
Track 10: Com Truise adds a Recognizer's weight in new sounds to "Encom Part 2" to great effect.
Track 11: a more straightforward remix of "End of Line" from Photek. I like this version better than track 8.
Track 12: The Japanese Popstars completely change up "Arena". They may have won a new fan based on this.
Track 13: Whoa. Avicii utterly derezzes "Derezzed". Sounds nothing like the original. Sticks out like track 2.
Track 14: first exposure to The Pretty Lights. Enjoying his glitch-hop beats treatment of "Solar Sailer". #Strong
Track 15: Sander Kleinenberg closes the album with a still very movie-sounding mix of "Tron Legacy (End Titles)."
By the end of my first, full listen, The Glitch Mob, The Crystal Method and Photek had earned favorite track status and I had been introduced to a handful of new artists I was previously unfamiliar with. The Japanese Popstars and Ki:Theory are now high on my list of artists to listen to more of their original material. Start to finish, this was a great listen, easily earning 8 Bits out of 10, or whatever random numerical rating nomenclature you care to associate with it. But it isn't nearly the perfect listen that the original Daft Punk material was. And frankly, it never should have set out to be that way. It would have been insulting to try and outdo anything the Robots had created for the movie. What R3C0NF1GUR3D does do exceedingly well, is give fans something extra to enjoy, until (a fan can only hope) a third movie with Daft Punk's involvement is announced.
There were only two pieces here which just didn't "feel" like they belonged with the rest of the album. The first was M83 vs Big Black Delta doing "Fall". Frankly, on second listen, I liked it more, but it sounded odd among the other tracks. The second was Avicii derezzing "Derezzed". Again, a solid performance, but stylistically, it just doesn't fit with the others.
Tron Legacy contained well over two dozen pieces of original music, yet, for this remix set of 15 tracks, three pieces were featured twice ("The Son of Flynn", "Derezzed" and "End of Line"). I won't argue the validity of taking multiple stabs at both the iconic "Derezzed" and the equally so "End of Line", however with so many more pieces on the original soundtrack, there really could have been less repeating, or even better, an even longer set of music. "Castor" from the European bonus disc release is just begging to be lengthened and further explored for the dance floor set.
Other parts of the electronica spectrum could have very easily been represented on this album as well. Could there have been room for a chiptune decompiling of Daft Punk by 8 Bit Weapon? Absolutely, and they've got the programming to show it could have been done. I would have loved to hear the gentle electronic tones of Robot Science revisiting the rare bonus number, "Sunrise Prelude" and it would have made perfect sense to conscript Tritonal to take on the end credits in an orchestral trance fashion, like they did with a piece from Halo 3.
But maybe what would have really put the glowing icing on the cake of R3C0NF1GUR3D would have been having Daft Punk dancify one of their own pieces. Fortunately, The Crystal Method tread the closest into Daft territory with their remix of "The Grid". That said, kudos to Disney Music for going the extra cycle with this album. It is an absolute must-listen for fans of Tron, Daft Punk and the remix artists involved.
In the end, Disney's decision to release this set of music seems to have also pleased those Daft fans who were expecting Tron Legacy's score to sound like Homework 2.0 or something similar. Now, as a special request from Tron fans everywhere, can we please get an "Ultimate" edition of the OST? With all the European and digital-only bonus tracks and maybe some unreleased material. Like a man says, no problems. Only solutions.
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