TRON: Legacy R3C0NF1GUR3D

Tron: Legacy Reconfigured feels like an olive branch to all the techno/dance fanatics who felt let down by Daft Punk’s symphonic approach to scoring the film. “You didn’t like the orchestral music? Don’t get your glow sticks in a knot! Pop that pacifier back in your mouth and check out these phat beats and relentless tempos!”

I’m kidding of course, but only halfway. When the original score was first released, I was somewhat surprised by several reviews that actually complained about the lack of “dance” tracks from Daft Punk. I suppose I can understand the complaint, but good grief: the final result was so awesome! The soundtrack is still in regular rotation on my iPod and in the car. It’s a solid piece of work and a pretty epic score.




As a matter of fact, the existence of Reconfigured (I refuse to type all those capital letters and numbers more than once) proves the stellar job that Daft Punk did in their original pieces. When given the remix/dance treatment, the originals stand in stark contrast as better, stronger compositions. Rather than opting to go the fully electronic route, DP did the right thing and melded the best of their background with the best of traditional film scoring.

That said, this release isn’t a total loss. The remixes by The Glitch Mob, Moby, Com Truise, Ki:Theory, and Sander Kleinenberg are all solid, though the Ki: Theory take on “The Son of Flynn” risks being a little drawn out. Ironically, Kleinenberg’s remix of the “End Titles” manages to make new DP sound like old DP, “Around the World” era. Not too shabby.

All in all, this isn’t a bad album, just a somewhat mediocre one. It makes an interesting companion piece to the original score. I enjoyed hearing the dance hall takes of Daft Punk’s material, but the people who will likely enjoy this the most are going to be the hardcore techno nerds.