Tron 2 soundtrack was such a huge disappointment from me, and I'm a die hard Daft Punk fan. Listened to it once, never went back to it.
The original Tron soundtrack is such a joy, totally underrated... Amazing how she blended electronics with orchestration... in my memory it feels like a purely electronic soundtrack but it's not at all. The artistic impulse would be to go full electronic with something like this, she went in the opposite direction, and gave the score a sense of humanity (humans in the computer world).
Carlos kept pushing the envelope on everything she did. Up there with Delia Derbyshire to me... total pioneer.
Marginally off topic here, but Occams Laser created a 'sequel' album to the Daft Punk score, and I feel it more closely feels like an updated original Tron soundtrack.
There are two complete albums they've released: The Grid[1], which is a concept album based on the 1982 original, and Return to the Grid[2] which is a reimagined concept album for Tron Legacy, both that I absolutely love listening to.
Listened to a few tracks, this is right up my alley, thanks!
It's a little less Tron and a little more 80's film soundtrack vibe (which is also awesome).. The style seems to have come back in vogue a bit (Stranger Things etc.).
This reminds me a lot of the Le Matos soundtrack for Turbo Kid. [1] Their soundtrack to Summer of '84 has the same synth vibe but adds the horror soundtrack vibe, also recommended.
I would also recommend the Tron 2.0 (which was a video game released before Tron Legacy) soundtrack. It reimagines a few tracks and otherwise expands in a similar style to the first movie.
Also Tron 2.0 game nailed the aesthetic, I wish Tron Legacy did. It just looked like your run-of-the-mill orange-and-teal sci-fi film. Such a wasted opportunity.
edited: You know I never paid attention to the soundtrack to the game, just listened to it... holy cow you're right they did a great job! Tons of cues from the original film... thanks for this!
I liked the soundtrack for what it was but my ears had expected to hear the leitmotifs I was familiar with.
It's like watching a new Star Wars sequel and hearing no leitmotifs. Not The Force theme / Luke's theme, not Leia, not Yoda, nothing to tie it back to the original.
In the sequel they only had the leitmotif in a tiny scene (Jeff Bridges mouths it). And that was it.
As much as the Tron (2010) movie's score had a "cool" factor it lacked the heart and soul of the original.
If they ever do another one I'd like to see the original Carlos' Tron's leitmotif woven back into it.