Friday, October 18, 2024

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered enclosed "Official Soundtrack" album release(s) are, unfortunately, a veritable botched job


Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (2024) presented a unique opportunity to not only remaster the original game's score but also publish original Tomb Raider (1996), Tomb Raider II (1997) & Tomb Raider III (1998) soundtrack album(s) for the first time. Whilst the former was not a successfully pursued collaboration by either publisher Aspyr, developer Sabre Interactive or the composer Nathan McCree, the latter became evident with the announcement of Deluxe & Collector's Editions of the definitive preserved collection. Unprecedented in nearly thirty years of the franchise, these special retail editions were set to include an "Official Soundtrack" compilation spanning music from all three original titles. The publication is an enclosed release only featured in the said physical editions of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered - both a 2 CD collection (Collector's), a digital download (Deluxe), plus a “Greatest Hits” CD (Deluxe) in territories outside the United States.
 
MoTR reached out to current franchise developer Crystal Dynamics earlier this year with respect to the track-listing and artwork for these albums as well as any additional PR information, including intended standalone distribution or publication outside of these enclosed releases (i.e. on digital music storefronts or streaming services). In the end, no information was received prior to release (please note accurate album art recreation above courtesy of fellow fansite Lara's Home). Today, however, consumers have opened their Deluxe Edition products and, sadly, this is not such a momentous occasion as anticipated and deserved. There may be more disappointment for fans to come in March 2025, where the same content is set to be enclosed in the USD$199 Collector's Edition.

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Collector's Edition featuring 2 CD album
 
It appears little-to-no care or consideration has been made to (a) curate and order the content of these albums, (b) title the tracks in line with the composer's identification, (c) correctly label, spell nor uphold grammatical parallelism of the tracks (and in the case of certain levels, erroneously name tracks) nor (d) produce a corresponding track-list printed on the physical CD sleeve. The album also fails to comprehensively include Peter Connelly's restored "Willard Boss Theme". On the "Soundtrack Greatest Hits", confusingly, the track-list is only 7 tracks short of the full soundtrack published. This challenges the necessity of both albums, especially where ambient tracks appear to have been prioritised over music irrespective. The whole package remains, unfortunately, a questionably and poorly handled publication - perhaps stemming from the aforementioned lack of collaboration. The audio content albeit intact and perfunctory.
 
Nonetheless, full track-listing after the jump below, the albums represent the first releases ever of the original Tomb Raider soundtracks in an official publication capacity. As such, the album(s) have been added to MoTR's commercial discography which prides itself on cataloguing and preserving what is largely missing works of art - especially where the first continuation of the franchise is (still) concerned. Following this release, our more comprehensive and beloved community discography albums are not yet obsoleted (as amended with McCree in 2014) - as such, MoTR has gone one step further, curating an in-catalogue compilation of what should have been, plus taken the liberty of adding Peter Connelly's track.
 
We can only hope in the interest of preserving the art that the composer, following multiple teases over the years, is still able to proceed with plans to finally release remastered soundtrack albums for each of the original games and feature the unreleased FMV & cutscene scores. That, and for Peter Connelly's dedicated remastered albums to supplant musical material in the recently announced Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered (2025) due up next. Folks, let's hope Lara Croft's second continuation gets the auditory treatment it deserves.

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft soundtrack by Pinar Toprak & Gerrit Wunder accompanies the animated series


Milan Records has published a digitally released soundtrack album for the Netflix original animated series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. The album features selections of the show’s original score composed by Pinar Toprak (Captain Marvel, The Lost City, Supergirl & more) & Gerrit Wunder (Hope for the Holidays, Scarlett). Also included is the song "Matemateāone" by Australasian pop singer Stan Walker. The soundtrack is now available to stream or download on all major digital music services. MoTR has catalogued the release in our commercial Tomb Raider discography. Full tracklist after the jump below.
 
The composers’ title track follows for preview below. Similarly to Tom Holkenborg's Tomb Raider (2018), it appears there is no resemblance or homage to the franchise's 28 years of musical motifs and the score is an entirely original one. Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is set after the events of the Tomb Raider Survivor Trilogy and follows titular character Lara Croft "as she confronts her traumatic past whilst unraveling an ancient mystery". Developed by Tasha Huo, the series features the voices of Hayley Atwell as Lara Croft as well as Earl Baylon (Shadow of the Tomb Raider) as her companion Jonah, premiering exclusively on Netflix.
 

Tuesday, May 07, 2024

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris original soundtrack to see physical CD publication enclosed in "The Lara Croft Collection"


Content from the previously released Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (2014) by composer Wilbert Roget, II is set to be published as an enclosed "Original Soundtrack" included in the announced Lara Croft Collection (2024) Collector's Edition. Published exclusively on Nintendo Switch by Limited Run Games, the collection also includes Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (2010) and is now available for pre-order.
 
Previously the soundtrack material was strictly a non-commercial SoundCloud release, developer Crystal Dynamics collaborating with the composer at the time to treat fans. Wilbert Roget, II then released additional additional music. The album(s) can be found in our community discography.

This year's collection sadly does not appear to have considered music from Guardian of Light which consisted of recycled material by Troels Folmann (franchise composer from 2006-2008) - not entirely unexpected as an official curation of this content does not exist, however, a community release was developed at said discography page.
 
The Lara Croft Collection is only available to order for a limited time, and once orders are placed production is restricted to those specific number of orders. Until such time that consumers receive their Collector's Edition, due November 2024, the exact track-listing and content of the Temple of Osiris album remains unknown. It may be safe to assume exclusion of the additional material based on run-time(s). Nevetheless, the album is now duplicated on MoTR's commercial discography catalogue.