Original Tomb Raider I-III soundtrack albums legally unable to proceed as the Tomb Raider Suite project comes to an end

The Tomb Raider Suite newsletter distributed by legacy franchise composer Nathan McCree (Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II & Tomb Raider III) has today detailed a legal block on intended original soundtrack publications. This follows a 7-year license agreement made between McCree and current franchise developer Crystal Dynamics which resulted in the The Tomb Raider Suite Project and its voluminous output of live concert(s), album publications and other media & merchandise.

Outstanding - unfortunately - for the first three entries in the franchise, as promised beyond the Kickstarter fundraiser's original offerings, remastered, and set to include previously unreleased cut-scene & FMV score, no original soundtrack albums have been published to date. McCree sheds light on the completed albums that the composer has repititiously teased previously, citing "legal reasons" as inhibiting:

"We [...] completed the fully remastered original soundtracks for Tomb Raider 1, 2 and 3 - another one of our stretch goals from the Kickstarter campaign - which included all the music from the Cutscenes and Full Motion Video sequences. Unfortunately [...] for legal reasons we were unable to release them.

Now that our 7-year License Agreement with Crystal Dynamics has ended, at this stage we’re not sure if we will get a chance to release [...] the remastered soundtracks, but if we can find a way to do it, we will." - Nathan McCree

The Tomb Raider Remastered TV documentary that was also detailed in the Tomb Raider Suite Kickstarter fundraiser was also completed but is also not able to published for the same reasons. The Tomb Raider Suite project at one stage suffered financial delays and unethical allegations, but backers were eventually delivered all other promised goods. Now that the license with the current franchise developer has come to and end, the ownership of the music returns to Crystal Dynamics. Tomb Raider IV-VI composer Peter Connelly made a similar license agreement in 2018, which resulted in the Tomb Raider: Dark Angel Symphony Project and, conversely, did include remastered original soundtrack albums.

Aside, the music for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (2024) recently saw publication in another capacity as a poorly-curated "Official Soundtrack" & "Greatest Hits". The composer and the developer(s) did not collaborate on this title nor its enclosed release(s). This is catalogued in MoTR's Commercial Discography, and to boot, a new and more comprehensive compilation exists in our Community Discography.

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.

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.