Customer Reviews

The Final Cut

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I admit that I apprehensively purchased this cd, not expecting much more than a BITW wannabe. Was I ever wrong. This album is a union of tremendous music and intellectual art. The poetry of Roger and musicianship of the boys blended together seamlessly. The sound effects, classical and WW2 inspired music are mixed in a delicious drink for the senses; as good as any Floyd album. EVER. Much more coherent than The Wall. Blasphemy, you say. Beter music than DSOTM? Yes. A+

"The Wall" is my favorite album of all time, not just by Pink Floyd, but by any band. So you can imagine my anticipation when "The Final Cut" came out 4 years later in 1983. However, it wasn't quite what I expected, it was a bit of a surprise. Rick Wright is no longer there. David Gilmour's vocals are almost entirely absent from the record (with the lone exception, "Not Now John".) Even Gilmour's distinctive guitar work is relegated to just a few songs. It became obvious right away that this is almost entirely a Roger Waters solo album. But, if you look at it as a Roger Waters solo album, it's a pretty great one.

There are a quite a few classics on this. "The Final Cut", the title track, is one of my all time favorite PF songs, and features a beautiful solo by Gilmour that could easily stand up to anything on "The Wall." I'm not sure why this wasn't the song they used for "Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd", rather than "The Fletcher Memorial Home." "The Gunner's Dream" and the aforementioned "Fletcher" are also standout tracks. "Not Now John" was the big single, and it's the only true "rock" song on the whole album, and is nothing like anything else on the album. Roger's favorites from the album seem to be "Keep Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" and "Southampton Dock", as these are the songs he seems to perform live the most, but these aren't really complete songs, they're more like segues into other, better songs. "Two Suns in the Sunset" is a good closer to the Roger-era Floyd, about the futility of nuclear war.

I hope that the remaining members of Pink Floyd can reunite one more time to create a true, collaborative record, but if "The Final Cut" is meant to be Roger's last PF album and "The Division Bell" is Gilmour's last, they've still left a pretty good legacy.

Everybody has their own best albums. This, in my opinion is the best of Pink Floyd. Using a US credit card only rule for MP3 downloads is disturbing.

First, I'd like to commend the astute analyses of the other reviewers. The Roger Waters vs. Pink Floyd comments really capture a debate that should make good sense to Floyd fans. I would just like to add one point which illustrates that debate: I think this album would have been far better had it ended with "The Final Cut". To me, Not Now John and Two Suns feel like after-thoughts or, perhaps, some effort to include at least one song that had a chance of getting some air-play at the time the album was released. I never listen to those tracks because for me, it's like eating a delicately prepared gourmet meal and then, instead of savoring the taste for a while, shovelling a handful of Doritos in my mouth. I like Doritos. But there is a time and a place for them. And this album is neither the time nor the place. The Final Cut is a more complete and satisfying work of art without those two tracks.

The lyrics were definitely worthy of true Pink Floyd, but the music lacked the traditional "out of body experience" that other albums have provided.