The Final Cut by Pink Floyd
Mahalo!
The last release from the Roger Waters-led incarnation of the band, The
Final Cut is easily the most darkly provocative entry in the entire Pink
Floyd catalog. Many fans and critics tend to think of it as a Roger Waters
solo album, though it certainly hangs together much better than The Pros
and Cons of Hitchhiking or Radio K.A.O.S.. Others view it as a sequel to
The Wall--and indeed, The Final Cut tackles many of the same issues (the
futility of war, the innate powerlessness of the individual in modern
society), albeit with twice the bile and intensity. The anger that fires songs
like The Heros Return and Not Now John is certainly legitimate, and
Michael Kamens orchestral arrangements are absolutely stunning, but the
entire listening experience can be pretty draining. On the other hand, if you
found The Wall to be too soft or commercial, The Final Cut is definitely the
record for you. --Dan Epstein
Pink Floyds The Final Cut was released in April of 1983.
The album was the first Pink Floyd album of new material since 1979s The
Wall.
The Final Cut album was mainly the work of Roger Waters (bass
player/siner) with muted contribution from drummer Nick Mason and
guitarist/singer David Gilmour. Keyboard player Rick Wright was kicked out
the band during The Wall sessions. The Final Cut was supposed to be the
soundtrack to The Wall movie but instead, The Final Cut presents a
gloomy vivid portrait of a morally crumbling post-WWII/Falklands War era
England (which does sound a bit dated in 2007 but musically is a powerful
album).
The album is fixated on the second World War and what the personal and
societal sacrifices of that conflict meant to Great Britain in 1982/1983.
What have we done to England?/Should we shout, should we
scream/What happened to the post war dream? lyricist Roger Waters asks
on the opening The Post War Dream. Throughout the album, Mr. Waters
(whom lost his father in World War II) explores that inquiry. Your Possible
Pasts are taking subliminal shots at both Margaret Thatcher and the late
Ronald Reagan (though I thought Reagan was one of the best US
Presidents and the last great Republican President). The main character in
this album is the teacher from The Wall whom was disappointed in the
generation they preserved (One of the Few and The Heros Return), trying
to keep a fellow servicemans dream alive (The Gunners Dream), pursued
by ghosts (Paranoid Eyes).
Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert is great and is followed by arguably
the albums standout track The Fletcher Memorial Home which depicts
Thatcher and Reagan as overgrown infants and tyrants. Southampton
Dock was about Thatcher waving goodbye to the men and not about a wife
saying goodbye to her husband before he went to fight for his country. The
title cut is a great song too and my favorite here. Not Now John is a super b
rocker and the only Gilmour vocal on the record (him and Roger fought like
mad and David took his name off the credits but still got paid to produce
the album. The haunting Two Suns in the Sunset closes the album. Andy
Newmark plays drums on this track as Nick was forced out as well.
By the time The Final Cut was finished, Pink Floyd broke up.
The album was nevertheless another Top 10 album for the band in the US
hitting 6 and selling 2 million copies in the US but was a flop compared to
its predecessor. I was one of those who bought this album on tape the
year it came out and have gone through countless copies of this album,
especially the various remasters of this album.
Nevertheless, it is highly recommended!
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