March 21, 1983 - The Final Cut

Three weeks after my last release and over three years since "The Wall", Pink Floyd finally released their twelfth studio album "The Final Cut" on March 21, 1983. While this is an official Pink Floyd studio album, it is unlike anything they have previously made. Original member and keyboardist Richard Wright is no longer with the band and Nick Mason and David Gilmour contributed almost nothing to the songs on this album, with Gilmour singing co-lead vocals on one song only. Roger Waters sings lead vocals on every track and he wrote every song almost entirely by himself, giving this more the feel of a Waters solo album than an actual Pink Floyd album. Wright is not replaced; Waters plays some synthesizers but the keyboards are mostly split between session musician Andy Bown and Michael Kamen, who is also the conductor of all the orchestral bits heard on the album. It's also a concept album that Waters created based around his belief that the British government, and in particular PM Margaret Thatcher, created and mishandled the Falklands war. The recording of this album put even more strain on the band and would drive more of a wedge between frontmen Gilmour and Waters. Let's see what the end result of all this is!

The album begins with "The Post War Dream" and it's a white opening as we hear some real radio broadcasts talking about the Falklands War. Kamen plays the harmonium that we hear in this sad and slow opening before Waters comes in on vocals. Kamen conducts a sad but moving horns section in the background as Waters sings softly overtop, and his lyrics describe how he believes Thatcher has failed England, even asking "why Maggie why?" which is how Waters refers to Thatcher throughout the album. It's a well done sad opening and for the final minute Mason and Gulmour finally join the mix as they move into a slow rock riff. The orchestra sounds very nice and Waters sings in his more typical yelling fashion as Gilmour adds some nice guitar in the background. This verse sounds decent, but it dies down and ends with some more horns before segueing right into the next track, "Your Possible Pasts". Gilmour plays a slow guitar riff that keeps the pace as Waters returns to his softer voice to sing the first verse. After about a minute Waters comes in with a nice loud bass riff as they shift into a nice chorus riff with Mason playing some epic slow drums as well. Waters does his yelling voice for the brief chorus (which I like way more than his softer voice) but it's a short one as they quiet it down for another verse. Waters adds some nice acoustic guitar to this verse and Kamen plays some electric piano that seems to fit in nicely. After another heavier chorus it's surprisngly guitar solo time as Gilmour gets a chance to show off a bit. He plays a typical Gilmour solo; nothing is too fast or flashy but man does it ever sound epic and amazing! It's great to hear that Gilmour's talents can still shine, and after a fine solo they quiet things down again for a final slow verse and chorus. The song fades away and we hear the sound of a ticking clock at the end that leads right into the next song "One Of The Few". It's only just over a minute long and Gilmour plays a cool little guitar riff throughout while Waters sings, or rather whispers a short verse. For a quiet song it sounds pretty epic but the overall tone of the album is quite depressing and slow. It's not bad music at all, but it's a far cry from everything Pink Floyd has done before. Track 4 is called "When The Tigers Broke Free" and it was actually recorded during the sessions for the "The Wall" and appeared in the film of the same name. Kamen conducts a slow but nice-sounding orchestra and we hear a whole choir of voices singing some long notes for another very epic vibe. Waters sings overtop this orchestra and choir and although he is doing his softer voice I think he sounds pretty good in this one. It matches the solemn feel of the music really well and it's just Waters, Kamen and the choir on this song. After a couple nice slow verses, we hear a loud trumpet emerge from the orchestra as Waters shifts to his louder voice for an epic final verse. It's a cool song, but as I said earlier it's more like Waters solo music than a Pink Floyd effort. Mason and Gilmour return for the next song, titled "The Hero's Return" which has Gilmour playing a cool guitar part and Waters playing some nice bass but they are two very different riffs. Waters also adds some synths to the mix and together it makes for an interesting main riff. Waters sings a decent verse overtop and he adds lots more trippy synths while we also hear Bown on piano for the first time. Waters sings pretty quickly overtop the slow riff and things quiet right down for the next verse. The piano sounds nice but it only makes me miss Wright as his playing was way better than any of the keyboards on this album. Waters finishes the song alone as he plays a short acoustic part and sings a final verse that leads right into the next song "The Gunner's Dream". We hear what sounds like a fighter plane soaring through the Sky and as the noise fades away Kamen fades in with some nice slow piano. Waters sings another slow, soft verse overtop and Gilmour and Mason continue to be used very sparingly on this first side. We also hear some sad strings that add to the sombre mood of this song and after Waters lets out one big yell it's time for a solo, but not guitar, it's saxophone! It's not quite as awesome as some of the sax on their earlier stuff, but it still sounds pretty good. It's a solid soulful solo, but what did Gilmour and Mason even do during the recording of this album? They must have had lots of free time on their hands because they have almost no parts in Waters' music. After the saxophone serenade they return to the slow piano riff for another verse and then I'm almost shocked to hear a drum fill! They move into a more classic Floyd riff that sounds much more alive and slightly reminiscent of "The Wall" and I think this is easily the best part of the song! Unfortunately it's very short-lived as everything drops out so that Waters and Kamen can finish the song as they started it. The final song on this first side is called "Paranoid Eyes" and it's Waters and Kamen in the spotlight again as we hear some more light piano and more soft singing. Bown adds some droning organ to the background that reminds me of Wright and how much better things were when he was around. We hear footsteps in the background as well and all the background noises of people talking and laughing correspond to the lyrics as if it were a movie. It's a neat concept but this song sounds like most of the music we've heard so far; slow, sad and largely not that entertaining. Waters plays some nice acoustic guitar as they step things up to a better riff but again it's very short-lived and it's right back to another painfully slow verse to finish off the song.

Side two begins with a short song titled "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert". Waters resumes his Scottish voice from "The Wall" to shout the name of the song and after someone says "what did he say?" we hear a plane fly overhead followed by an explosion. Kamen conducts a sad but nice orchestral bit as Waters sings a short verse about countries fighting over different deserts. A bit of an odd song for sure, and like most on this album it leads right into the next one, titled "The Fletcher Memorial Home". Kamen conducts some more sad but nice orchestral stuff and also plays the slow piano while Waters sings in his louder voice. It sounds decent enough, but this is yet another huge section with no contribution from Gilmour and Mason at all! Calling this a Pink Floyd album is a bit of a stretch; it's almost entirely just Waters and Kamen! Waters introduces a bunch of people in some more pretty unexciting stuff but after two minutes we get a reminder that there are two other people in this band as lo and behold drums and guitar are heard. Mason segues nicely into a guitar solo for Gilmour and as usual he plays some pretty cool stuff. It's almost despicable to have such a great guitarist, singer and songwriter in your band and not let him play at his full potential. This solo is fairly tame and it is still easily the best part of the song, way more exciting and energetic. The sombre mood returns for a final Waters/Kamen verse though and we hear some sea gulls at the end of the song that connects us to the next track "Southampton Dock". It's just over two minutes and Waters leads the way on his own with a simple acoustic guitar riff and some nice soft singing. On a separate vocal track Waters screams the same lyrics so we hear them loud and quiet and after an orchestral bit that would seem to be ending the song, Kamen comes in with some nice piano and Waters plays another verse to finish off this short song. Track 11 is the title track "The Final Cut" and Waters begins singing a light verse right away overtop of another slow piano riff by Kamen, but after 30 seconds or so things shift into a more full and vibrant riff. Mason plays a light drumbeat, Gilmour adds some nice soft guitar and Kamen conducts some cool orchestral stuff led by some nice horns, and all this plus the original vocals and piano still has a bit of a somber mood to it, but I think it's much more appealing than just the Waters/Kamen show. Waters vocals switch to his yelling style, which sounds pretty good and Kamen also plays some harmonium in the background that gives things almost a "Comfortably Numb" feel, which is definitely a good comparison. After two minutes they briefly return to the sad slow verse but thankfully the rest of the music returns for the rest of the verse and it leads nicely into a Gilmour guitar solo. As usual, David delivers a smooth and pretty sweet solo as he nicely plays overtop the main riff. After the solo Waters returns to sing a final verse before they bring this to a close, and I thought this was easily one of the better songs on the album. The next sing was the only single off this album, titled "Not Now John" and it's also the only song where Gilmour sings as he and Waters share co-lead vocals. There's a good amount of swearing for a single which is a little surprising, but we hear some female back-up singers singing "fuck all that" and those are kind of my sentiments towards the slow stuff on this album! This song also  rings back some "The Wall" memories and reminds me of "Young Lust", another great Gilmour-sung tune. It's so refreshing to hear Gilmour sing right from the get-go and his voice still sounds amazing as he leads the opening verse very nicely. How could you possibly bottle up that great voice for most of this album?! His guitar playing is great as well as he leads a nice rock riff backed by the girls that already grabs your attention more than anything else on the album. Things slow down slightly as Waters takes over and sings a different verse and hey connect these two different riffs nicely as they seamlessly return to another rockin' Gilmour-led verse. This cool verse leads right into a guitar solo and Gilmour delivers what I think is easily his best solo on this album, playing some pretty cool stuff overtop this solid main riff. After the solo Gilmour finishes off his verse, then it slows down again for Waters' not bad, but certainly lesser verse. Waters also plays some trippy synths to spice up this verse and they nicely return to the rockin' main riff, only this time it's Waters leading the way! He does his yelling vocals and while I prefer Gilmour, he does a pretty good job himself showing that he can lead a nice rock riff as well. If only they had more songs that were like this one; it's hands down the best song on the album! Waters continues to ramble along and Gilmour solos overtop of everything as they slowly fade the sing out in a pretty awesome way. This song was quite good; too bad the rest of the album was much more disappointing, but we're not quite done yet. The final track is called "Two Suns In The Sunset" and Waters plays some light acoustic guitar while Kamen is on piano and Bown adds some cool organ as well. Mason plays a nice light drumbeat as Waters begins singing in his soft voice to complete this nice main riff. After a couple slow verses Waters switches to yelling as he screams about the possibility of nuclear holocaust and says "you'll never hear their voices" followed by a child saying "Daddy! Daddy!"  Pretty dark stuff indeed! Waters return to his soft voice for another slow verse and after singing that we're all equal when we're all dead, we hear some smooth saxophone! Makes perfect sense right? The music doesn't fit the lyrics at all, but the sax does sound nice as it plays overtop the slow main riff. Kamen plays some nice piano as well and things slowly fade to a finish and bring this album to it's end.

That is the end of "The Final Cut" and throughout the review I made my thoughts pretty clear: this is not a bad album, but it is basically a Roger Waters and Michael Kamen album. If you call this a Pink Floyd album, then it has to be compared to all their other work, when you do that it does not go well for this newest offering. I previously thought that "Soundtrack From The Film More" was Pink Floyd's least good album, but even that is way more exciting than "The Final Cut" in my opinion. I hope Pink Floyd sort out their problems and find a way to return to their progressive roots.