Pink Floyd - The Final Cut

[oldhippy]

There are times when I wish I was deaf. This happens to be one.

[The Gunner's Dream]

Even more ideal- simply don't listen to it.

[oldhippy]

Even more ideal- simply don't listen to it.

I don't.

[The Gunner's Dream]

Then you don't need to be deaf to avoid hearing it.

[nosaj]

Would have been an excellent title for the last album by the band.

[thefinalcut]

To me, this is the best Pink Floyd album, along with The Wall and Animals, of course!
Long live The Final Cut!!! Roger´s greatest lyrical work ever.

[Stinibobs]

I've found myself in a PF mood a lot lately (probably helped by seeing Roger in Manchester June 28th) and this album is one I keep coming back to. I love the lyrics and all the different emotions going on. Definitely up there in my favourites.

[Enish]

Not terrible; it does have its moments. As someone who prefers listening to Gilmour sing a song over Waters, I'm pleasantly surprised by some of the songs in terms of Waters' vocal strength and performance. The orchestration is nice as are some of the guitar solos, but even those aren't enough to convince me that this is a Pink Floyd album. 3/5

[Jack Wolf]

Basically, if you like Animals and The Wall then you'll probably like this Roger Water's dominated album as well, though it's not as good as the prior two.

[danielcaux]

False. This album doesn't sound at all like Animals. It sounds a little like The Wall, but without the nice melodies and musical interludes. Animals sounds more like Wish You Were Here, but darker and meaner.

Actually I would rather say that TFC sounds a lot closer to his following releases than to any of his previous work. If you like Pros and Cons and Amused To Death then you sure will dig The Final Cut.

[princessDungan74D]

I think it has to be one of Pink Floyd's most underrated album! I love the album though it is a bit depressing! I would not listen to Two Suns In The Sun Set while studying about Hiroshima or the Cold War though! I think its a great album! I don't know why people hate the album so much!

[Enish]

I think it has to be one of Pink Floyd's most underrated album! I love the album though it is a bit depressing! I would not listen to Two Suns In The Sun Set while studying about Hiroshima or the Cold War though! I think its a great album! I don't know why people hate the album so much!

The people who say they don't like it are usually the ones that either didn't like The Wall, which was almost all Roger save for Gilmour's stand-out points on the album, or weren't huge fans of it for Waters' existentialism. I feel that that album has more of a "Floydian soul" than The Final Cut does, if that makes sense. When you take the Floyd's history into account, TFC seems almost empty, with the weight of the album being completely carried by Roger Waters. It seems like Nick Mason and David Gilmour recorded on the album so Waters could have no problems with releasing the album under the band's name. He had complete control over the band at that point, meaning that the material would continue to get darker, heavier, and more personal.

[danielcaux]

It seems like Nick Mason and David Gilmour recorded on the album so Waters could have no problems with releasing the album under the band's name.

Actually it was Waters who wanted to release The Final Cut as a solo album, but Gilmour and Mason didn't like the idea very much. Those two where pretty much freeloaders, at that particular moment of the band's history, just collecting money from the PF name with little to no input in the creation of the album.

[Hudini]

It seems as if they were using Roger's inspiration, knowing that they didn't have any at the time and that there were hungry mouths to feed at home, metaphorically speaking. As much as it was Roger's fault to become over-domineering, it's also their fault they've let him so. Both Rick and David knew their contribution to songwriting became less and less prominent since DSOTM, and yet when they returned from the break in 1978 both of them had recorded respective solo albums and brought no new songs to the band, while Roger brought two demos for the band to consider. It seems as if they wanted to use their own songs on their own albums and relied on Roger to provide the band stuff, but once he wanted to record a solo album it became a problem. They were obviously using him as much he used them, but people usually don't look at it that way.

[J Ed]

the Final Cut was the first Floyd album I purchased the day it came out, after collecting all the rest of their main catalog

there was one Toronto record review that favourably called it chamber music after the symphonic propoertions of The Wall

but in the real world I seemed to be the only one who liked it,
to say it was controversial at the time is actually overstating it:
most people I knew simply didnt bother with it, and only those who truly dug Rogers issues with war and all that even gave it a try
after watching The Wall film dozens of times, most folks knew what to expect and were already bored with the whole thing

but I did like The Wall, and respected this as an evolution in Rogers personal style
shouldnt artists try to evolve? to put it all together and say something important after years of experimentation?
he'd made four previous concept albums and now was ready to use the form as a vehicle for something almost approaching a novel or personal memoir moreso than a piece of music


anyway, lets say that wasnt the best thing he could have done at that point, and maybe he should have played better with his fellow Floyds
how would you envision this album as a genuine Floyd collaborative effort in some alternate universe?
wikipedia claims half the songs on About Face were intended for this album, or whatever album was to follow The Wall, but got left off for whatever reason (either Roger wasnt interested, or they just werent finished)
could those melodies and arrangements have been integrated somehow to liven up Rogers lyrics? in theory the album needed more melodies, but hard to imagine those specific ones without substantial rewriting, yet that had already been done successfully on the previous album

or maybe just edit it down to fill one side of the album, and put Daves new songs, maybe with better lyrics, on side 2, along with Tigers and maybe whatever music Rick was actually wrote for Zee: Identity
sure that wouldnt have been the now obligatory concept album, but might have encouraged more involvement from the other Floyds and kept the band together in the long run

oh right Rick had been fired by this point, so scratch the Zee: Identity content
never mind


on his 1984 tour Roger ended the first set with the Gunners Dream, with a great guitar solo by Clapton as a curtainlowering coda
he's probably played half these songs live in various tours over the years, but that was the only one I ever saw
Supertramp did a Famous Last Words tour around this time when their Roger quit the band
what do yall think a Final Cut tour have looked like?