The Final Cut [Remaster] - Pink Floyd (CD 2004)

I was afraid of this album. Well, not exactly afraid, but I stayed away from it for quite a while due to all of the negative reviews about it. The general consensus was that it was impossible to get in to. Imagine my surprise when I finally listened to The Final Cut and actually enjoyed it. Unfortunately, there are a few things that keep it from being as good and successful as The Wall.

Probably the biggest difference is that The Final Cut is quite a bit more specific than The Wall. Sure they both deal with the death of Waters's father in World War II, but it is not quite as obvious in The Wall as it is here. This unfortunately means the listener will most likely not be able to relate to the story at all, and will also be unable to superimpose their own life's story onto it either. The Wall seemed to concentrate more on the expression of emotion despite the quite specific story, while The Final Cut is more story than emotion. Another problem is the virtual absence of fellow bandmate David Gilmour from this album. This should not be much of a surprise after his quite diminished role in The Wall, but what he did touch was great (Young Lust, Comfortably Numb, and Run Like Hell; all hits), and this unfortunately does not happen here. The third is the musical borrowing from The Wall. Most of the album is actually quite successful in preserving The Wall's style without recycling it. Unfortunately, the title track's strings sound awfully familiar to Comfortably Numb, and the outburst section near the end of The Gunner's Dream sounds identical to the end of the verse from Hey You. Although this borrowing suggests (and perhaps correctly so) that Waters was searching for new musical material, it also suggest that the emotions the music expresses are more important than the actual music itself. It is an interesting idea, but not one Waters explores outside of his first solo album that would come out in the next year.

Despite all the bashing, The Final Cut does have its good moments. Much like The Wall, The Final Cut is at its best when it's expressing emotion. This makes the choruses to the first two songs, The Post War Dream and Your Possible Pasts, quite memorable. What is strange about them is their brevity. The Post War Dream's chorus is heard only once, starting in the last 40 seconds of the song, while Your Possible Pasts's chorus is a mere three lines before quickly returning to the verse. It is even more effective in that it seems to come out of nowhere when it is heard. The album unfortunately does not return to these emotional peaks, although there is plenty of shouting from Waters throughout the album. In addition, there are also plenty of sound effects that one has come to expect from Pink Floyd albums, but these only contribute to the eerieness of the mood instead of the coolness of the album. Missing from the album though is any semblance of a hit, which is unfortunate here. Even The Wall paused every once in a while for a Hey You or Comfortably Numb, but there is nothing of that quality here. As Pink Floyd albums generally depend on the coherence of the album instead of the quality of songs, this is not too much of a problem. But it does mean that there is no entrance point to the album for most people, and adds to its difficulty. They of course tried for some reason, with Not Now John being a virtual Parental Advisory release. But Waters and Pink Floyd had progressed to the point where the entire album was basically one song, so plucking out one track was really a pointless exercise, especially for 1983. Roger Waters does deserve credit in that this album does not have an "80's sound" that many fans of classic rock shy away from. Even keyboard player Richard Wright was not around for this album during the height of synthesizer use, which is not exactly a good way to produce a hit that would appeal to the mainstream crowd.

The final three songs offer an interesting conclusion to the album, as all are quite different but still contribute to the story. The title track stays in the style of the previous songs, and narrowly misses being the album's most effective song (the aforementioned borrowing being its only low point). Not Now John is a return to the concert venue from The Wall, and although musically probably doesn't exactly fit with what came before, it still keeps to the theme of the album. Two Suns In The Sunset ends up looking ahead to Waters next album musically, and ironically has an optimistic tone despite the obviously negative nuclear holocaust it tells of. After telling a quite depressing story with music to match, Waters and Floyd joyfully ride off in the sunset to a saxophone solo of all things. It is an almost chilling effect.

The Final Cut therefore ends up being a confusing album. The Allmusic.com reviews says there is no album quite like it, and that is for the most part true, although The Wall and Waters's own Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking are its closest cousins. Many refer to The Final Cut as being virtually a Waters solo album, but this is not quite true. None of Waters succeeding solo albums would sound like this one does, even though he was obviously the driving force behind the album. The difference though is still the presence of David Gilmour. Although he had a lesser role in this album, musically the tone of The Final Cut is much darker than the Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking would be when Eric Clapton was given the lead guitar responsibilities. So is The Final Cut a bad and scary album then? Certainly not. But all of the comparisons to The Wall are for a good reason. No this album is not The Wall, but the earlier Pink Floyd release succeeds for all the reasons The Final Cut does not.