The Cavern
Rock & Words
THE FINAL CUT (Pink Floyd, 1983)
Artist: Pink Floyd (B+)
Recording Dates: Jul-Dec 1982
Release Date: March 21st, 1983. UK
Record Label: Harvest / Columbia
Producer: Roger Waters, James Guthrie & Michael Karmen
Rating: 5
Era: Progressive (1968-???)
Subgenre: Progressive
Best Song: The Final Cut
Tracklist: 1) The Post War Dream; 2) Your Possible Pasts; 3) One Of The Few; 4) The Hero's Return; 5) The Gunners Dream; 6) Paranoid Eyes; 7) Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert; 8) The Fletcher Memorial Home; 9) Southampton Dock; 10) The Final Cut; 11) Not Now John; 12) Two Suns In The Sunset.
a requiem for the post war dream
by roger waters
performed by pink floyd
What the hell happened to Pink Floyd??? Oh, yes, they were in the middle of a civil war, heeding the message of Animals and rising up against the oppressive pig that Waters had become… why can't all breakup albums be like Abbey Road?
Well, it wasn't exactly a civil war; it was more like Gandhi's peaceful resistance. By this point, Roger Waters had completely seized control of the creative process, and if the sessions for The Wall had been tense, those for the new album were a true nightmare. Roger had built himself an even higher wall than the one at the concerts where they lost millions of pounds due to his stubbornness. He now wanted a concept album about war, using the leftovers from The Wall, which had initially been planned as a triple album. We can therefore imagine the following hypothetical dialogue (and I emphasize the word hypothetical):
Roger Waters: Let's make another album .
David Gilmour: What??? Are we still a band?
RW: A concept album!
DG: Another one? Now what?
Nick Mason: Can I give my opinion? I've had some great ideas for the last 15 years!
DG and RW: NO!!!
RW: It'll be something spectacular, an anti-war album, World War II soldiers dying, and their children blaming Thatcher for the Falklands War, and it all ends with a nuclear holocaust!!!
DG: OMG, I hope you don't want to replicate that in concert. I'll compose one or two songs and you tell me what you think.
RW: No, I already have everything. We'll use the tracks we discarded from The Wall.
DG: Are you crazy? Let's use the Ummagumma outtakes instead! We threw those tracks away because they were boring, they have no melody, they're dark and useless.
RW: Who says that?
DG: You said it 3 years ago!
RW: Well, I'll change the lyrics a little, but we'll use them. That's all.
DG: What makes them better now?
RW: - Squeals like an enraged pig and threatens to unleash the dogs -
NM: Can I say something?
RW and DG: NOOOOOO!
DG: What if you made a solo album instead?
RW: I had already thought of that, I even printed the cover, but EMI has us by the balls for one more album, so I'm just going to add a "Performed by Pink Floyd" under the "By Roger Waters".
DG: Well, but you put one of those Ataris in the studio to keep me entertained.
RW: Okay. – And he leaves thinking he's the fairest and most equitable band leader in the whole wide world.
That's why I say it's like a peaceful resistance. David Gilmour plays very little, and when he does, he plays so lazily that we don't know if he was tuning up and they accidentally thought it was a solo and recorded it. Good old Nick Mason wasn't just kept out of the picture, he barely played at all. Ray Cooper and Andy Newmark played drums on several tracks, while Mason was put in charge of the holophonic sound. You know, the kind that makes explosions sound all around your head when you listen with headphones. Like quadraphonic, but better. And Rick? Well, Roger had already kicked Rick out of the band after they finished recording The Wall. So Wright was hired as a session musician for the colossal tour, where they were tearing down walls, and bricks and dollars rained down merrily, leaving everyone with losses, except, of course, Rick, whose salary was guaranteed. By this time, Wright was happily sailing his yacht in the Greek seas, so Michael Kamen and Andy Brown did the boring, complex keyboard work, the most interesting thing about which was the way they recycled the keyboard line from Comfortably Numb.
Thus, The Final Cut is the most fitting album title in Pink Floyd's entire discography: The last one and we're done, before cutting to the real issue. Although it's universally and implicitly recognized as Roger Waters' first solo album, he was forced to use the Pink Floyd name due to his contract with EMI. David and Nick participated little, and it's clear it was almost forced. The Atari thing wasn't a joke; Dave spent a good part of his time playing Donkey Kong in the studio!
But is it really such a bad album? Well, I don't think there's absolutely anyone in the world, not even Roger, who believes this is Pink Floyd's best album (though some might actually believe it's a Floyd album!), but there are people who defend it and consider it a good album. Basically because of the lyrics. And they have a very good point. Roger writes some of his most furious poems, full of bitterness, in which he vents his frustration over his father's death in World War II, and over that generation that believed the sacrifice was worthwhile, only for Margaret Thatcher to then launch a petty war over islands a trillion light-years away. In other words, an idiotic and completely unnecessary war for the British, who believed that after World War II there would be no need for any more wars, and who didn't even consider it fair to seize them from the Argentinians. The imagery he creates is perhaps more complete than on Animals. The lyrical aspect of the album is well-rounded; we have to accept that.
But… there are two small differences. Lyrically, Animals, and we can include The Wall, touch on universal themes, which makes it easy to personally identify with them. Corrupt politicians and corporations, military repression??? For God's sake, we're in Latin America! Alienation and walls? We're millennials and we've lost our real friends to likes and followers! In The Final Cut, Roger does a much more personal job. Trying to encompass as much anti-war sentiment as possible, it's more of a lament for his father and a slap in the face to Thatcher; and forgive me for being so insensitive, but at least for me, it's much harder to connect emotionally than with previous works. The second difference is the form of the message, meaning the music, the melody. While in previous albums the whole band is fully involved, giving their best, filling each track with musical ideas that are fascinating in themselves, in The Final Cut, as we've already seen, the rest of the band is almost forced into it. Musically, there's very little of interest. With Roger taking on the entire creative burden, it seems they're saying, "Okay, you take care of everything, including the music." So much so that if this were an instrumental album, we wouldn't risk falling asleep, but rather falling into a deep coma. There are no melodies either. The Wall already had some tracks in this vein, but there are many with good structures and great melodies. Here, Roger basically recites the entire album. And yes, in a theatrical and emotional way and all (and without those screams, we would definitely fall into the aforementioned coma), but ultimately, the atmospheres are so similar that it's hard to know when one song ends and another begins. There isn't a single track you can happily hum once the album finishes. Memorability is nonexistent, and therefore there are no classics. I haven't seen a single band cover any of their songs. And Roger himself disowns his own creations, although he occasionally includes "The Fletcher Memorial Home" or "Two Suns in the Sunset" in a concert.
So, is The Final Cut any good? What for? Therein lies the answer. It could have been an entertaining West End musical in London. It could have been a very good book of poems. It could have been an acceptable Roger Waters solo album. But no, it's not a good Pink Floyd album, simply because it lacks all the ingredients of the sound and virtuosity that made them a cult band, one of the five greatest musical giants in history. And above all, because it's missing Pink Floyd.
The album kicks off with “The Post War Dream”, which begins with the sound of waves and a radio ad announcing that businessmen are going to build nuclear shelters. Then, on another frequency, it's announced that a ship to replace the Atlantic Conveyor, which sank in the Falklands War, will be built in Japan. Or so Wikipedia says, because I turned the volume all up and couldn't understand a thing. Roger starts singing with just a synthesizer in the background, and he begins to recount his traumas: “Tell me true, tell me why was Jesus crucified, is it for this that daddy died?” A military trumpet joins in. Towards the end, there's a climactic moment with screams at full volume, all drama: “What have we doooone, Maggie, what have we done??? What have we done to England??” The song fades out with the martial trumpet, and you can hear breaking glass, as if it were the Post War Dream being shattered. See why I think it could have been an excellent Broadway musical?
Next up is “Your Possible Pasts”, which sounds just like half the songs on The Wall's second disc. This isn't a coincidence; it was one of the rejected tracks, intended for an album called Spare Bricks, featuring the bricks that didn't make it onto The Wall, until the idea for The Final Cut came to him. Again, he begins with minimalist vocals, accompanied by just a strummed guitar and synthesizers. Every now and then, a snare drum blast cuts through the tranquility, followed by the frenetic bridges that are Waters' trademark during this period. There are some interesting lines: “Her cold eyes imploring the men in their macs, for the gold in their bags or the knives in their backs” or “By the cold and religious we were taken in hand, shown how to feel good and told to feel bad.” It's full of echoes and production similar to The Wall. At 2:35, one of the album's most interesting moments occurs: a spectacular solo by Gilmour. The theory is that he might have recorded it three years earlier, or that Dave won at Donkey Kong and, in his euphoria, ran out, grabbed his guitar, and unleashed this incredibly inspired solo, one of the album's standout moments. After that, the song slips back into its languid state until it fades into the echoes of the word "closer" at 4:20.
We continue with “One Of The Few”, which begins with the ticking of clocks that momentarily give the false impression that “Time” is about to start, until a guitar plays a bittersweet arrangement amidst the cold waves of a distant beach. The track is tense. It narrates the return home of a war veteran. “When you're one of the few to land on your feet, what do you do to make ends meet?” The only job he finds is that of a teacher. Laughter, children playing, and sound effects also discarded from DSOTM and The Wall can be heard. The track lasts just over a minute and feels like the intro to a song that never appears. It's understandable that it wasn't included on The Wall, given that “Is There Any Body Out There?” is superior, but similar in mood and tension.
Then comes “The Hero’s Return”, with Gilmour’s signature guitar creating that helicopter effect so prominent on the previous double album. Here, the veteran turned maestro from the previous track struggles to return to daily life and to communicate with his wife, with an excellent line: “Sweetheart sweetheart are you fast asleep, good, 'Cause that's the only time that I can really talk to you.” He tries to tell her, while she sleeps, how he lost his division’s gunner in the war, a loss that has traumatized him. The helicopter guitar effect and the sounds at the end of the track are no coincidence. The problem remains the melodies. Roger strings together two or three different melodies per song, none particularly memorable, making the tracks hazy and confusing.
“The Gunners Dream” is the continuation of the previous track, in which the helicopter gunner speaks his last words to the protagonist over the radio. It's a melodrama, complete with the most beautiful piano in the world (yes, Wright is missed), violins, church bells, and everything, including that predictable scream at the two-minute mark, after which we get a saxophone solo (this one, indeed, unexpected and out of place). The song closes with the dying friend's dream, in which he tells his family that his sacrifice will be worth it. “And hold on to the dream, a place to stay enough to eat…”
Next up is “Paranoid Eyes”, a ballad with a beautiful piano arpeggio. Roger tells us (literally) about the veteran who, unable to return to his normal life, constructs a mask to hide behind those “paranoid eyes,” and sinks deeper into the fog of alcoholism. “Now you're lost in a haze of alcohol soft middle age. The pie in the sky turned out to be miles too high, and you hide, hide, hide, behind brown and mild eyes.” A bunch of effects, like laughter, people in a pub, brass instruments trying to sound glorious, an organ, don't quite manage to round out the track or make it interesting.
“Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert” is another short, transitional track, clocking in at just 1:20. Here we can hear one of Nick Mason’s greatest contributions. “But there’s no drums!” you might say. True, but Nick was in charge of the holophonic sound effects for the missile heard at the beginning and the subsequent explosion, creating a three-dimensional effect. Aside from that, well… more political jabs from Waters, set to music worthy of Louis XV.
Then begins “The Fletcher Memorial Home”, for which Roger Waters should have won an Oscar, an Emmy, or at least a Tony, for his portrayal of a distraught mother. Synthesizers and staccato pianos create a backdrop for the anguished declamation. In it, Roger once again goes for the jugular of political leaders of the time: Thatcher, Reagan, and Brezhnev, Menachem Begin of Israel, not forgetting Leopoldo Galtieri, the Argentine dictator largely responsible for the Falklands War. In the lyrics, Roger proposes creating a sanctuary for these darlings: “they can polish their medals and sharpen their smiles, and amuse themselves playing games for a while, boom boom, bang bang, lie down you're dead.” At 2:15, Mason plays a drum roll to jolt Gilmour awake, reminding him that he was once a magnificent guitarist and giving us another of the few decent moments on the album. The song is intense, but Waters' theatrical delivery becomes quite tiresome by this point, and I insist, there's no trace of melody. He himself would later admit that he wasn't at his vocal best.
Next up is “Southampton Dock”, an acoustic guitar ballad vaguely reminiscent of “Pigs on the Wing,” though with less melody. The song is barely two minutes long and is told from the perspective of a woman bidding farewell to soldiers embarking for the war at Southampton's port. She recalls their departure in 1945, as it was the main port for sending soldiers to the front during World War II. This time, she waves her handkerchief to the soldiers heading to the Falklands. I think it's one of the decent tracks, but my biggest complaint is the double-tracked vocals near the one-minute mark. Does she have to use that venomous, screaming voice on every song?
Next up is “The Final Cut”, which gives the album its name, and it connects to the previous track with a lingering, tinkling piano. It tells the story of a depressed, isolated man. Originally, it was meant to be Pink, the protagonist of The Wall, and there's even a reference to the wall at 1:20, but Waters wanted to disguise it with the sound of a gunshot so it wouldn't be obvious that it was an outtake. Here, we assume it's the soldier who returns almost broken, unable to find his place, and attempts suicide (hence the title), but fails. The lyrics are truly moving, some of Roger's most personal.
“And if I show you my dark side
will you still hold me tonight
And if I open my heart to you
and show you my weak side
What would you do?
would you sell your story to rolling stone
would you take the children away
and leave me alone
and smile in reassurance
as you whisper down the phone
Would you send me packing?
Or would you take me home?
After this climactic moment, at 3:25 we have a short but emotional solo from Gilmour, which perfectly rounds off the track. Towards the end, the narrator is about to cut his wrists with a razor when the phone rings, and he closes with "I never had the nerve to make the final cut." The problem is that Michael Kamen racked his brains over the main keyboard figure, and finding nothing better, he ripped off that characteristic melody from the chorus of "Comfortably Numb." Even so, by far the album's standout track, the most balanced, emotional, with a great melody and solo, in addition to the spectacular lyrics.
Then there's "Not Now John", another good track, a rocker with a melody (for a change) and the true Pink Floyd stamp. It's the only song on the album where Gilmour sings, I suppose because Roger couldn't sing in that shouted style, similar to "The Nile Song" or "Young Lust" (in fact, it's very similar to the latter), as Dave does in the verses. Roger sings the bridges, some well done, like the one at :50, where he borrows the melody from "One of the Few," but others where he ruins the song, like when he raps (or I don't know what on earth he's trying to do) at :30. Female backing vocals respond to almost every verse, and at 1:40 Gilmour makes his guitar roar again, with more distortion than usual. The song is tense and also approaches the band's true level, with an almost circus-like, yet colossal, ending in which Roger dares to throw some hard truths in Thatcher's face.
“Got to bring the Russian bear to his knees
well, maybe not the russian bear
Maybe the swedes
We showed Argentina
Now let's go and show these
make us feel tough
and won't Maggie be pleased”
One day I could mark it in red.
The original album closes with “Two Suns in the Sunset”, which features a rising and falling acoustic riff. It's one of the tracks that Mason didn't play; Andy Newmark took over because the 9/8 time signature was too complex. The lyrics are written from the perspective of a man watching the sun disappear over the horizon in his rearview mirror. Then someone presses the button “that keeps the anger going,” and suddenly it's daytime again, alluding to a nuclear attack. As the shockwave approaches, he realizes he'll never see his children or hear their voices again (is it really necessary to cram those high-pitched screams into every song?). The final lines are masterful: “Ashes and diamonds, foe and friend, we were all equal in the end,” concluding with an anticlimactic saxophone solo.
The 20th anniversary reissue includes "When the Tigers Broke Free", a martial theme, with military trumpets and drums, without melody, which would appear in the film The Wall, but doesn't add much either.
The Final Cut would mark the end of an era. It was clear the band no longer existed, so no one even mentioned the possibility of a tour. Even so, the album performed well during its first few weeks, largely thanks to the hype surrounding The Wall, but then plummeted down the charts. The release was accompanied by a short film featuring four of the album's tracks, which I suspect even the editor never saw. Waters and Gilmour immersed themselves in their solo projects, preparing Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking and About Face, respectively, while Mason worked on Profiles and Rick recorded Identity with the short-lived band Zee. In 1985, Waters finally announced his departure from the band, believing that this would be the end of the group. He was wrong. Gilmour still had plans, so they went into a long and painful legal battle that ended with Dave, Nick, and Rick acquiring the rights to the name, and definitively fracturing his 30-year friendship with Roger, until their reunion in 2005 for Live 8. Although this is technically a Roger album, it's generally considered the end of Floyd's classic era (even though Wright wasn't there, apparently nobody cares). The lineup now led by Gilmour would still release two studio albums and two live albums before fading away in the 90s. Nobody can seriously consider The Endless River, right? Although this week in October 2016 the band released a pro-Palestinian political statement signed by the three surviving members, it's highly unlikely we'll ever hear from them again. The Final Cut, then, will remain the final cut of the band's classic period...
By Corvan
Oct/7/2016
