THE FINAL CUT

After a complete turmoil where Richard Wright finally called it a day, Roger Waters was now in complete control over every aspect of Pink Floyd's work. With David Gilmour and Nick Mason functioning almost like session musicians, the idea for the next concept album began to take shape in Waters' mind and grew into the nightmarish voyage that is The Final Cut. Logically there's just no way this project could have been merely as good as The Wall or anything that came before it. After all, this album was originally based on the left-over material from The Wall-sessions. But even if everything spoke against anything worth a while coming out of Roger Waters' ego project, the final product was a surprisingly effective little rock opera!

Based around the concept of anti-war, Waters' lyrical content explored what he considered to be a betrayal of British government towards its own servicemen. Of course it's easy to dismiss the story as just another one of those "Waters having daddy issues"-kind of concept albums, but then you're definitely missing the bigger picture here. World War II is only functioning as a premise to the story that's suppose to promote an idea of a post-war dream that felt like something important to fight for. The post-war dream implies that victory would create a more peaceful society for everyone and no longer would there be a reason to resort to war, wherever a dispute occurs. Let's get together, win this war, and make sure that future generations will remember that war is never a solution.

Many people never cared to understand the underlying themes of this album and instead plainly assumed that it was just a continuation of the previous release, due to rather obvious similarities to The Wall. One of David Gilmour's main complaints about the album's content was the inclusion of the previously rejected material from The Wall sessions. He was even quoted saying--"If these songs weren't good enough for The Wall, why are they good enough now?". To me, that's certainly not the issue mainly because these tracks merely didn't work as a part of that story arc. When the material was rearranged and put in it current order then new concept created a completely different story progression.

Everything from the packaging design to the, for once, very passionate sounding vocals by Roger Waters made me fall in love with The Final Cut ever since I heard it for the first time, almost a decade ago. The music itself might not seem that varied, with only a few sections featuring a tenor sax or a guitar solo, but it fits the concept like a glove without ever making it all feel over the top or pretentious. It's a dark little tale that doesn't give the listener a moment of rejoice and it seems to be asking a lot of an average-Pink Floyd fan since not many have managed to embrace the sheer power behind this album.

Musically this whole release is masterful from the beginning and right to the very end, with a minor exception of the completely uninspired rocker called Not Now John. This track just doesn't work well in contrast to the rest of the album and I generally prefer to skip it by going from the album's title track and right to the mighty Two Suns In The Sunset. If you thought that the ending of The Wall seemed very dark, then The Final Cut will literally make you want to weep for the stupidity of the human race. That's something only a masterpiece of music should be capable of doing.

Am I weird for enjoying The Final Cut more than The Wall or do I deserve a more severe punishment for considering it to be the best Pink Floyd album of all time? Please remember that this opinion comes straight from the heart of a very passionate prog rock fanatic. Hopefully my review will make more people interested in visiting/revisiting this essential piece of progressive rock music. I wouldn't want it any other way.

***** star songs: The Post War Dream (3:00) The Hero's Return (2:58) The Gunners Dream (5:04) Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert (1:19) The Fletcher Memorial Home (4:10) The Final Cut (4:53) Two Suns In The Sunset (5:17)

**** star songs: Your Possible Pasts (4:21) One Of The Few (1:26) Paranoid Eyes (3:49) Southampton Dock (2:05)

*** star songs: Not Now John (5:03)

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