The Final Cut extends the autobiography of The Wall, concentrating on Roger Waters' pain when his father died in World War II. Waters spins this off into a treatise on the futility of war, concentrating on the Falkland Islands, setting his blistering condemnations and scathing anger to impossibly subdued music that demands full attention. This is more like a novel than a record, requiring total concentration since shifts in dynamics, orchestration, and instrumentation are used as effect. This means that while this has the texture of classic Pink Floyd, somewhere between the brooding sections of The Wall and the monolithic menace of Animals, there are no songs or hooks to make these radio favorites. The even bent of the arrangements, where the music is used as texture, not music, means that The Final Cut purposely alienates all but the dedicated listener. Several of those listeners maintain that this is among Pink Floyd's finest efforts, and it certainly is an achievement of some kind -- there's not only no other Floyd album quite like it, it has no close comparisons to anybody else's work (apart from Waters' own The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, yet that had a stronger musical core). That doesn't make this easier to embrace, of course, and it's damn near impenetrable in many respects, but with its anger, emphasis on lyrics, and sonic textures, it's clear that it's the album that Waters intended it to be. And it's equally clear that Pink Floyd couldn't have continued in this direction -- Waters had no interest in a group setting anymore, as this record, which is hardly a Floyd album in many respects, illustrates. Distinctive, to be sure, but not easy to love and, depending on your view, not even that easy to admire. [The Final Cut was reissued in a remastered edition in 2004. This edition added "When the Tigers Broke Free" -- originally heard in the soundtrack to The Wall, but its moody, war-obsessed soundscape is better suited for The Final Cut -- as the fourth track, inserted between "One of the Few" and "The Hero's Return," where it fits nicely into the album's narrative.]
The Final Cut is the final Pink Floyd studio album to feature Roger Waters. The album is predominantly the work of Waters (similar to The Wall, but far more so), this being the only Pink Floyd album on which the composers' credit on every track is given to Waters alone, with no songwriting credits given to any other member of the band. Keyboardist Rick Wright played no part in the recording o...
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This song deals with Roger Waters' personal views on the Falklands War, mentioning many world leaders by name, including Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, suggesting that these "colonial wasters of life and limb" be segregated into a specially-founded retirement home. It labels all the world leaders as "overgrown infants" and "incurable tyrants", and suggests that they are incapable of under...
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Unlike the majority of other tracks on The Final Cut, "Not Now John" remains rather intense throughout its duration, instead of switching back and forth between heavy/soft segments (although there are some "down" tempo periods in the song). Gilmour and Waters split vocals duties, similar to the song "Comfortably Numb" from The Wall, and they represent different "characters" or points of view - ...
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The lyrics of this tune speak of a man trying to re-adjust to being home after the war, and trying not to show weakness in front of everyone else. This includes not talking about his experiences, especially when directly questioned about them. The lyrics also express this veteran's fear of the capabilities of human beings "Behind petrified eyes." It eventually displays the veteran's retreat in...
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Heres Pink Floyds " The Gunners Dream" set to Heavy Metal's B-17 segment... enjoyy.(most see for every floyd fan)
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"Two Suns In The Sunset". The lyrics of this story create some imaginative visuals. It never gets tiresome.Call me crazy. But it's one of my all time favorites.
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 "The Final Cut")
