The band also released a film based on the album entitled Pink Floyd The Wall. The film, released in 1982, featured Bob Geldof, of the Boomtown Rats and also the creator of Live Aid and Live 8 charity concerts, as the lead role of Pink Floyd. The movie followed the same story line as the album, and used the album's music (some tracks re-recorded especially for the film) extensively, utilizing very little dialogue except for the songs' lyrics. The film also featured many animations by Gerald Scarfe, which really give a huge glimpse into the dark mind of the protagonist, and, more specifically, Roger Waters. The movie performed well at its opening, and is still seen by many to be a great cult film. I enjoy it very much, as creepy and disturbing as it can be.
For the release of the film, Roger had another project in mind, a soundtrack to the movie entitled Spare Bricks. The record would have included songs that didn't make the cut for The Wall (like "What Shall We Do Now?" and "Your Possible Pasts"), songs from the album that were re-recorded or changed for inclusion in the film (such as "Mother" and "Bring the Boys Back Home"), and some newly recorded material. After some consideration and also the onslaught of the Falklands War, though, Roger envisioned a new project. This album idea, which was very political, was based not only on his annoyance with how Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was handling the war, but also his own experience of having lost his father, Eric Fletcher Waters, in a battle in World War II just months after Roger's birth.
The band, however, was not very happy with Roger Waters' new idea, feeling it was too political for a Floyd album. Roger responded by offering to use it as one of his solo albums, but the band knew a very important thing: even though Roger was hard to work with, manipulative, and often just a plain jerk, the band needed him. Roger was the mastermind of the band, having written their previous four huge albums, and the band recognized that at that point in time they needed him in the group and they needed the record for the band.
A few of the songs on the record were leftover cuts that were deemed not good enough for The Wall. One of guitarist Dave Gilmour's biggest complaints about the album's material was "If they weren't good enough then, why are they good enough now?" Roger often asked, however, what sort of material Gilmour had created, which was none, so that left Roger Waters to write the material.
Another stumbling block for the band was trying to write and record the album without longtime keyboardist Rick Wright. To make up for Wright's absence, the band hired composer Michael Kamen, who had worked with band on The Wall. Kamen also held the role of mediating between Gilmour and Waters in the studio as their relationship had been on the brink of destruction.
During the recording of the album, everyone was getting on each other's nerves, which made everyone uncomfortable to be around and the recording an unpleasurable experience. The band members often express their dislike of the work, primarily because of the fighting and turmoil that was going on within the band. Even through all of this, though, the band did manage to record the entire album. The work was released under the title The Final Cut in March of 1983. The title and imagery of the album (specifically the picture of a soldier holding a film canister with a knife in his back) was related to Waters' very bad relationship with the director of the movie Pink Floyd The Wall Alan Parker.
Upon its release, The Final Cut went to number 1 in the UK, something that didn't happen even to their albums The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, but it was less successful in the US, and, even though it went double Platinum, it was their lowest selling record since Meddle. The album, even with its low sales and not-so-nice reviews, still touches many today, particularly those who have lost their own families in war.
The first cut on the album is called "The Post War Dream". The track begins with the sounds of a television with channels being flipped through. This is very similar to much of the third quarter of The Wall, as the television sound effects are used a great deal throughout this album too. Eventually, a soft orchestra crossfades with the television sounds, playing a few bars of the song's melody before the vocals enter in. The track becomes very dynamic from here on, going from soft to very loud. The music plays in a very army-band style as Roger sings his very heartfelt, but soft lyrics. He sings about various misunderstandings throughout history, all relating to his near inability to grasp with the death of his father. This soft verse section gradually gets a bit louder, introducing some trumpets into the mix. This is followed by a soft refrain of "What have we done? Maggie what have we done?", the words and melody of which are thematic throughout the album, just as "Another Brick in the Wall"'s melody was thematic in The Wall. At the end of this, the drums and electric guitar come in with the melody very loud in comparison the the verse, with Roger shouting his vocals overtop. This whole section is very short, but very dramatic. This all ends with the orchestra playing the melody one more time, transferring into the sound effects which lead into the second track "Your Possible Pasts".
"Your Possible Pasts" is a track from the sessions for The Wall that was not considered good enough for the album, but made it to the movie. This track led to much quarrel between Waters and Gilmour as Gilmour didn't like it enough back when recording their previous album, so he wondered why it was suddenly good enough for this album. The song did, however, get a good amount of airplay in the US, more than the actual single from the album "Not Now John". "Your Possible Pasts" opens up with the sound of wind and a flanger laden guitar playing a soft riff. Roger sings interesting vocals over top, going from soft to loud very easily with just the sound of the synthesizers over top changing from major to minor and a loud drum hit here and there. The chorus is much louder and angry sounding, with lyrics that make sense to The Wall's plot line, as Roger sings/shouts, "Do you remember how we used to be closer?". This whole soft/loud sequence is repeated a few times throughout with the organ and synths done by Michael Kamen coming in and out. Nick Mason does some powerful drumming, different from his usual soft style. After the second chorus, Gilmour plays a loud solo, similar to that of the second chorus of "Comfortably Numb" and some from "Dogs". This song is kind of a mixed bag, as to me it seems they could and should have added more to the song or shortened it as the simple sequence tends to get boring after a while because of repetition. The track ends with an echo of Roger saying "closer", which leads into the following track, the short "One of the Few". The track features the sound of a ticking clock keeping the beat as Gilmour plays a minor sounding acoustic guitar riff similar to the sound of "Is There Anybody Out There?". Roger sings soft, but haunting lyrics over top. In the background are several sound effects of cars going by and people talking.
This track ends the same way it opened, with a gush of wind. This leads into the track "When the Tigers Broke Free", which is only on the modern remastered CD versions. The original vinyl version of the album did not include this track, but when the album was remastered, this track was placed before "The Hero's Return", so for the sake of those who have this remastered version, I will include this track here. "When the Tigers Broke Free" was another track from The Wall sessions that was not included on the album. This cut was released as a single, though, and was also in the film. It opens up with the wind, which transfers into the sound of an soft orchestra and some brass playing the melody to the song. In the background are a wordless choir humming the melody as the track gets a bit louder. After one run through of the melody, Roger comes in and sings lyrics which are mournful of his father's death in war. The whole story of what went on when his father died. He sings two verses, each of which are quite soft, and then he sings the third and final verse which builds up quite loudly, with shouted vocals. It finished quickly with Roger singing the line "And that's how the army took my daddy from me!" ending the song with just a short amount of echo from his final shout. The whole ending is very sudden, but fits perfectly. I enjoy this song very much because, along with the rest of the album, Roger is so personal in his lyrics, and he is not afraid to let out his true emotions.
The following track opens with a "woosh" sound and a very cool guitar riff from Gilmour. This track is called "The Hero's Return", and deals with more personal struggles of Waters. The song doesn't follow a very normal sequence, which is nice and interesting. Gilmour's main riff is played on acoustic guitar, but has an electric guitar playing a chugging one note riff similar to the one from "Run Like Hell" and the rest of The Wall. Roger sings a first verse with shouting followed by a very odd bridge sort of part. This all leads into another verse, which is much softer than the first. The song details the death of a gunner, which leads perfectly into the next track "The Gunner's Dream". This song opens up with the sound of a muffled army officer's voice followed by an explosion. This track is definitely a favorite of mine as Roger is again very personal in his feelings. The words detail a dying gunner's dream about what heaven is like, with a general theme of despair, but, more importantly, hope. By the end of the song, the words tell to "hold onto the dream" and not give up home. The music begins with a wonder soft piano line by Michael Kamen as Roger sings the lyrics which are very emotional. This leads to a much more dynamic section that introduces the rest of the instruments. This transition is made by Roger shouting "And hold on to the dream!" at the top of his lungs. This part amazed me the first time I heard it because Roger's scream merges right into the sound of a saxophone, and it is unnoticeable until the sax player, Raphael Ravenscroft starts playing a solo. The following section is louder, featuring a steady beat from Mason and Gilmour. This loud section transfers back into a soft verse with more lyrics describing the soldier's vision of heaven. The guitar is a little more prominent on this verse compared to the first verse, which was mostly just piano. This verse ends with "and no one kills the children anymore", sung by Roger, which transfers into another loud section, this one shorter, but without the sax, and more guitar and orchestra. This section also features the most emotional vocals heard by Waters yet as he shouts and screams his vocals, giving the impression of sheer agony. He ends it with the words "This dream is driving me insane!" with the last word being screamed incredibly long and loudly. It's amazing how much emotion he displays in just this one song. The whole album is just like this: pure emotion. Roger's scream lasts for about 17 seconds, even going into the first half of the last verse. The song ends on a soft note, with Roger softly singing "Take heed of the dream", followed by a short piano coda, transferring into the following track.
The last track on the first side of the album is called "Paranoid Eyes". This one is definitely not one of my favorites, but it isn't too bad. The song begins with various sound effects as the piano and vocals enter in, describing a person's descent into alcoholism, destroying one's life. Most of the song stays soft, although there is a short middle section in the middle that features Mason on drums and Gilmour on acoustic guitar, playing a melody similar to that of "Mother" from The Wall. The song isn't very dramatically sung, even though the words are pretty dramatic, but it's on okay song overall.
The next side opens with the short "Get You Filthy Hands Off My Desert", which begins with some shouting and a loud explosion. This all leads into the tune, played on some royal sounding orchestration and sung by Roger. The song's lyrics talk about Roger's hatred toward the handling of the Falkland invasions. Some acoustic guitar can be heard throughout, which turns the song into a very interesting sound change from the rest of the album. The song ends with the humming of the tune from "The Post War Dream", softly ending and going into the following track "The Fletcher Memorial Home". This song opens with Roger singing rather distraughtly about his hatred towards the leaders of the world, specifically Britain. He sings about how they are tyrants and overgrown infants, and should be put into segregated retirement homes. Roger sings the first verse over top soft piano and guitar, with the familiar orchestration. This verse is followed by a haunting orchestration tune being played as Roger speaks lines about who he doesn't like. He "introduces" these leaders in a very sarcastic way until the section ends with him singing once again for a short verse, similar to the first verse. This verse ends with a drum roll in, leading into a loud section, featuring one of Gilmour's most wonderful guitar solos not just on this album, but including all of their albums. His solo ends with several guitar overlays, which all harmonize together beautifully. This is followed by a third and final verse, which returns to the soft verse structure. This ends on a quiet piano note, as the sounds of seagulls chirping comes in.
The next track is the short "Southhampton Dock", which opens with Roger singing over some acoustic guitar. Roger sings words about a girl feeling the pains of leaving and returning war heroes, the pain of loss. This ends with another reprisse of "The Postwar Dream"'s melody, which leads into a partially louder section featuring piano and orchestra. This ends with Roger's line "In our hearts we felt the final cut", leading into the next track, the title track "The Final Cut". This one opens with some quiet piano chords, eventually leading into Roger's vocals, sung emotionally with bass in the background. This ends with a line and then transfers into a full band structure, with the drums and guitar coming in. Roger sings a short line which is interrupted by a loud bang, leading into an orchestrated section similar to that of "Comfortably Numb". Roger's vocals get louder here and more emotional, shouting them earnestly. This leads into a soft section, which again goes into a loud section, featuring the full band. This goes into another soft line, but instead of being interrupted, he cuts himself in the middle of the line and after a second coming in with the piano and drums shouting "Or would you take me home", which brings us into another great solo from Gilmour. This solo is very melodic, but ends quite quickly. Roger sings the final verse after this, with great emotion, ending with the line "I never had the nerve to make the final cut" followed by the orchestration playing the melody one more time.
The next track "Not Now John" is one of my least favorite songs by Pink Floyd of all time. I can't stand it at all. It is the only one with Gilmour on any vocals at all, which is weird, because the anger of this song would seem to fit Roger better. The whole song possesses an energy not found on any other poin of the record, reminding me of a dark version of "Young Lust". The whole song seems to revolve around extensive use of the f-word, which is just annoying, because after all of these wonderful and emotional songs, this one feels like the band is just a bunch of stupid jerks, which they really aren't This one just annoys me in general, but it really is the only annoying one in the whole batch of tunes on this record.
The final song is the beautiful "Two Suns in the Sunset". This one features mostly acoustic guitars, but the full band too. The song also features some tricky time signatures which drummer Nick Mason couldn't quite get, so they hired a session drummer, Andy Newmark, to take over on this track. The guitar repeats a simple three chord riff, but its a nice simple end to the album. The song is mostly soft and quiet, but in the middle, a much louder and emotional section comes in, which Roger once again shouting his vocals, with great emotion. The electric guitar is also present in this section. Roger does a cool scream in this middle section as well, similar to "Careful With That Axe Eugene". After this section, one last verse is sung quietly, followed by a fantastic sax solo, again played by Raphael Ravenscroft. This fades out, wonderfully ending the whole album. There isn't a better way to end such an emotional journey of an album other than this, I think. I'll admit, I am a sucker for sax on any album, but still, this is a great end to this album.
Although the record is no "Meddle" or "Atom Heart Mother", which are my favorite two records by the Floyd, this one is definitely a close third, just because of the sheer emotion on the record. Unfortunately, "Not Now John" really gets to me, so I give this album a 9 out of 10.
The music videos for "The Gunner's Dream" and "The Final Cut" from The Final Cut Video EP.
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