THE FINAL CUT

The album isn't without its enjoyable moments. "Not Now John" is a pretty good song. "The Hero's Return" sounds like a weaker sequel to "Run Like Hell", and...and...and good God, I tried to find a third thing about this album I could give even back-handed praise to, but I couldn't. This record is one of the worst shit sandwiches I've ever heard.

Most of it is like a worse version of the worst parts of The Wall. It's simultaneously over-orchestrated and thin and weak-sounding. Roger Waters's vocals are exceptionally strained, and this 43-minute release feels like it's three times its actual length.

This is the only Pink Floyd album to not feature Rick Wright, and his presence is sorely missed. Nick Mason's drumming is so anemic he may as well not even be there, and David Gilmour's guitar parts are uninspired. Longtime Pink Floyd album cover artist Storm Thorgerson hadn't been utilized on The Wall, but that album has fitting artwork. In contrast, his absence is acutely felt here. This shitty, ugly cover was designed by Waters himself, unsurprisingly.

Gilmour complained that Waters mostly brought material which the band thought was too weak for The Wall to the recording sessions, but he had nothing to contribute either. Thus, Waters was allowed to fully dominate the album. The lyrics on The Final Cut feel genuine, but the music is incredibly half-assed and lazy. It feels as if there was a general who-gives-a-shit malaise over the band.

The Final Cut was originally envisioned as the soundtrack for the film adaptation of The Wall, but the outbreak of the Falklands War prompted Waters to rewrite the material as an anti-war concept album.

Roger Waters is the premier example of a musician whose politics I broadly agree with but who I wish would keep politics out of his music. Animals was an exception, and that was more sociology than politics. Roger Waters's political music is fucking garbage. Jesus Christ, shut the fuck up, Roger.

The Final Cut is an embarrassing, abject failure. Dr. Zoidberg really summed this album up well when he said, "Your music's bad, and you should feel bad!"

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2021/03/01/deep-dive-pink-floyd/

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