THE FINAL CUT

Listening to this album is like slogging through a marsh. One can only listen to Roger Water's misery and despair for so long. While his anti-everything rants had wonderful music to back them up on previous Floyd outings, ("Animals", "The Wall"), this one sounds basically the same throughout. It is as if Roger Waters is giving a monologue to sparse musical accompaniment. The songs are basically interchangeable, (which is not at all a good sign). Nick Mason (Drums) and Dave Gilmour (Guitar) rarely show up on this album, and Rick Wright (Keys) isn't here at all, having been fired during the making of the wall. Essentially this is a Roger Water's solo album under the Pink Floyd banner, made up of bad material intended for a third LP for the wall. The stronger songs amongst this cheerless mush are: "The Fletcher Memorial Home", which features an outstanding solo from Gilmour, and "when the Tigers Broke Free", originally from the Wall soundtrack, a touching song about the death of Water's father in WWII. Overall, unless you are an intense Floyd/Waters fan, avoid this album - 2 Stars.