Album Review "The Final Cut" by Pink Floyd

The last studio album to feature all four members of the band is often an overlooked work that is spun more or less as a Roger Waters solo project featuring the talents of David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright.

The album opens with the track “A Postwar Dream” a bare bones track consisting of Waters sob filled vocals supported by a subtle organ drone which is followed by a chorus of defeated trumpets and violins, ultimately ending in an explosion of drums and Gilmour's patented wailing guitar possessing an airy atmospheric quality. This song sets the format for just about every subsequent track on the record.

Waters agenda is out there for all to see, unlike previous Floyd albums, it seems as though this time more emphasis has been put on the lyrical aspect of the music instead of the music itself. Gilmour still has his moments of powerful guitar work, no time more obvious then the song “Not Now John” which is the only time Gilmour's vocal talents are lent to the album.

As the album spins on it is obvious that the two were at a loss of how to incorporate each man's strengths as seamless as they have in previous releases, the lyrics clash with Gilmour's guitar more often then they support each other, the final product feels forced as if Waters sectioned of a certain amount of time in each track for Gilmour's famous soloing and then would cut off immediately.

In the end “The Final Cut” still goes down as a Pink Floyd work and rightly so, it still contains elements that are not truly exclusive to Waters style but comes up short. It is clear that the band had reached a crossroads in this album, Waters heavy, socially charge lyrics could no longer be supported by the Pink Floyd sound and style that had been so prevalent in each and every album before.