But my complaint is not merely that this album is not "easy listening." "The Final Cut" lacks the musicality that Waters needed to carry his lyrics. None of the songs have a recognizable melody. Certain tracks, like "The Gunner's Dream," have recurring motifs, but nothing that could be called a tune. Of course, there are many Floyd songs that lack a melody, even masterpieces like Dogs, Welcome to the Machine, Time, Money, and Us and Them. But these tracks made up for it with lyrical guitar solos and richly textured keyboard backgrounds by Wright. Both of these key Floydian elements are lacking on The Final Cut; the result is an album that may touch the social conscience through its lyrics but whose music does nothing to touch the soul.
Moreover, this album proves that Waters' lyrics cannot carry themselves. Often during "The Final Cut," Waters gets carried away with metaphor. Much of his imagery is heavyhanded, lacking the simple mystical elegance of his lyrics for "Animals," "Dark Side of the Moon," "Wish You Were Here," or "Meddle" - the group's finest albums. Furthermore, Waters' singing voice on this album is grating, and so exposed that often he is blatantly off key.
In their most productive and successful years, Waters carried the group, both lyrically and conceptually. In the end however, his last Floyd effort is a failure. I've heard this album praised for its "rawness of feeling." Raw it is. Floyd it is not.

An overlooked Roger's masterpiece
I don't quite understand why this cd gets so little recognition by most Pink Floyd fans, while indeed it's one of the best. Okay, it's not easy listening but that is its main appeal. It's got stunning lyrics (What else can you expect from Waters) and the music fits perfectly. There is very little of the clasic Floyd sound but another virtue of this band is their ability to evolute.

I am deeply moved by all the songs, being my faves the opening cut, Your Possible Pasts, One of The Few, The Gunner's Dream, The Fletcher Memorial Home, the title track and Two Suns In The Sunset, an incredible song. Not Now John is the fast-paced track on the cd, and it's fantastic, with Gilmour's solo, one of his best.

The Final Cut is the kind of album Dave would never be able to do, and it's a million times better than Momentary Lapse of Reason. After Roger left, the band lost a lot.

5/5.

Roger Waters' dark farewell to Floyd
Pink Floyd's The Final Cut was released in April of 1983. The album was the first Pink Floyd album of new material since 1979's The Wall. The album was mainly the work of Roger Waters(bass player/vocals) with muted contribution from drummer Nick Mason and guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour. Keyboardist Rick Wright was kicked out the band during The Wall sessions. The Final Cut was supposed to be the soundtrack to The Wall movie but nstead, The Final Cut presents a gloomy vivid portrait of a morally crumbling post-WWII/Falklands War era England. The album is fixated on the second World War and what the personal and societal sacrifices of that conflict meant to Great Britain in 1982/1983. "What have we done to England?/Should we shout, should we scream/'What happened to the post war dream?'" lyricist, Roger Waters asks on the opening The Post War Dream. Throughout the album, Mr. Waters (whom lost his father in World War II) explores that inquiry. Your Possible Pasts are taking shots at Thatcher and Reagan. The main character in this album is the teacher from The Wall whom was disappointed in the generation they preserved (One of the Few and The Hero's Return), trying to keep a fellow serviceman's dream alive(The Gunner's Dream), pursued by ghosts (Paranoid Eyes). Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert is great and is followed by my favorite song on the album The Fletcher Memorial Home which depicts Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan as overgrown infants and tyrants. Southampton Dock was about Thatcher waving goodbye to the men. The title cut is a great song too. Not Now John is a superb rocker and the only Gilmour vocal on the record(him and Roger fought like mad and David took his name off the credits but still got paid to produce the album. The haunting Two Suns in the Sunset closes the album. Andy Newmark plays drums on this track as Nick was forced out as well. By the time this album was finished, Pink Floyd broke up. The album was another Top 10 album for the band in the US hitting #6 and selling 2 million in the US but was a flop compared to its predecessor. I was one of those who bought this album on tape the year it came out and have gone through countless copies of this album. Nevertheless, it is highly recommended!

your possible pasts
this is the blackest of the black sheep that roam the pink floyd catalog ("more," "atom heart mother," "ummagumma" among them). for those who listen to pink floyd to marvel at the weird sounds employed in some of their songs and space out at the lights at their shows, this album will disappoint. however, for everyone that can look past that and see that the floyd is fronted by a man with actual feelings will be astounded at the depth and vulnerability of roger waters on this album, which was totally unprecendented in his songwriting career. this album came to me at a particularly ugly time in my life, and the cold, downtrodden nature of songs like "the gunner's dream" and "your possible pasts" hit home for me; not necessarily in subject but in the general feeling with which it is injected. during the time preceding this album, pink floyd, one of rock music's most enduring bands, more or less fell apart. roger waters was entering middle age and finally confronting the death of his father, eric fletcher waters, through his art directly; something he had only devoted short passages to before. david gilmour's work with the floyd in the 80s and 90s, though unique and incredible, pales in comparison to this bleak masterpiece.

Floyd's farewell with Waters
Pink Floyd's The Final Cut was released in April of 1983. The album was the first Pink Floyd album of new material since 1979's The Wall. The album was mainly the work of Roger Waters(bass player/vocals) with muted contribution from drummer Nick Mason and guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour. Keyboardist Rick Wright was kicked out the band during The Wall sessions. The Final Cut was supposed to be the soundtrack to The Wall movie but nstead, The Final Cut presents a gloomy vivid portrait of a morally crumbling post-WWII/Falklands War era England. The album is fixated on the second World War and what the personal and societal sacrifices of that conflict meant to Great Britain in 1982/1983. "What have we done to England?/Should we shout, should we scream/'What happened to the post war dream?'" lyricist, Roger Waters asks on the opening The Post War Dream. Throughout the album, Mr. Waters (whom lost his father in World War II) explores that inquiry. Your Possible Pasts are taking shots at Thatcher and Reagan. The main character in this album is the teacher from The Wall whom was disappointed in the generation they preserved (One of the Few and The Hero's Return), trying to keep a fellow serviceman's dream alive(The Gunner's Dream), pursued by ghosts (Paranoid Eyes). Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert is great and is followed by my favorite song on the album The Fletcher Memorial Home which depicts Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan as overgrown infants and tyrants. Southampton Dock was about Thatcher waving goodbye to the men. The title cut is a great song too. Not Now John is a superb rocker and the only Gilmour vocal on the record(him and Roger fought like mad and David took his name off the credits but still got paid to produce the album. The haunting Two Suns in the Sunset closes the album. Andy Newmark plays drums on this track as Nick was forced out as well. By the time this album was finished, Pink Floyd broke up. The album was another Top 10 album for the band in the US hitting #6 and selling 2 million in the US but was a flop compared to its predecessor. I was one of those who bought this album on tape the year it came out and have gone through countless copies of this album. Nevertheless, it is highly recommended!
1994 U.K. reissue of their top 10 1983 album on a full colorpicture disc. 12 tracks, including 'The Post War Dream', 'The Gunner's Dream' and 'Not Now John'.