The final cut

Composed of musical fragments recorded for The Wall and Pink Floyd The Wall, the album was initially seen as a separate soundtrack for the film, which would include, in addition to two songs not included in the album, “When the Tigers Broke Free (Parts 1 and 2) ”and“ What Shall We Do Now? ”Re-recorded versions of the songs“ Mother ”,“ Bring the Boys Back Home ”,“ Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3) ”,“ Outside the Wall ”and new versions of "In the Flesh?" and "In the Flesh" in the vocal performance of Bob Geldof, as well as songs that were not included in either the film or the album. The album was supposed to be called "Spare Bricks", but during the first recordings, it was decided to rename it to "The Final Cut".

When the song “ When the Tigers Broke Free ” was released as a single rewriting “Bring the Boys Back Home” on the B-side, labels on both sides stated that the songs were supposed to be on the upcoming album “The Final Cut” - however, neither one song was ultimately not included in the album in connection with the decision of Roger Waters to radically change the content and purpose of this album. Gradually, he took shape in a full-scale anti-war album with his own concept, which, in addition to the original material, included new songs.

The author and performer of almost the entire album was Roger Waters. Due to conflicts between members of the group, which began when working on the album “The Wall”, the album “The Final Cut” was the only one in the recording of which Wright did not take part, and David Gilmore, formerly the main vocalist of the group, sang only in the composition "Not now John."

Roger Waters planned that “The Final Cut” would be Pink Floyd 's last album, but David Gilmore ruined these plans, which later resulted in a lot of litigation and scandal between the two leaders of the group.

The cover design was created by Waters himself, using a photograph taken by his son-in-law Willy Christie. On the cover are poppies , as a symbol of memory for those who died in the First and Second World Wars (top left), and four order ribbons (bottom right). The vinyl record presented the original cover, but without an album name. On the back of the album, Roger Waters himself is depicted with a box of film, in the uniform of World War II, standing in front of a poppy field, a knife sticks out in his back, which represents his difficult relationship with Alan Parker , the director of The Wall.

The concept of the album got its start in the song written for the film " Pink Floyd The Wall " (1982), " When the Tigers Broke Free ", released later as an independent single. On it, Waters addresses the theme of the death of his father during World War II in Operation Signage (landing of the Allies in Anzio ).

Released in 1983, the album is a single musical and poetic composition based on a system of recurring themes. The main content line of the album is the juxtaposition of World War II , the dream of a peaceful post-war life arising in the memoirs of a former radio operator shooter , and a new world of frustrated hopes, personal downfalls and new military conflicts, such as the Falkland War . Also in the album there are a bomber pilot, who is a kind of development of the image of the teacher from “The Wall”, and a depressed person who almost committed suicide.

The concept was continued in a short film created to support the album, in which the main character is a teacher, a World War II veteran who lost his son in the Falkland War .

In 1986, the album was reissued on CD . The CD in the new digital mastering was released in 1994 . An updated version of the album was released March 19, 2004 in Europe and May 4 in the United States in honor of the 21st anniversary of the album. The song “When the Tigers Broke Free”, previously available only as a single for the film “ The Wall ” and on the compilation “ Echoes ”, was added to this re-release in a slightly remixed form.

Original Release

Party 1

1. The Post War Dream - 3:02
2. Your Possible Pasts - 4:22
3. One of the Few - 1:23
4. The Hero's Return - 2:56
5. The Gunner's Dream (Arrow's Dream) - 5:07
6. Paranoid Eyes - 3:40

Party 2

1. Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert (Get your dirty hands off my desert (... from my dessert) - 1:17
2. The Fletcher Memorial Home - 4:11
3. Southampton Dock (Southampton Pier) - 2:13
4. The Final Cut - 4:46
5. Not Now John - 5:01
6. Two Suns in the Sunset - 5:14

Some song titles have a pun .

2004 Reissue

1. The Post War Dream - 3:00
2. Your Possible Pasts - 4:26
3. One of the Few - 1:11
4. When the Tigers Broke Free - 3:16
5. The Hero's Return - 2:43
6. The Gunner's Dream (Dream of a Radio Gunman) - 5:18
7. Paranoid Eyes (Paranoid Eyes) - 3:41
8. Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert (1:17)
9. The Fletcher Memorial Home - 4:12
10. Southampton Dock (Southampton Pier) - 2:10
11. The Final Cut (Last Wound) - 4:45
12. Not Now John - 4:56
13. Two Suns in the Sunset - 5:23

• Roger Waters - vocals , bass , acoustic guitar , synthesizer
• David Gilmore - guitar , bass , vocals on "Not Now John"
• Nick Mason - drums , percussion , holophonic sound effects

And:

• Michael Kamen - piano , harmonium
• Andy Bown - Hammond Organ
• Ray Cooper - percussion
• Andy Newmark - drums on "Two Suns ..."
• Rafael Ravenscroft (Raphael Ravenscroft) - tenor saxophone
• National Philharmonic Orchestra (conductor Michael Kamen )

In support of the album, a short (nineteen-minute) psychedelic movie was created, starring Alex McEvoy and Roger Waters . The Final Cut is closely related to the Pink Floyd The Wall , which was released a year earlier in 1982, and is a sequel to it. The film uses four songs from the album "The Final Cut", which in its context is surrounded by a new meaning.

The idea of ​​the film is to develop one of the themes of the album - the story of a teacher, a World War II veteran who lost his son during the Falkland War . The film also contains other characters from the album - a prostitute from the song “Your Possible Pasts”, Margaret Thatcher , a patient at the Fletcher Memorial House psychiatric hospital.
The film is available for viewing on the official website of the album .

Songs used in the film

• The gunner's dream
• The final cut
• Not now john
• The Fletcher Memorial Home

• When the Tigers Broke Free / Bring the Boys Back Home (film version) - 1982
• Not Now John / The Hero's Return (Parts 1 and 2) - 1983
• Your Possible Pasts - 1983

• " Arthur (or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) " - The Kinks concept album

• The last verse of the song “Your Possible Past”, placed on the CD tab, includes words that are not performed in the song.
• The song “Your Possible Past” was originally seen as a version of the song “Stop” from the movie “Pink Floyd The Wall”.
• The song “One Of The Few” is, as it were, a development of the image of a teacher from the film “The Wall”.
• At the end of the song “The Hero's Return” you can hear something resembling “the last words of a shooter in a headset ”. This shooter was Eric Fletcher Waters.
• The image of "a piece of foreign land" was borrowed by Waters from Rupert Brook 's poem "The Soldier", dedicated to the First World War.
• “Two Suns In The Sunset” was written under the influence of the movie “ The War Game ”.
• “Not Now John” is the only song in the album where Waters and Gilmore share vocal parts.
• The children's voices on the album belong to the children of Waters - Harry and India.
• The words " Brezhnev took Afghanistan , Begin took Beirut , Galtieri took the Union Jack ..." from the song "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" served as a reason for persecution (a complete ban) on Pink Floyd's music in the USSR ^[5] .

• The Final Cut album page on the PinkFloyd.co.uk band official website
• Description, lyrics of the album and links to reviews on the website Pink-Floyd.ru
• The Final Cut on discogs.com