The Final Cut

Pink Floyd - The Final Cut

List Price: $18.98
Our Price: $12.97
Your Save: $ 6.01 ( 32% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Manufacturer: Capitol
Release Date: 2004-05-04

32 %

Review

Related Albums
Animals Wish You Were Here The Wall (Deluxe Packaging Digitally Remastered) Meddle Obscured by Clouds

Customer Reviews
Summary: Great Album, Poor Remaster Overall Rating: Comment: Back in the day... when CD's first came on the scene, I was more than enthusiastic about replacing my vinyl collection with what had to be sonically superior and infinitely more user friendly. Well... I did get the user friendly part, but the big shocker was that just because it sounded good on vinyl didn't mean it was necessarily going to sound anywhere near as good on CD. In fact, time and again I was so extremely disappointed with the fidelity of the so-called "technologically superior" CD re-master that I gave it away or threw the damn thing away altogether. Fast-forward to today: I was browsing around here on Amazon.com and came across Pink Floyd's "Final Cut," which to me is one of their best albums. But, as many have said, either you're gonna love this album or hate it. I don't think much in between is possible. And the original recording of this album was stellar--one of the most dynamic pressings of any album I've ever heard. And so... I HAD TO HAVE IT. But... as it arrived and the time came for my girlfriend and I to sit down to listen to it, small beads of sweat began to appear on my forehead, as flashbacks of horror stories about other great recordings whose master tape had been stuffed in a drawer somewhere--and other such sins came to mind. Again, the music--and especially the lyrics--are both deeply profound and moving, but I couldn't even finish listening to the whole thing. I hit eject, and gave it to my girlfriend on the spot, as she loved the album for its content. I didn't even bother to read the liner notes, but something, somewhere, went wrong. What a shame... And age shouldn't be an issue. Pick up a copy of Beatles "Love" some time and find out how great even 40 year old recordings can sound. Or try to find a now extinct Mobile Fidelity remaster of "Dark Side of the Moon" and get ready to get totally blown away. As for me, I suspect that I'm going be breaking out my vinyl once again pretty soon... But as for any of you reading this: If you don't already have this album, try to listen to it somehow--I don't think snippets on a website are going to do--before buying it. Again, like so many have said, you just might hate it. But... If you already are familiar with it, and you don't really care about what it sounds like, or you'll only be playing it in your car, etc, then by all means on the basis of content alone this disc is worth having. This album could literally be used in a high school history class somewhere like some have done with Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire." I would've kept it if I didn't still have the thing on vinyl. My girlfriend is secretly hoping, I am sure, that I find more recordings like this that I can't stand to listen to... Summary: their best effort Overall Rating: Comment: If you think CDs are made for makeup mirrors this one is a good choice. Summary: Don't bother. Overall Rating: Comment: Yes, you heard me. A one. For many, this is the 'great lost' Pink Floyd album, the one people rarely think about but the one that proves to be quite a rewarding listen when you actually discover it. Nope. No such great wonder for me. What happened here is that Roger was totally and absolutely tired of the band, so that the title even sports the subscription 'by Roger Waters, performed by Pink Floyd' And it definetly shows. There are NO contributions from Nick or David (save from some guitar solos that actually sound out of place), and the sound is generally the same. Slow, boring guitar strumming that all of a sudden gets loud with an orchestra and band banging out power chords, Roger screaming the lyrics at the top of his lungs, then back to barely audible. Repeat for 50 minutes. There is not even a single truly creative melody on the whole album. Roger mostly sticks to rudimentary piano chords or simplistic guitar lines that are so much in the background (the voice, on the other side, is mixed extremely high) that for the most part you don't notice them at all - and since there are no breaks between songs, I sometimes can't even grab the moment when one song becomes another. What happened? Where's the clever and attention-grabbing melodies that Roger created on The Wall? The lyrics, on the other hand, are quite good. This is yet another concept album. Here, Roger dedicates the album to the "post war dream," making the Falklands war between Britain and Argentina a pretext for showcasing his views on the general problem of war and peace. The main idea is simple: the post-World War Two peace ideals have been betrayed, the war itself was fought for nothing, and the world is still ruled by Maggie (Thatcher), Brezhnev and Begin who don't value human life at all. Great concept, bad execution. Roger is not that good of a singer anymore with this one. He lacked the aggression and resonance that he had nearly spent on The Wall, and on this he tries too hard to hit some notes which he just can't sing anymore. Only a diehard Waters fan should pick this one up, or someone who wants to hear every David Gilmour solo. Avoid at all costs. Summary: A very good album, though it doesn't sound like 70s Floyd Overall Rating: Comment: Most Floyd fans (but not this one) agree that the group did their best work from 1973 to 1979. What to make of the later albums under the Pink Floyd name is a lot more difficult. To some, Roger Waters was the heart and soul of the band; the Final Cut is a masterpiece, or close to it, and the less said about what came afterward the better. To others, the Final Cut was a hideous misstep and the following work was an appropriate return to the "true Floyd style." I don't really have a dog in that argument - I prefer my Floyd of the late 60s, early 70s vintage. Without getting into whether a "true Floyd style" really exists, this is a nice album that doesn't sound much like their previous work. Despite some stylistic similarities; a lot of the cheesy, late 70s glitz and bombast of The Wall is stripped away. What's left is largely a Waters solo album. The contributions by Nick Mason are negligible; Dave Gilmour offers some classic guitar solos ("The Fletcher Memorial Home" and "The Final Cut" are among his best) and a vocal on the awful "Not Now John". And though the arrangements are very nice (including some wild loud-soft dynamics - be careful with that volume knob), with the exception of an occasional saxophone or guitar solo there are few significant instrumental interludes. As far as Waters - he manages to avoid the over-the-top, high-concept pretentions of The Wall and The Pros & Cons of Hitch-hiking. There's lots of truly moving music here - "The Hero's Return", "The Gunner's Dream", "Paranoid Eyes", "Southampton Dock", "The Final Cut". "Two Suns of the Sunset" has some of the best lyrics he wrote under the Floyd moniker, mostly free of the excessive bitterness that often crept into his work. If you go into this album without expecting it to be Dark Side or Wish You Were Here part 2, there's a pretty good chance you will appreciate it. Summary: CD for son Overall Rating: Comment: I bought this cd for my son because he loves The Wall so much. I just knew he would like it and I was right he plays it ALL the time.

Top Favorite 1. The Wall
2. Pulse
3. Dark Side of The Moon

Popular Links Live at Pompeii Gallery
Pink Floyd DVDs
Pink Floyd biography
Mobile Ringtones

Great Pink Floyd T-Shirt Same day shipping !

Pink Floyd Sites Pink Floyd Online
SearchHippo.com Web Search