Maps of Music

The Final Cut (1983)

Where the lyrics of The Final Cut take you, and where it was really made.

Planned as a soundtrack for The Wall film, the album became an anti-war concept record after the Falklands War, and it is often called a Roger Waters solo album in all but name.

Key places

Abbey Road Studios in the 1982 sessions (1983)

Recording site Abbey Road Studios — Abbey Road Studios is listed among the eight studios used for recording the album in the latter half of 1982. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: Jubilee line to St John's Wood station, then about a 5-minute walk.

Eel Pie Studios in the 1982 sessions (1983)

Recording site Eel Pie Studios — Eel Pie Studios is listed among the studios used for recording the album in the latter half of 1982. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Mayfair Studios in the 1982 sessions (1983)

Recording site Mayfair Studios — Mayfair Studios is listed among the studios used for recording the album in the latter half of 1982. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Olympic Studios in the 1982 sessions (1983)

Recording site Olympic Studios — Olympic Studios is listed among the studios used for recording the album in the latter half of 1982. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

RAK Studios in the 1982 sessions (1983)

Recording site RAK Studios — RAK Studios is listed among the studios used for recording the album in the latter half of 1982. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Gilmour's home studio at Hook End (1983)

Recording site Hook End Studios — Gilmour's home studio at Hook End Manor in Oxfordshire was one of the places used for recording in the latter half of 1982. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Final Cut is the twelfth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd
• Released 21 March 1983 through Harvest and Columbia Records
• Contains unused material from The Wall (1979) and new material recorded throughout 1982
• Last Pink Floyd album to feature founding member Roger Waters, who left the band in 1985
• Only Pink Floyd album without keyboardist Richard Wright, who had left under pressure from Waters after The Wall sessions
• Waters sang lead vocals on all tracks but one and is credited for all songwriting
• Accompanied by a short film released in the same year

Background

• Conceived as a soundtrack album for Pink Floyd – The Wall, the 1982 film; working title Spare Bricks
• Falklands War changed the direction, and Waters rewrote it as a concept album
• Dedicated to his father Eric Fletcher Waters, who died in the Second World War at Aprilia, Italy, on 18 February 1944
• Roger Waters was five months old when his father died
• Five tracks set aside from The Wall were reworked for the album, including Your Possible Pasts and The Hero's Return
• Gilmour felt the set-aside songs were not good enough for a new studio album

Recording

• Michael Kamen co-produced, oversaw the orchestral arrangements, and mediated between Waters and Gilmour
• Andy Bown and Kamen stood in for Richard Wright on keyboards
• Recorded across eight studios in the latter half of 1982
• Gilmour's home studio at Hook End Manor in Oxfordshire and Waters' Billiard Room Studios in East Sheen were used
• Recording tensions led Waters and Gilmour to work separately
• Gilmour had his name removed from the producer credits but was still paid production royalties
• The album uses the Holophonic system on Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert

Cover

• Storm Thorgerson was passed over, and Waters designed the cover himself
• Photographs were taken by his then brother-in-law Willie Christie
• The front cover shows a remembrance poppy and four Second World War medal ribbons

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in London in 1965 by Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright; David Gilmour joined in 1967.
• Among the first British psychedelic groups, gaining an early underground following at the UFO Club.
• Known for extended compositions, sonic experiments, philosophical lyrics and elaborate live shows.

Members

• Nick Mason on drums (1965–present).
• Roger Waters on bass and vocals (1965–1985), becoming the primary lyricist after Barrett's departure in 1968.
• Richard Wright on keyboards (1965–1981, 1987–2008), who died in 2008.
• Syd Barrett on vocals and guitar (1965–1968), who died in 2006.
• David Gilmour on guitar and vocals (1967–present).

Career

• Concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979) made them one of the best-selling acts of all time.
• Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982) won two BAFTAs.
• Reunited with Waters for Live 8 in 2005; the last studio album The Endless River came out in 2014.
• Released 'Hey, Hey, Rise Up!' in 2022 in protest of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Sold over 250 million records; inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2008.

Reception

At release

• Melody Maker called it a milestone in the history of awfulness
• NME critic Richard Cook wrote that Waters' writing was blown apart and that the album repeats the themes of The Wall without fresh momentum
• Robert Christgau in The Village Voice found the antiwar rock worth hearing and gave the album a C+
• Rolling Stone's Kurt Loder viewed it as essentially a Roger Waters solo album and a superlative achievement on several levels
• Dan Hedges of Record approved, saying the concept works partly through the understatement and ingenuity of the music and special effects, and mostly through the care Waters took in plotting the imagery

Reappraisal

• Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said the album is clearly the one Waters intended, and Pink Floyd could not have continued in this direction
• Stylus Magazine wrote that the record is about pursuing something greater and leaves success or failure up to the listener
• Rachel Mann of The Quietus called it flawed but a tremendous album that still has something fresh to say
• Mike Diver of Drowned in Sound was less generous, finding few rays of light and an arduous listen

Records

• Reached number one on the UK Albums Chart, surpassing The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall
• Peaked at number six on the US Billboard 200
• Single Not Now John reached the UK Top 30
• RIAA certified Platinum in May 1983 for over 1,000,000 units shipped in the United States
• Given double Platinum certification in 1997
• Lowest-selling Pink Floyd studio album in the US and worldwide since Meddle (1971)

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title refers to Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar
• The single When the Tigers Broke Free was released in 1982 under another title and was not on the album until the 2004 CD reissue
• Ray Cooper added percussion, and Andy Newmark replaced Mason on Two Suns in the Sunset when Mason could not play the time changes
• Michael Kamen's notepad doodles during repeated takes led Waters to lose his temper before the misunderstanding was cleared up
• A short film with the same name was released on Betamax and VHS in July 1983 as one of EMI's first video EPs

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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