Over the last fifteen years only one musician has truly created rock music reflecting the depravity of armed conflict, and the part played by political leaders in promoting it. Roger Waters has created and performed some of the most devastatingly effective and accessible anti-war music ever recorded, with sincerity, passion and poetic beauty. THE FINAL CUT and AMUSED TO DEATH bravely communicate that which rock music used to be famed for, the truth. It amazes and disappoints me that Waters has failed to achieve the level of recognition bestowed on far lesser artists. Unlike his classic solo album AMUSED TO DEATH, THE FINAL CUT is a Pink Floyd release with major input from the late, great Michael Kamen. This is the new remastered release and a significant sonic improvement over the original.

As a remastered issue the major question is whether it is worth buying to replace your original. The answer is an emphatic, yes. There are significant advances in clarity, separation of the instrumental and vocal sounds, and an almost unreal level of depth and drama especially in the range of sound effects used. On Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert, the sound of an incoming and exploding missile is nothing short of terrifying in its sonic authenticity. Waters’ dominating vocal contributions are crystal clear with every lyric clearly audible. This edition also includes a wonderful additional track in When The Tigers Broke Free. With its opening TV/Radio news commentary, strong melody, fantastic lyrics and a superb Waters vocal it is also one of the album’s finest tracks.

The band instrumentals are fabulous with some epic guitar work from David Gilmour, and some stunning tenor saxophone moments from guest Raphael Ravenscroft. There are few songwriters today who can match the musical poetry and razor sharp observation of Bob Dylan, but Waters matches him punch for punch. Examples of Waters’ mastery are numerous here and include “…what happened to the post war dream? Oh Maggie what have we done?” (The Post War Dream), “…stepping up boldly one put out his hand he said, I was just a child then now I’m only a man” (Your Possible Pasts), “…sweetheart sweetheart are you fast asleep, good that’s the only time I can really talk to you” (The Hero’s Return), and “Brezhnev took Afghanistan, and Begin took Beirut, Galtieri took the Union Jack, and Maggie over lunch one day, took a cruiser with all hands, apparently to make him give it back” (Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert). The lyrics to Southampton Dock are especially moving: “She stands upon Southampton dock, with her handkerchief, and her summer frock clings, to her wet body in the rain, in quiet desperation knuckles white upon the slippery reins, she bravely waves the boys goodbye again. Still the dark stain spreads between their shoulder blades, a mute reminder of the poppy fields and graves, when the fight was over, we spent what they had made…”

In these dark and worrying days; the result of Bush and Blair’s still unclear motivations; this is one album that we should all own, together with the amazing AMUSED TO DEATH.

5/5