The Pink Floyd album David Gilmour called “dross”
The collaborative process within Pink Floyd was never straightforward. Despite producing results on The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon, which inserted their name into the history books, it took immense sacrifice to achieve greatness. By the end of their tenure, the friction had become unsustainable, and it became clear something had to give.
After Pink Floyd released The Wall and subsequently toured the record around the globe, it would have been a perfect moment to bow out gracefully. However, only in hindsight can we see in 20/20 vision. Pink Floyd wasn’t prepared to quit while they still felt they were at the peak of their powers. For all they knew then, their next album could have eclipsed the quality of The Wall.
When they began work in 1982 on The Final Cut, which was released the following year, the relationship between the band quickly spiralled out of control. Roger Waters took the reins from a creative standpoint, much to the frustration of David Gilmour, and it was clear they could no longer collaborate like they once did.
They both had conflating ideas for the record, and ultimately, Gilmour was forced to take a backseat while Waters essentially made a solo album. While this technique had previously served the band well on prior releases, their luck had run dry, and Gilmour wasn’t prepared to put him through a similar ordeal again.
During an interview with Record Collector in 2003, Gilmour explained: “I knew what had happened to my band at that point, and I was just trying to get through it. It wasn’t pleasant at all. If it was that unpleasant but the results had been worth it, then I might think about it in a different way. I wouldn’t actually.”
Gilmour then revealed The Final Cut only contains three tracks he likes, continuing: “I don’t the results are an awful lot I mean (there are) a couple of reasonable tracks, at best. I did vote for ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’ to be on Echoes. I like that. ‘Fletcher’, ‘The Gunner Dream’ and the title track are the three reasonable tracks on that. The rest of The Final Cut is dross.”
When a band member only likes three songs from an album, it speaks volumes about dissatisfaction within the Pink Floyd camp during the making of The Final Cut.
While Waters, who steered the ship on the album, was pleased with the final result, he was also discontent during the recording process. However, he squarely points the blame at Gilmour for making it an unenjoyable experience.
During a Q&A on his YouTube page, Waters stated: “The last one I made was The Final Cut, which was in 1982, 40 years ago. That wasn’t much fun because all I had was what’s his name sitting in the back playing Donkey Kong and telling me what a load of crap it was. And so it was hard. Though it was great to work with James Guthrie and Michael Kamen.”
At one stage, their hearts once danced to the sound of the same beat. However, when they reached The Final Cut, those days were firmly over, and the duo were no longer compatible.
