Playing God
Pink Floyd: The Wall/The Final Cut

By: Todd Burns
2004-02-10



Posted 02/10/2004 - 10:21:33 AM by naiveteenidol:
 Todd Burns spending this much time contemplating Floyd's Inner Meaning? My... Truth be told, I don't think I could have guffawed louder upon seeing this at first. But Mr. Burns has really taken a nice stab at capturing the essence of these records, which I've always suspected had more merit than my patience warranted me discovering. And though his particular reading on the inextricable link between TFC and the Wall has never occurred to me as such—particularly with respect to the song choice—it actually is quite sensible. Especially bold is the excision of a lot of the fascist imagery ("Waiting For the Worms," etc); even more interesting is his focus on the MOST self-pitying material, which I'd always believed to be the real weakness of the records. In actuality, as Burns points out, it's not the war or even his father's death, but rather how they damaged Waters' ego that is really at the core of both records. Nice.
 
Posted 02/10/2004 - 10:38:29 AM by AUnterberger:
 I'd love to hear this. The idea of focusing on all the restrained, non-single material on The Wall is an intriguing one, and would probably make for a fascinating alternate perspective, especially when mixed with the extremely divisive material of The Final Cut.
 
Posted 02/10/2004 - 10:43:21 AM by naiveteenidol:
 Agreed. I think Chris Dahlen's already cueing this up on Rhapsody as we speak...
 
Posted 02/10/2004 - 07:24:06 PM by btwillig:
 Good article. I thought my Pink Floyd days were long behind me but this article has made me want revisit them. Much has been made about what a flop The Final Cut was but the songs you list above, imo, are some of the best Waters has ever written.
 
Posted 02/11/2004 - 06:47:58 PM by Noel_Diddy:
 Before this article, I thought Todd Burns was perfect. After this article, I know it. It's like . . . Gilmore, then Waters, then Burns.