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Classic Album Art

Cover Front

Pink Floyd - The Final Cut

Hey! Hello! What about this?

Classic Album Art

release - 1983
album art - Roger Waters
Willie Christie


cover front

The first release of the album had no band name and no title. Maybe this is due to the following description on the backside of the album:

'the final cut - a requiem for the post war dream - by roger waters - performed by pink floyd'

During the production there were tensions between Waters and his band mates, particularly Gilmour. Keyboardist Richard Wright was already sent away by Waters. From this point of view The Final Cut can be considered as a solo-album of Roger and less as a Floyd album. After The Final Cut Rogers left the band.

Storm Thorgerson, a founder member of Hipgnosis (designers of most of Pink Floyd's previous artwork), was passed over for the cover design. Instead, Waters created the album cover himself using photographs taken by his brother-in-law, Willie Christie.

The front cover shows a Remembrance poppy and four World War II medal ribbons laid out on a black fabric background. From left to right the medals are the 1939–45 Star, the Africa Star, the Defence Medal, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. The poppy is a recurring design theme. It is also depicted on the interior photographs, the vinyl-lables and the back cover.

To understand the Album Art you should also be familiar with its theme: Waters’ orphaned grief for his father killed at Anzio in 1944, his fury at leaders making political capital out of ‘modern’ conflicts like the Falklands and an attempt to imagine the impact of conflict on veterans and their families.


cover back

Cover Back

The back cover features the track list and a small photograph of a soldier standing upright and holding a film canister, with a knife protruding from his back.

Cover Back

The film canister and knife may reflect Waters' tumultuous relationship with The Wall film director Alan Parker.


the interior

Interior

The interior gatefold featured three photographs. The first depicting an outstretched hand holding three poppies and a soldier standing in the middle of a field far off in the background. Two more photographs show a welder at work, his mask emblazoned with the Japanese Rising Sun Flag and a nuclear explosion; a clear reference to 'Two Suns in the Sunset'. The album's lyrics are also reproduced on the gatefold.


vinyl labels

Interior

Side one of the vinyl disc carries an image of a poppy field. Side two depicts a soldier, with a knife in his back, who lies face down amongst the poppies with a dog beside him.

Interior

artist

Artist

Pink Floyd was an English rock band formed by students Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright. David Gilmour joined as a fifth member in December 1967; Barrett left the band in April 1968 due to deteriorating mental health. They achieved international acclaim with their progressive and psychedelic music.

Their most successful albums are Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), The Wall (1979) and The Final Cut (1983).

Wright left in 1979, followed by Waters in 1985. Gilmour and Mason continued; Wright rejoined later. The three produced A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994) and toured until 1994. The Endless River, based on material recorded in 1993–1994, was released in November 2014.


also in gallery

Dark Side of the Moon | Wish You Were Here | Animals | The Wall

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