It was so clear to me
That it was almost invisible...

I love this song.

Simply. Awesome.

I think she's pretty good at singing.  She's in tune and she remembered all the words.  She also has an interesting voice, which has to count for something.

You probably think Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen should hire someone as well...

Those first few free-form bars of the tune bear a very strong resemblance to a cut from one of the Eno/Budd collaborations - from either Ambient #2 or The Pearl.

You may not like the timber of the vocals, but they are certainly on pitch. And six hours to record a Beatles album? I don't think so.

Okay, I'm totally envious of the girl who gets to sing harmony on this. I love to sing along and fantasize that that's me.  :)

 panlad wrote:
Hey Bono Vox: Learn some latin.....

By the way, nice song: 7

You need to listen to some of their non-hits and reasses.

Nobody intertwines vocals the way Toad did.

Check out Butterflies from the Fear album for more creative vocal work.

Yeah, but Chris Cornell invented this vocal style...

Creed. Live. Chris Daughtry. None of them would've existed had they not heard SG first.

I'm hearing Al Stewart.

IBM recently used this in a commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smlhRD0dOEs

I've never heard of "the sound of howling cats", but they sound like an awesome band.

Wasn't this bit in the movie Birdy?

This is a great song from a very good album. That said, I don't think there is any doubt that Buckley's death greatly elevated his legacy and probably caused "Grace" to be one of the all-time overrated cd's. The guy only gave us one LP, which has been repackaged several times to seem like more. We all assume that he was on his way to a stellar career and a slew of great albums, but we'll never know. He was a great talent, but there are many other artists just as talented if not moreso (albeit, many influenced by him) that are around and recording NOW. They deserve credit and attention too, and are actually around to appreciate it!

Because they collectively know one chord and one rhythm. And every song they sing sounds exactly the same.

Wave upon of wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity and into the dream...

could someone PLEASE tune that piano?

saw her open for coldplay last month...forgettable performance by her, and she dances like Elaine on Seinfeld!

Once again, I'm floored to hear RP pull out such a gem. I don't think I've ever heard this song out of context - played anywhere except on a stereo spinning the album. It's astonishing the effect it has, even removed from the slow-burn build of the entire album.

To those who see this song (and the album in general) as a Roger Waters, solo... I'd only say - go listen to Roger's solo albums! There's simply no denying David Gilmour's contribution. It may be a little more subtle in places, but even on this tune, the climax of which is the tell-tale Gilmour explotion of emotion, it's undeniable. ("Fletcher Memorial Home" and "The Postware Dream" are other excellnt pairings of the two, along with the more ovbious "Not Now John" and the undeniable simple eloquence of the guitar work on the last track.)

And as for it being derivative or a "copy" of "The Wall" - as some have pointed out and others have perhaps rightly observed - this is in many ways the "third disc" of "The Wall", but "The Final Cut" has a focus and a personal intimacy that trumps even "The Wall" - and this song is an excellent example. Perhaps this intense focus is part of what contributes to the "solo album" feel - how could such a cogent, deeply personal album be the work of a group? But the project seems so much an outgrowth of where nearly everyone in Floyd went with "The Wall." Yes, Rick Wright is missing, but Michael Kamen - who is in so many ways the "5th Beatle" on "The Wall" - fills in admirably and even appropriately, as the piano and keys work to completely integrate his dead-on orchestration. Just as his work on "The Wall" made it a Floyd album unlike any other. But you don't hear people complaining that "The Wall" was just a glorified Roger Waters rant draped in Kamen strings and brass... It's impossible to hear "The Final Cut" and not think of Pink Floyd. And no disrespect to the guitarists that Roger Waters teamed with later (hard to knock Eric Clapton...) but it's something very different from anything he did after, and something very much apart of all he'd done before.

That said, this is perhaps one of the most moving concept albums to come out of the prog-rock 70's/80's school of composition. Call it a solo album or Floyd's swan-song, either way it stands just as well on it's own - removed from everything that came before or after. At once a staggering comment on post-war Thatcherite England, a memorial to the generation that lived (and suffered) before, and all the while a blisteringly personal testament to grief and frustration on so many levels. The melding of compostion, of lyric, of music to serve these themes is nearly flawless. Floyd was never a group with virtuouso vocal ability, but Roger Waters (and yes, David Guilmore as well) put their voices to such effect, in so many varied ways, you feel that every possible nuance is being employed, and always for a reason. Never just because...

I'll admit, when I first heard this album, it was far from an instant attration. I heard elements of "The Wall" and thought they were repeating themselves. I knew the popular wisdom about tension in the band, about the clash of egos and ideas... It's not an album that comes easily to most, and with so much baggage attached, many are simply unwilling to take the time required to appreciate the work.

But for those who do, it's well worth it.

And RP is certainly a place where this sort of music belongs...