Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Bush, Kate
Label: EMI Records
Release: 2011
Running time: 57:04
Rating: 4/5
Kate Bush, the versatile British musical artist who has enjoyed cult status for more than three decades, especially among art rock and alternative rock fans, has been on the professional music scene since she was 19 and debuted with the album “The Kick Inside” (1978). That’s so long that she really doesn’t need a lengthy introduction.
Her latest offering, “Director’s Cut”, is the first album by Ms. Bush to come out on her own new label, Fish People, a subsidiary of the publishing giant EMI. She was the first female artist to hit number one on the UK charts with a self-written song (“Wuthering Heights”), and she has had no fewer than 25 singles make the UK Top 40. Now, after “Aerial” (2005), she has once again put together a distinctive album that will delight all her longtime followers. And that’s despite the fact that it doesn’t bring anything earth-shatteringly new that we haven’t already heard from her in the past.
It features freshly recorded and rearranged selected songs from the cult albums “The Sensual World” (1989) and “The Red Shoes” (1993). Kate had wanted to rearrange some songs from those two records for years. So she decided to keep the original contributions of all the instrumentalists involved, except for the drums, but to re-sing everything and stitch it all back together with changed production. And instead of digital, she went with analog technology, since, in her words, she wanted to give the songs a warmer sound.
As expected, she had to drop the octave a bit when singing and tune the instrumental backing tracks to match, because Kate, even though plenty of music connoisseurs still remember her teenage beginnings, is no longer dewy-eyed young. Age doesn’t spare even the best of us, but it has to be said that it hardly shows in her voice. With maturity it has even gained emotional breadth, and every single one of the new versions turns out great. Three songs on the album, including “This Woman’s Work”, have been completely reconstructed, so they sound almost like brand-new creations. The same goes for certain lyrics, which were changed in places.
On the back of reworked and thoroughly overhauled old material, Kate has essentially created a whole new studio project. For the only single she picked “Deeper Understanding”, originally the sixth track on “The Sensual World”. The title track of that album also found its way onto “Director’s Cut”, with a changed sonic look and a new title, “Flower of the Mountain”. Comparing the new and old versions of the selected songs offers plenty of fun and pleasure for all the art rock gourmets out there, though it would be kind of pointless to try to figure out which ones sound better.
Alongside the exciting musical content, you can’t overlook the lovely booklet that comes with the album, which contains artistic photographs with original and mostly witty themes, built on the interesting visual concepts of Ms. Bush. Kate, whom some even call the female answer to Peter Gabriel (the two once collaborated successfully), has always been known for original graphic concepts like these, too.
Kate Bush proves in the 21st century, too, that she deserves her reputation as the eternal sonic perfectionist. The original versions of some of her past classics lacked for nothing, but on “Director’s Cut” they come alive beautifully in freshly reworked sonic outfits. For all the longtime followers of this endlessly innovative and mischievous artist with her many fascinating artistic faces, this release is without a doubt a must-have and a pleasant warm-up for her first “real” album on the new label, which came out under the title “50 Words for Snow”.
Production
Kate Bush
Tracklist
1. Flower of the Mountain
2. Song of Solomon
3. Lily
4. Deeper Understanding
5. The Red Shoes
6. This Woman’s Work
7. Moments of Pleasure
8. Never Be Mine
9. Top of the City
10. And So Is Love
11. Rubberband Girl
