Director's Cut
| Kate Bush
Director's Cut
Director's Cut is the ninth studio album by English singer and songwriter Kate Bush that she released in May 2011.It contains no new material: it is only made up of songs from her earlier albums The Sensual World and The Red Shoes which have been remixed and restructured, three of which were re-recorded completely. It was Bush's first album release since 2005's Aerial and the first on her own record label, Fish People.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
The art-rocker reworks songs from The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, offering a rethink of a somewhat controversial period in her career.
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BBC Music
An artist reborn, Bush tinkers with back catalogue cuts, producing great results.
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The Guardian
Director's Cut ultimately amounts to faffing about, albeit faffing about of the most exquisite kind. Still, as anyone who's watched her putting up with Richard Stilgoe will tell you, Kate Bush has earned the right to do whatever she wants.
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Consequence of Sound
The thesis around Kate Bush‘s Director’s Cut is about fulfilling an original vision (or visions and versions), and the results are overwhelmingly thrilling.
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Slant Magazine
The reinterpretations offer interesting what-if scenarios, tweaking and altering familiar material, but inevitably reveal more about Bush’s fussiness over her own legacy than anything else.
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Drowned in Sound
Director’s Cut is a strange undertaking, but pretty much succeeds on its own terms. Hardcore Bush fans will appreciate it; newbies who may only know Hounds of Love and Aerial should certainly get this instead of The Red Shoes.
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Uncut
Director’s Cut simply marks the changes in musical fashion – most notably on the reworked “Deeper Understanding”, a song about the questionable solace of technology, which now features a multitracked, pitchshifted Kate as the voice of the computer, as though she had just heard Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak.
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Sputnik Music
There's so much air in this album that any listener feels at peace. It's both sonically and artistically accomplished where The Sensual World and The Red Shoes were flawed. It takes a lot of courage and experience for an artist to so radically overthrow previous work and conclusions, and Bush knows how to make that courage into an extremely enjoyable album.
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The Telegraph
Director’s Cut should really be enjoyed as a rare, live performance from an artist who hasn’t toured since 1979. The lead vocals and drums have all been re-recorded, allowing us to hear how Bush sounds in 2011. She’s stripped back the digital crunch of the production, giving the instrumentation more breathing space and creating a more intimate, organic feel.
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Indie Ethos
What comes through Director’s Cut is an artist with tender respect for her original songs. Many Bush fans, or fans of the original albums, will be pleased to find the differences she has made are minimal. The soul of all the songs remains intact and sometimes more enhanced, as most of the new versions come across more luscious in general.
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Music OMH
It’s a curious album, all in all, but worth exploring if you’re a hardcore Kate Bush fan. If you err more on the casual side, then it may be best to wait for her next ‘proper’ album. Although when that will be, who can say…
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Super Deluxe Edition
Director’s Cut is the sound of Kate Bush satisfying her own artistic curiosity and taking us along for the ride.
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NPR Music
For those familiar only with Hounds of Love, Director's Cut is bound to open eyes. It's less energetic, hardly danceable, and it at times resembles the work of Bush's duet partner Peter Gabriel. But give the songs time. Let Bush's songwriting sink in. Just like her, you'll find yourself wanting to return to them.
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SPIN
Director’s Cut is no mere remix album. Bush re-sings everything, sometimes in a lower, sultrier register, and replaces the stiff rhythms with supple ripples from jazz drummer Steve Gadd and double bassist Danny Thompson.
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AllMusic
The experience of The Director's Cut, encountering all this familiar material in its new dressing, is more than occasionally unsettling, but simultaneously, it is deeply engaging and satisfying.
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American Songwriter
Like most anything in the Bush catalogue, this record is gorgeous, shimmering with with an otherworldly air of resolve throughout, but at day’s end the effort doesn’t really reveal a “Deeper Understanding” of the original recordings it references. And therein lies the problem — none of these cropped and re-imagined takes are drastic enough to add huge insights into Bush’s output as they do her finicky outlook on her own work. Work that is, generally, great in any context.
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NME
As a first album in more than half a decade, ‘Director’s Cut’, with its reworks of tracks from ‘The Sensual World’ and ‘The Red Shoes’, might have been a mild disappointment if it wasn’t for the loving care that so clearly went into it.
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Fear of Albums
A totally unnecessary record, Director’s Cut is essentially a remix (and one re-recording) of songs we’ve already heard on The Sensual World and The Red Shoes.
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Pop Matters
Bush isn't replacing the familiar versions of the songs -- a deluxe version of Director's Cut contains remastered versions of The Sensual World and The Red Shoes as we remember them. Bush considers Director's Cut to be its own separate work, and with each revealing listen, that seems more and more to be the case.
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Witch Doctor
I’m sure Bush felt compelled to undertake this rewrite of history, and fans (like me) who have for so long been starved of new work will doubtless find some comfort in anything, even this. But really, it’s just a footnote.
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Background Magazine
If you decide to buy this collector's item, it undoubtedly is well-spent money. The whole package looks and sounds stunning. However, if you want to hear real new music made by Kate Bush you should wait a bit longer for as far as I know she has started to work on a brand-new album.
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Real Gone
‘Director’s Cut’ isn’t the work of the once brilliant and unique Kate Bush…it’s a totally misguided affair, presenting the ugliest face of vanity. If Kate wants to piss on her legacy that’s fine – after all, they’re her songs to mistreat as she wishes – but she shouldn’t expect everyone to still love her unconditionally afterwards.
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METRO
While Director’s Cut isn’t strictly unheard material, it does reveal a brilliantly fresh approach as Kate Bush reworks songs from her previous albums The Sensual World and The Red Shoes.
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Red Magazine
Her first release in six years, Director's Cut is the perfect re-release of tracks from Kate Bush.
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SLUG Magazine
The warmth of the recording—truly appreciated with decent headphones on a real stereo system—comes across in ways the original digital version simply can’t match. It is something of a privilege to listen to the whole package in this format.
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Our Vinyl
if there is one thing Kate Bush is known for, it is pushing the boundaries, which is what this album does. The songs were not just remade – they were given the form which brought out the best features of the music, as viewed by Kate herself. ‘Director’s Cut’ is thus exactly what it seems – the author’s own perspective of her work.
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Stereogum
Some re-casted moments from The Sensual World feel less necessary (Did gaining lyrical access James Joyce's Ulysses really add much to the already-splendid title-track?), but even the least revelatory moments on Director's Cut still feel sonically fresh.
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Hi-Res Edition
The experience of The Director's Cut, encountering new versions of all this familiar material can be occasionally unsettling, but also extremely engaging.
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Female Arts
Listening to the album you can hear the difference in Kate’s voice, like a fine wine it has deepened with rich tones.
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Cherwell
Director’s Cut is an interesting exercise in original artistic intentions, but personally I felt better served by the originals. Sorry Kate.
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Beat Magazine
having Kate Bush back in any form at all is still a delight worth indulging in.
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The Solute Record Club
The original is more poppy and therefore catchy, but the new approach to the song in Director’s Cut is fantastic.
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Ruelle Electrique
“Director’s Cut” serves as a nice stopgap (for which I am still humbly grateful) till her next album of new songs. Kate, please keep it coming.
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The West Australian
These are all fine, strange and unique songs, mind. But the ingenious reinventions basically amount to This Woman's Work and Moments of Pleasure: charged piano-vocal takes that give a tantalising glimpse of how the older, wiser enigma might express herself if she ever bothered to perform live.
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NY Daily News
It's not that "Director's Cut" has no value. It's just that its best purpose lies less in itself than in reminding everyone of the original disks' rarity and invention - qualities that should direct new fans back their way.
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The AU Review
Director’s Cut is a stripped back, simplified re-interpretation of songs with a melancholy feel and subtle vocals. For fans only.
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The Independent
She could have stirred the pot more, but this musical concoction is still unlike anything your ears have tasted before.
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Marc Andrews
Director’s Cut may be the closest Kate’s devout band of followers get to a new album for some time. While most of the songs here have been given an extra sheen or added warmth, it’s the delicate reworking of This Woman’s Work which is truly spellbinding and justifies the world’s continued patience with Ms. Bush.
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Norman Records
This is where, instead of recording a new album, Kate went back to tracks recorded for her albums 'The Sensual World' and 'The Red Shoes' and reworked them using bits and pieces of the original recordings and new additions. The result is, as always, fascinating particularly the lead track 'Deeper Understanding' which just showcases how far ahead of the curve Kate has always been.
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