Director's Cut (Collectors Edition)

New notes in Kate Bush’s vocals

Her voice is not that high as in the early 1980s, and new compositions are written in a lower register, but Kate Bush still remains one of the most original performers of the past and the present. Non-standard thinking, sensual dancing, insane outfits have created her the reputation of a crazy artist, extravagant, unpredictable and independent in her statements. Six years ago her eight studio work Aerial was released after a twelve year long hiatus. That album proved to find itself among Bush’s best releases, gaining a platinum status. The singer’s fans were expecting a soon follow-up but it did not happen. At last this year the album Director’s Cut is released which most critics disagree to call an absolutely new work. The point is that Director’s Cut consists of the new recordings of old songs from the albums The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993). Each of the compositions has been recorded in a new way, many have their lyrics and arrangement changed, and on the whole contemporary technologies have allowed achieving the maximum perfection Kate Bush has been always striving for. Her vocals have become more sultry and mature, with new slightly vulnerable notes to it, that add grace to the marvelous album Director’s Cut, which is going to become a wonderful addition to your collection of the world’s pop rock classics.

Director’s Cut is inspiring and conquers with its wonderful sensuality

One can initially suppose that Kate Bush has decided to please her fans with new versions of their favorite songs, and that Director’s Cut is just another compilation of new versions of best material. Yet, that is not exactly the case. The songs the singer has chosen are, on the contrary, those which once got lost in the shadow of more successful singles, and each of them has played with new colors on the new record. The first changing is one that pleases Kate herself a great deal – in her own time she wrote lyrics for the song The Sensual World, using Molly Bloom’s soliloquy from the last chapter of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’, but she was not allowed to use the literary material at that time, and the singer wrote her own lyrics which has been featuring the song up till now. The new title Flower Of The Mountain symbolizes the finally received permission to insert a piece of Joyce’s heroine’s flow of consciousness – Kate has left her lyrics, too, and the result is a very original song with a mesmerizing oriental flute in the background. The composition Song Of Solomon can be rightfully considered the frankest one in Bush’s repertoire, expressing her passion in vivid metaphoric images, while the lyrics on Deeper Understanding is changed once again. Kate’s idea on this song is to condemn the modern way of life, when people spend most of their time in front of a computer turning it into their best friend and even the beloved. Some wonderful ethnic tubes appear on The Red Shoes, while the new version of This Woman's Work has given more vulnerability and fragility and incredible lightness to the song. Approximately the same changes can be found on the marvelous piano song Moments Of Pleasure, which sounds much more intimate than its original. The fans will be happy to hear the hit And So Is Love in a lower key providing a beautiful harmony of Kate Bush’s velvet voice and a guitar solo. On the whole, the album is inspiring and conquers with both the faultless arrangements and Kate’s incomparable voice’s wonderful sensuality.

Feelings, music and dancing

In order to get quite a clear idea of Kate Bush’s creative work one should watch at least one of her numerous videos – practically all of them are based on dancing without which the singer could not even imagine her life. It is the continuation and physical embodiment of her feelings, just as her songs are the means to express them. Feelings, music and dancing are inseparable for Kate, the idea that can be heard in each note of her miraculous voice, no matter how old she is. When the artist was young she would sing about love, life, throes of creation, fears, sadness – she has given us all of it once again on Director’s Cut, but considered through the prism of long years of experience and maturity. The often instrument-loaded tracks are now substituted by sullen bass guitars and light transparent string-keyboard arrangements. They combine perfectly well with Kate Bush’s changed but still heart-felt vocals and she still sings in that light and free, open and sensual manner as many years ago, making her listeners experience unforgettable emotions. Perhaps the record Director’s Cut is a warm-up before a new material album, though it is hard to guess how many years the singer is going to spend creating it, the main thing is that she is still original which means that she will not leave the millions of her fans without surprises in future.