FEATURE:
Warmer, Barer, Fuller
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush (and a very cute feline friend) in a promotional shot for 2011’s Director’s Cut/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush (from the book, KATE: Inside the Rainbow)
The Pleasures and New Realisations on Kate Bush’s Director's Cut
___________
WHEN I have mentioned this album before…
I have sort of intimated that it is inessential in terms of Kate Bush’s very best. Director’s Cut was released in 2011 and it is very much part of the cannon. The ninth studio album by Bush, it was released on the Fish People label on 16th May, 2011. It is 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. All the lead vocals on the album and some of the backing vocals have been entirely re-recorded, with some of the songs transposed to a lower key. Additionally, the drum tracks were reconceived and re-recorded. I think my problem is that I am a bit edgy when it comes to Bush re-recording any of her songs. For The Whole Story in 1986 – a greatest hits package -, she put out a new version of Wuthering Heights. Essentially, it was a new, slightly lower vocal, but the original is faultless and timeless for a reason. I guess Bush was wary that Wuthering Heights, whilst genius, was singled out because of a very high-pitched and wild vocal. Maybe she felt, as she was turning twenty-eight in 1986, that the song she recorded when she was nineteen could benefit from a slight update! I get a similar feeling when people cover Kate Bush songs, in the sense I think the originals are best and it is hard to make them better.
I know people love Futureheads’ version of Hounds of Love, and Placebo’s Running Up That Hill and, whilst different to the originals, I think they lack the beauty and power demanded. Maybe it is me. I think Bush has always put her everything into every song and, when you have a voice and instinct like hers, no other artist can touch that – there have been some good cover versions, but none that touch the originals! I was thrilled when Bush announced she was bringing out a new album in 2011, and she was doing something she had not done in such a fashion before – namely, reworking so many of her older songs. Using an article from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia, and Bush talked about the reason why she took on Director’s Cut:
“For some time I have felt that I wanted to revisit tracks from these two albums and that they could benefit from having new life breathed into them. Lots of work had gone into the two original albums and now these songs have another layer of work woven into their fabric. I think of this as a new album. (Sean Michaels, 'Kate Bush reveals guest lyricist on new album - James Joyce'. The Guardian (UK), 5 April 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2015)”.
Although I think there are only a couple of songs on Director’s Cut that equal or top the originals – Song of Solomon (The Red Shoes), and Top of the City (The Red Shoes) come to mind -, there are defining characteristics of the album that make it an interesting listen.
For one, the opening track, Flower of the Mountain, has a fascinating story. The Sensual World’s title track had intended to use Molly Bloom’s soliloquy from James Joyce's Ulysses, but Bush could not get permission at the time. Although the lyrics are brilliant, Bush really wanted to use those words from Joyce, so when the estate granted permission for Director’s Cut, Flower of the Mountain uses only that beautiful and stirring soliloquy. One suspects it was less to do with yielding to demand as it was that the statue of limitations/restrictions were invalid, as the novel was published in 1922. I love the new version, because one can feel how meaningful it is to Bush. Rather than her copying the original songs with lower vocals for Director’s Cut, there are definite twists and turns. Top of the City seems tauter and livelier, whereas Rubberband Girl – which she almost considered leaving off the album – is more Blues/Rock. If one listens to Director’s Cut as a new album and doesn’t compare them to the originals, I think it is a more rewarding listen; one where you can appreciate the songs anew. One of the issues Bush faced with The Sensual World, and The Red Shoes, is that the production is quite edgy and lacks a certain space. I think The Sensual World is quite sensuous and warm, but C.D.s were around in 1989, and I think there was this need to fill each disc and put as much in/as many layers as possible.
This is true of The Red Shoes which, at fifty-five minutes, is a bit overlong; most of the tracks are over four minutes, and there is a lot of production and sheen on some songs that require something barer. I think, too, one or two potentially strong songs either suffer because of the sound on The Red Shoes, or Bush did not attack and approach the song as she should have. I am surprised there were songs reworked from The Sensual World, as that is one of her best albums. That said, This Woman’s Work is given new meaning and depth! That song is a highlight from The Sensual World, but Bush makes the song sound even more effecting on Director’s Cut. Apart from Deeper Understanding – the only single released from Director’s Cut – not quite hitting the mark and losing something (in a track that talks about our reliance on computers, something that sounded prophetic in 1989 seems outdated and strangely dial-up connection in terms of its sound and potency in 2011), the other tracks are really interesting! I just want to bring in a couple of reviews for Director’s Cut. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian had his say:
“…In fact, it's the only moment when you can honestly say the rerecording pales next to the original. At worst, they sound as good as their predecessors, which leaves you wondering what the point is, even as you succumb to their manifold charms. It was obviously a bind that the Joyce estate refused permission to use Molly Bloom's concluding soliloquy from Ulysses as the lyrics to The Sensual World, but whether it's a vastly better song for finally having them in place of Bush's facsimile is rather a moot point.
Song of Solomon, on which Bush finally abandoned her apparently bottomless store of metaphors for female sexuality in favour of a direct demand for a shag – "Don't want your bullshit," she cries, "I'll come in a hurricane for you" – is a fantastic song whether the rhythm track features pattering tom-toms or a lightly brushed snare. Occasionally, the changes genuinely add something, usually by taking things away. The force of The Red Shoes' depiction of Bush's troubled relationship with the creative impulse was always a little blunted by its presentation as a kind of perky Irish jig: with the Celtic pipes shifted to the background, it sounds sinister and more urgent. Moments of Pleasure's rumination on death is more introverted and affecting stripped of its dramatic orchestration, while This Woman's Work – the rerecording of which caused the most unease among fans – is amazing: emptier, darker and quieter than before, it's even more heart-rending. Given that the original was heart-rending enough to soundtrack a charity campaign against child abuse, that's no mean feat”.
A publication not normally renowned for their positivity is Pitchfork. They reviewed Director’s Cut, and they made some interesting and warm observations:
“What Bush has done on Director's Cut, put simply, is to strip the 80s from these songs. (That goes for the Red Shoes material, too, even though the album was released in the 90s.) The gigantic drums and digital polish, what both dated the music instantly and gave it that stark contrast between accessibility and the deeply personal, have been replaced with less showy rhythm tracks, and a warmer, more intimate atmosphere. On the original "The Sensual World", the elements drawn from Celtic folk felt like striking intrusions in an all-digital world. Renamed "Flower of the Mountain" here, those rustic elements no longer feel quite so out of place, whether you found the original an intriguing hybrid or an awkward merger of old and new.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional shot for Director’s Cut/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush (from the book, KATE: Inside the Rainbow)
The songs still don't have the feel of a band playing together, but they have a new unity, even the synthetic elements part of a lovingly handcrafted sound. "The Red Shoes", another Celtic-inflected standout, with one of Bush's wildest performances, gains a new intensity precisely because the instruments no longer feel so sterile. But not every element of this patchwork has been pieced together perfectly. The eerie keyboard textures on "And So Love Is", the kind of sour 80s kitsch beloved by Gang Gang Dance, seem surprisingly natural in this new environment. But Eric Clapton's bluesy wanking sounds even more out of place now, stadium pop bluster in a homemade world. It produces tension for sure, but the wrong sort”.
I think the takeaways from the reviews seem to revolve around how Bush added something new to well-known songs rather than lazily re-record them without change. To me, the warmth and full sound of the songs is clear. Bush has said how she prefers tape because it has a warmer, fuller sound, and she always felt that digital and techniques of the late-1980s and early-1990s were too edgy - I word that keeps coming up! - and lacked something. Allowed to take her songs into the studio and strip them away, the resultant Director’s Cut is fascinating! It makes me wonder whether she will go back further and rework songs from other albums in years down the line, but I can understand why she felt The Sensual World, and The Red Shoes were a bit too layered, lacking in real warmth and, perhaps, there were too many instruments and too much unnecessary energy.
What we got in 2011 was a then-fifty-two-year-old revisiting songs that she first recorded in her thirties. Since then, she has aged and become a mother, and I think she approaches the tracks with a fresh passion and beauty. One interesting aside is that Bush released Director’s Cut on her Fish People label. She was previous on EMI, but she wanted to have more control of her music and, after thirty-five years, there were few at EMI who she felt close to or had an intimate working relationship with. It seems symbolic that the first album she released on her own label reworked songs from albums that EMI put out. I will write a separate feature about Fish People and whether she will sign names to the label, but I think Director’s Cut is much-needed because it allowed Bush to scratch an itch of slight disappointment. Many raved about Director’s Cut, but others felt a little inclined, as it was her first album in six years - one that many felt was a covers album. If that was the only thing that she released in 2011, then there might have been this sense of Bush signing off and, after releasing 2005’s Aerial following a twelve-year gap, this was her writing a final chapter – where she got to record and produce songs now how they should have been back in 1989 and 1993. Instead, Bush was clearing the way for new work.
I stated before how albums like The Red Shoes were a bit long but, as you look at the running times, most of the songs on Director’s Cut are longer than the originals – Deeper Understanding is almost two minutes longer on Director’s Cut compared to The Sensual World! Rather than extend songs with the same production sound, Bush stripped them out and expanded them; breathing more life and consideration into the words and moods; following on instinctively from Aerial’s expansiveness and sense of the open. Bush said that Director’s Cut was a stepping stone to new work. She acquired new confidence, and I can understand why she had the inspiration and energy to record and release another album after Director’s Cut. 50 Words for Snow followed in November 2011, and very few would have guessed that Bush would release another new album so soon after putting out an album where she redid older tracks. I will finish off soon but, just before, I wanted to source from a couple of interviews Bush to promote the album. In an interview with Interview Magazine, she was asked about her approach to looking back and reconsidering songs she wrote years previous:
“DIMITRI EHRLICH: It’s funny. I’d think revisiting those songs would almost be like looking at old photographs or reading old love letters from a long time ago, because as a songwriter, the emotions that you’re tapping into are the most primal, raw, and immediate ones. Was it strange to step into the emotional clothing you had worn 20 years ago and see how it fit and wonder, Who is this person?
BUSH: Yeah, it was. At first, it was quite difficult, and, at a couple of points, I nearly gave up the whole process. I found that by just slightly lowering the key of most of the songs, suddenly it kind of gave me a way in, because my voice is just lower now. So that helped me to step back into it. And although they were old songs, it all started to feel very much like a new process and, in a lot of ways, ended up feeling like I was just making a new album—it’s just that the material was already written. When I listen to it now, it feels like a new record to me.
EHRLICH: Why did you decide to re-record existing material rather than do something new, or just release the old versions remixed, or whatever?
BUSH: Well, I really didn’t see it as a substitute for a greatest hits package, but it was something I’d wanted to do for a few years. I guess I just kind of felt like there were songs on those two albums [The Sensual World and The Red Shoes (1993)] that were quite interesting but that they could really benefit from having new life breathed into them. I don’t really listen to my old stuff, but on occasion, I would either hear a track on the radio or a friend might play me one, and there was generally a bit of an edgy sound to it, which was mainly due to the digital equipment that we were using, which was state of the art at the time—and I think everyone felt pressured to be working that way. But I still remain a huge fan of analog. So there were elements of the production that I felt were either a little bit dated or a bit cluttered. So what I wanted to do was empty them out and let the songs breathe more”.
In an interview with Pitchfork, the subject of uncluttering songs and toning things down came up. With the vocals more composed and less acrobatic (providing backing vocals were Ed Rowntree, Mica Paris, Jacob Thorn, Michael Wood, and Jevan Johnson Booth), and the instrumentation more subtle and less layered (there were about eight musicians credited on Director’s Cut, whereas there are twice that on The Red Shoes alone), there is a notable difference between the songs on their original albums and Director’s Cut:
“Pitchfork: Listening to Director's Cut, a few of the songs that struck me the most were the ones where you took out big chunks of instrumentation. What was the logic behind that?
KB: There were some good songs on those albums that perhaps weren't speaking the way that they could, so I just wanted to let them breathe a bit more. One of the main things was to strip out a lot of the tracks and, in some cases, lengthen them in order to let the original musicians' performances shine out a bit more, too.
Pitchfork: A lot of the songs you picked for Director's Cut are pretty personal, and there seems to be less theatricality involved compared to the originals. Do you feel like the distance between your more performative side and your more personal side has changed through the years?
KB: [laughs] Oh, that's a really deep question. I don't know how to answer that because I'm always in the process, but hopefully I'm starting to get the hang of how to put it all together more. Sometimes when I look back on myself on those earlier records, there was so much effort going in, so much trying. With this, I was trying to make it much more laid back”.
I wanted to do a feature on Director’s Cut, as I have sort of ignored it or felt that the originals were so good that they should not have been touched. Having read interviews Bush conducted and her reasoning behind Director’s Cut, I can appreciate the album in a new light! If the songs from The Sensual World, and The Red Shoes were a little busy and over-layered, Bush’s first album of 2011 provided these terrific songs with…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional shot for Director’s Cut/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush (from the book, KATE: Inside the Rainbow)
SO much warmth, style and space.