Kate Bush, Directors Cut, Fish People, Emi.
Some people would think it is unhealthy for an 18 year old boy of 2011’s favourite female artist to be Kate Bush, some people would respect it and be shocked that someone could still have an obsession with someone who hasn’t toured for 30 years, I’m with the other fans waiting and hoping that Kate Bush will tour again one day. This year, out of the blue, Kate Bush has released her first album since 2005 named “Directors Cut” it is an album built up of songs from previous albums, “The Red Shoes” and “The Sensual World” either re-recorded entirely or changed slightly and edited.
The one song that has been changed in a controversial way is “Flower of the Mountain”, this song is “The Sensual World” but the lyrics have been changed therefore leading to the change of the song title. Kate Bush has revealed the method in her madness stating that for the original recording of The Sensual World, Kate wanted to use text from Ulysses, the James Joyce classic, and had already written the song including them lyrics, however James Joyce refused to let Kate Bush to use his lyrics, thus leading to Kate Bush writing new lyrics and changing the song to The Sensual World, now 20 years on Kate Bush decided to ask for permission again and is given it, hence the song change to Flower Of The Mountain. This song has improved lyrically, and has been made a more interesting song, “then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower” lyrics like this have improved the beauty of this song. Unlike the lyrics the vocals and music are a bit more disappointing, the vocals are not up to scratch and are nowhere near as good as the original. The music has been edited to try and modernise this track, however I think it has backfired and made it sound too weird and it just doesn’t work.
Re-recording “This Woman’s Work” was a tough job for Kate Bush, as it is most Kate Bush fans favourite song; it is such a gentle, slow and melancholy track making it stand out from other hits by her, this being her slowest, making it most people’s favourite. In my eyes, Kate Bush nailed it, I didn’t think it was possible but she has added to the beauty of the song, she has done this by; slowing the song right down and maintaining her wonderful vocals in this track, this song has actually been improved and is my favourite song on the album by far, good work.
Another song that has been totally re-recorded is pop sounding hit “Rubberband Girl” I’ve always liked this Kate Bush song, it makes me want to dance, similar to her dance in the music video, I always thought this track had similarities with some of Madonna’s hits, which is never a bad thing. Unfortunately I have been let down by this track, I like the idea of some songs being slowed down but I wanted the speed in this one to be kept, the whole album is quite slow and it would have been refreshing to have had a pop hit on this album. This song has more of a country song feel with the guitar and is not as good as the original.
“Moments of Pleasure” has always been a liked song by Kate Bush, in a similar way to “This Woman’s Work” being liked, for its beauty and melancholy feel. The original of this song is very beautiful, the piano is wonderful and her vocals are very passionate. This song has been improved, it has been edited and made slower, vocally and instrumentally, making the lyrics stand out wonderfully, another great thing about this song is that Kate Bush has still maintained the passion in the voice and the vocals are as good as when this hit was first recorded.
“Deeper Understanding” was the first hit released from this album, it’s a shame because originally this song is very good, and is weird with the backing vocals in a good way. The edited version has been modernized but not for the best, it is too weird that is doesn’t sound very good, the backing vocals are replaced with a weird robotic voice which just comes across scary and makes the song hard to enjoy, I’d go as far as saying that the best thing about this song is that comedy legend Noel Fielding is featured in the music video.
This album by Kate Bush is a disappointment in some aspects and has been improved in others, there are a few songs in my eyes that have been ruined but have been neutralised by tracks that have been improved, and hopefully we’ll be hearing more of the musical legend soon.
Rating: 6.5/10.
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