FEATURE:
Inside the Actor’s Studio
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for Director’s Cut/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Kate Bush’s Director’s Cut at Ten
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THIS is the penultimate feature…
I will put out regarding the tenth anniversary of Kate Bush’s Director’s Cut. The ninth studio album from Bush, it was released on 16th May 2011. I have covered various different aspects of the album and chosen a few songs from it that I especially like. The album consists of re-recorded songs that originally appeared on the albums The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993). Whilst a few elements of the originals remain, Bush stripped out these songs in order to give them more room. She felt that those albums were maybe a little too busy, lacking in room and not as she would have liked. Eighteen years after The Red Shoes came into the world, Bush set to work ‘retuning’ these songs. Rather than see Director’s Cut as an album of reversions or Bush covering her own tracks, one can almost view it as a new album. There is one particular aspect that I want to focus on for this Director’s Cut feature: the sound quality and how Bush’s high-tech studio gives these songs new clarity and quality. Rather than the studio creating a polished and too-clean sound, I think they sharpen the tracks. The original albums, to an extent, suffered because of the sound quality. Before coming to an interview Bush conducted with Pitchfork, I want to highlight a review from AllMusic.
Not only do they discuss the ways in which various songs on Director’s Cut differ from their original form; they also note how Bush’s home studio benefited the album and recording of these well-known songs.
“During her early career, Kate Bush released albums regularly despite her reputation as a perfectionist in the studio. Her first five were released within seven years. After The Hounds of Love in 1985, however, the breaks between got longer: The Sensual World appeared in 1989 and The Red Shoes in 1993. Then, nothing before Aerial, a double album issued in 2005. It's taken six more years to get The Director's Cut, an album whose material isn't new, though its presentation is. Four of this set's 11 tracks first appeared on The Sensual World, while the other seven come from The Red Shoes. Bush's reasons for re-recording these songs is a mystery. She does have her own world-class recording studio, and given the sounds here, she's kept up with technology. Some of these songs are merely tweaked, and pleasantly so, while others are radically altered. The two most glaring examples are "Flower of the Mountain" (previously known as "The Sensual World") and "This Woman's Work." The former intended to use Molly Bloom's soliloquy from James Joyce's novel Ulysses as its lyric; Bush was refused permission by his estate. That decision was eventually reversed; hence she re-recorded the originally intended lyrics. And while the arrangement is similar, there are added layers of synth and percussion.
Her voice is absent the wails and hiccupy gasps of her youthful incarnation. These have been replaced by somewhat huskier, even more luxuriant and elegant tones. On the latter song, the arrangement of a full band and Michael Nyman's strings are replaced by a sparse, reverbed electric piano which pans between speakers. This skeletal arrangement frames Bush's more prominent vocal which has grown into these lyrics and inhabits them in full: their regrets, disappointments, and heartbreaks with real acceptance. She lets that voice rip on "Lilly," supported by a tougher, punchier bassline, skittering guitar efx, and a hypnotic drum loop. Bush's son Bertie makes an appearance as the voice of the computer (with Auto-Tune) on "Deeper Understanding." On "RubberBand Girl," Bush pays homage to the Rolling Stones' opening riff from "Street Fighting Man" in all its garagey glory (which one suspects was always there and has now been uncovered). 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”.
I have talked about the reviews for Director’s Cut. Overall, the album scored better than The Red Shoes; perhaps fewer glowing reviews than The Sensual World accrued. Many were impressed with how the songs sounded and what Bush had done. In releasing the Director’s Cut album, Bush wasn’t disregarding The Sensual World or The Red Shoes. At the time of recording those albums, she was doing her best as a producer - and she would have been happy with the results. I think a lot of artists look back at various albums and feel that, given another shot, they could have made improvements.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for Director’s Cut/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
It is interesting learning about why Bush wanted to approach these two specific albums and her views on digital vs. analogue. I wanted to do a feature around the fact that Bush, alongside over one-hundred-and-fifty other musicians put their signature to a letter asking the Government to address how artists are paid on streaming sites. I might cover that in a week or two. Although Bush would rather people buy her albums and get them on vinyl, she understands how important the digital market is. Even an artist like her will not earn too much from streams. The situation is much bleaker for smaller acts. I digress. I am interested in Bush recording songs from Director’s Cut in her home studio. As the album title implies, having more control and being able to ‘cut’ the songs in a better way provided benefitial. I shall bring in that Pitchfork interview:
“Pitchfork: If you hadn't really listened to The Sensual World and The Red Shoes at all, how did you even know that you wanted to remake the songs?
KB: For a few years, I've wanted to pick tracks off both albums and make them sound the way I would want them to if I made them now. At the time, I was really pleased with them; I wouldn't have put them out if they weren't the best I could do. I thought the odd tracks that I did hear from The Red Shoes had a bit of an edgy sound, which may be due to the digital equipment that everyone was using then and that a lot of people still use now. But I've always been a big fan of analog, and I wanted to try and warm up the sound of the tracks from that album. Then again, it was interesting actually hearing the whole of Red Shoes-- it actually wasn't as bad as I thought.
I mean, I could find faults with all my albums because that's just a part of being an artist-- it's hard being a human being, isn't it? [laughs] With both albums, there were a lot of ambitious ideas as well, so I was working on top of work that had already been done. I didn't have to start from scratch, so it was really something I did for myself as a kind of exercise. Although the songs are old, it's like a new record to me.
Pitchfork: The Red Shoes came out in 1993, the heyday of the compact disc. Were you recording specifically for that format?
KB: Yeah, that's absolutely right. It probably was my first album that was specifically a CD as opposed to vinyl. Red Shoes was a bit long-- which was also a part of this whole problem with the change from vinyl to CD. I think that put a lot of strain on artists, actually. With CDs, you suddenly didn't want to let people down so you tried to give them as much as possible for their money. [laughs] I didn't really feel that there were any filler tracks on The Red Shoes, but if I were to do that album now, I wouldn't make it so long.
The great thing about vinyl is that if you wanted to get a decent-sounding cut, you could really only have 20 minutes max on each side. So you had a strict boundary, and that was something I'd grown up with as well. Also, you were able to have different moods on each side, which was nice.
Pitchfork: It kind of worked out because by the time you followed up The Red Shoes with Aerial in 2005, people were buying vinyl again.
KB: [laughs] I don't know about that. There was a resurgence, but it's certainly not the main format that people buy music on. In 2005, it was still CDs. I guess you're lucky if people actually buy a CD now.
Pitchfork: So you're still in the studio on a day-to-day basis?
KB: Yeah, I have been for a while now, because [Director's Cut] has been ready for quite some time. Although there were a lot of ongoing loose ends with this album, like the mastering and artwork, I went straight into making a new record when I finished it. I'm really enjoying working on new material. Director's Cut is kind of a one-off rather than a continuous revisiting of old stuff.
Pitchfork: You mentioned preferring analog to digital recording, but "Deeper Understanding" has a very modern-sounding vocal effect on the chorus. As a producer, do you keep track of what's going on now as far as tools and advancements?
KB: I try to. My studio is a fantastic combination of old and new, and that's how I've always liked to work. But now, the new is newer, and old remains old. I like to work with a combination of analog and Pro Tools. I love the sound of analog tape, but there's so many things you can do with Pro Tools that would be incredibly difficult and very time-consuming with analog.
When I originally did "Deeper Understanding", I wanted the computer program to have a single voice so that it was a single entity, but at the time, there was only a pretty basic vocoder so I had to use backing vocals to make the words audible. This time, I could use a truly computerized voice that would stand alone. This album would've been possible to do entirely analog, but it would've been really difficult”.
Whilst 2005’s Aerial would have been recorded largely at Kate Bush’s home, I think Director’s Cut was the first where she utilised her own studio and had that greater autonomy - the fact she had her own label by that point would have helped and provided comfort and a sense of authorship. I feel Bush establishing her Fish People label was a move designed to allow her further independence - not having to answer to a label or studio. Although The Sensual World and The Red Shoes are great albums, I think of Bush at Abbey Road Studios (The Red Shoes) and Wickham Farm Home Studio and Windmill Lane Studios (The Sensual World) and things being quite hectic and intense. The vision of Bush working with her small group of musicians – Paddy Bush – mandola, flute, whistle, backing vocals, Steve Gadd – drums, John Giblin, Eberhard Weber, Danny Thompson – bass guitar, Danny McIntosh, Eric Clapton – guitar, Gary Brooker – Hammond organ, Albert McIntosh – programming, backing vocals, Brendan Power – harmonica, Ed Rowntree, Mica Paris, Jacob Thorn, Michael Wood, Jevan Johnson Booth – backing vocals – and feeling comfortable and inspired in her home studio is wonderful!
PHOTO CREDIT: EMI/Fish People
Ahead of its tenth anniversary, I was keen not to ignore an album that many others might. Whether you see it is part of her cannon and a new studio album or an inessential listen, Director’s Cut warrants some focus and investigation. I listen to the eleven tracks on the album as a fresh project. I think Bush sequenced the tracks very well (maybe Rubberband Girl is not the best way to end the album; This Woman’s Work seems like a stronger finale), and her vocals throughout are tremendous! In terms of sound, I feel she produced an album that sounds both vintage and modern. She achieved her goals or stripping back the songs and making them seem less cluttered. Overall, Director’s Cut is an album that was conceived for a good reason and delivers some great results. Not every reworked track hits the mark (Bush has said Rubberband Girl could have been taken out; despite Deeper Understanding being fine, I don’t think the computerised vocals improve on the original or sounds too good). I think Kate Bush’s ninth studio album is a satisfying, fascinating and fulfilling edition to her catalogue. It is one that gained some much-deserved positive reviews. I hope that, on its tenth anniversary on 16th May, people spend some time with…
THE superb Director’s Cut.