FEATURE:
If the Red Shoe Doesn’t Fit…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for 2011’s Director’s Cut/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Kate Bush’s Director’s Cut at Twelve: Why She Might Have Selected the Songs She Did
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ONE interesting thing…
about Kate Bush’s Director’s Cut is the songs Kate Bush selected to rework. The reason behind Director’s Cut is because Bush wanted to rework and update songs from The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993). Because of the production sound or they felt too tinny and unnatural, she stripped them down and recorded them with her deeper voice. Released on 16th May, 2011, Director’s Cut did get positive reviews, although it split a lot of fans – those pleased that she reworked these songs, and there were others who felt that the album is unessential. She gave radio interviews to Mark Radcliffe, and to Ken Bruce, and there were some online interviews. I think that, in spite of some really positive reviews, you do not hear songs from Director’s Cut on the radio. I have already written an anniversary feature. I spotlighted the album’s many strengths, and explored what the general reaction was. I can understand why some were not keen on the album. Maybe thinking it was not new or necessary, I do reckon people need to listen again, as it brings to the spotlight some songs that had been ignored or not heard. Thanks to the Kate Bush Encylopedia for providing this interview snippet where Bush revealed the intention of 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)”.
I wonder how Bush decided which of the tracks form The Sensual World and The Red Shoes needed to be re-recorded. There are twenty-three tracks between the original two albums – Bush recorded eleven tracks for Director’s Cut. I always feel like The Sensual World was great in terms of the production and sound. Only four songs from The Sensual World were selected for re-examination. Even so, I think the selections are the most interesting and divisive. Director’s Cut opens with The Sensual World’s title track, only it was renamed Flower of the Mountain. As we know, Bush originally wanted to use Molly Bloom’s soliloquy from James Joyce’s Ulysses for the song, but she was denied permission. I think the novel was out of copyright by the time she approached the estate, but they said ‘yes’ anyone (give a read to this article if you want to know about the background and history of the soliloquy). That sense of being able to record the song with lyrics she had always wanted must have been the catalyst for Director’s Cut. Perhaps Bush knew the Joyce permission would give her access to the text, so she may have felt like other songs could now be reworked. Deeper Understanding and This Woman’s Work are interesting selections. I think that the former was one of the missteps in terms of inclusion; the other was one of the most interesting and appropriate. This Woman’s Work’s lyrics seem very apt. In the original song, Bush sings from an expectant father’s perspective where he rues things he should have said and did when the life of his unborn child seems in danger. Bush explained how the father was childish to this point and, when something mature and real was before him, he had to grow up. Maybe that sense of reconfiguration and maturation is a reason why Bush wanted to sing that classic song with a deeper and more mature voice. Perhaps given it new gravitas and dimensions. Rather then Deeper Understanding being the video and single from Director’s Cut, I think This Woman’s Work would have been a better choice – and Bush would have directed a less divisive music video.
The tracklisting of Director’s Cut consists of Flower of the Mountain, Song of Solomon, Lily, Deeper Understanding, The Red Shoes, This Woman's Work, Moments of Pleasure, Never Be Mine, Top of the City, And So Is Love and Rubberband Girl. Aside from the fact it would have been good to get some more interviews from Bush about Director’s Cut – she had a new album, 50 Words for Snow, that was released six months after Director’s Cut, so you can forgive her keeping her powder dry! -, the sequencing is a little odd. Rubberband Girl seems like it should be higher in the mix, whereas Top of the City could have been the final track. This Woman’s Work should have been a bit lower down the listing in my view. Deeper Understanding seemed like an error. The original is perfect and prescient – Bush discussing the way computers were dominating lives in 1989 was positively psychic when we think about today -, so the reworking in 2011 lost a lot of meaning and purpose. It just seemed like a way of Bush to react to the dominance of social media and the way we stare at our phones, but it could have best been done with a new track. Before thinking about The Red Shoes, I wonder why more songs from The Sensual World were not selected. I love the 1989 album, but I wonder why it was only a few songs that she felt were not quite right. Lesser-known cuts like The Fog or Love and Anger could have been given a reworking and introduced them to a new audience. I love This Woman’s Work and Deeper Understanding in their original place though, as they were singles, I can appreciate why Bush wanted to update and reconsider these tracks.
In terms of songs from The Sensual World where either the production or vocal could have been slightly improved or changed, I would say Rocket’s Tail would have been apt for new light and recording. Expanding Director’s Cut to twelve tracks might have been a bit flabby – but a director’s cut of a movie is often longer than the cinematic release -, though I would be fascinated to see what Bush would have done. Maybe happier with The Sensual World, she wanted an older/more mature vocal for the devastating and touching This Woman’s Work; a chance to use Joyce’s Ulysses text on Flowers of the Mountain; re-recording Deeper Understanding as her prophecy about computer obsession had come to fruition. I think Never Be Mine is a song from The Sensual World people overlooked or didn’t discuss much – in spite of it being fantastic and worthy. By re-recording it for her 2011 album, it brought it to the spotlight. That was a great decision! She adds something new to the Director’s Cut version. Making an underappreciated song even stronger! If the final three tracks of Director’s Cut are songs that originally appeared on The Red Shoes, she did arrange The Sensual World’s re-versioned songs so that they were not in a clump together. Bush’s instincts as a producer in 2011 were just as strong and keen as they were when she made those two brilliant albums!
Seven of the twelve tracks from The Red Shoes made their way back into the studio for Director’s Cut. Like The Sensual World, I can see why Bush decided to rework certain songs from The Red Shoes. She always disliked Rubberband Girl – as she felt it was throwaway and a silly Pop song -, so she gave it a slower and more Rolling Stones vibe. Lesser-appreciated songs like The Sensual World’s Never Be Mine were repped from The Red Shoes by Song of Solomon and Top of the City. Even if Top of the City sounds improved, I am not sure she could have been that dissatisfied with the original versions. Maybe songs that were not discussed when The Red Shoes came out in 1993 – and have barely been played on radio since -, they were reconsidered and feel like new songs. Two highlights of Director’s Cut in my view. There are also a couple of controversial or dubious choices. If Deeper Understanding seemed like it should have been left and was not improved in 2011, one could also argue that with The Red Shoes. I think the original is a bright, bold and hypnotic track that could not be bettered in any way. The Director’s Cut version is similar in many ways – the vocals are the new element – but it loses a lot of the fizz from the original. I should have said that most of the tracks on Director’s Cut are complete re-records. All the lead vocals on Director's Cut and some of the backing vocals have been entirely re-recorded, with some of the songs transposed to a lower key to accommodate Bush's matured voice. The drum tracks have been reconceived and re-recorded. A few of the tracks featuring Steve Gadd. Bassist Danny Thompson appears. Mica Paris provides backing vocals. Three songs were completely re-recorded: This Woman's Work, Rubberband Girl and Moments of Pleasure. The first was re-recorded in full because of Bush being older and wanting to give the song a sense of new lease and interpretation. Rubberband Girl because she was displeased with everything on the 1993 version I feel. Whereas Moments of Pleasure could have been that Deeper Understanding moment of taking a song that was perfect and re-working it and denting it slightly, I think she got it right here.
Like This Woman’s Work, perhaps stripping out and then completely rebuilding Moments of Pleasure gives it a whole new dimension. Originally sung by a woman in her thirties about a changing period in her life – her mother died on 14th February, 1992, so Bush knew that she was ill and maybe not long for the world (she wrote Moments of Pleasure before her mother died); her long relationship with Del Palmer was cracking, and Bush was exhausted and getting tired with music to an extent -, the newer version had this new relevance. I found this from the Kate Bush Encylopedia. They provided interview archives where Bush discussed both versions:
“I think the problem is that during [the recording of] that album there were a lot of unhappy things going on in my life, but when the songs were written none of that had really happened yet. I think a lot of people presume that particularly that song was written after my mother had died for instance, which wasn't so at all. There's a line in there that mentions a phrase that she used to say, 'every old sock meets an old shoe', and when I recorded it and played it to her she just thought it was hilarious! She couldn't stop laughing, she just thought it was so funny that I'd put it into this song. So I don't see it as a sad song. I think there's a sort of reflective quality, but I guess I think of it more as a celebration of life. (Interview with Ken Bruce, BBC Radio 2, 9 May 2011)
I wasn't really quite sure how "Moments of Pleasure" was going to come together, so I just sat down and tried to play it again-- I hadn't played it for about 20 years. I immediately wanted to get a sense of the fact that it was more of a narrative now than the original version; getting rid of the chorus sections somehow made it more of a narrative than a straightforward song. (Ryan Dombai, 'Kate Bush: The elusive art-rock originator on her time-travelling new LP, Director's Cut'. Pitchfork, May 16, 2011)”
To finish off, it makes me think about The Red Shoes and, as Bush wanted to re-record seven of its songs, then was she completely happy with the rest. Kudos to her for not touching the supreme Eat the Music…but two songs were begging for the treatment Director’s Cut gave to the other songs. Apologies if I repeat myself from other features, but I love The Red Shoes. I feel it is among Bush’s least appreciated and understood albums. It is far stronger than many give it credit for. The idea behind Director’s Cut was to redo songs that she was not happy with first time. If one could not see why she re-recorded The Red Shoe’s title track or even Lily (which is marvellous in 1993), then why not Big Stripey Lie and Why Should I Love You? The former is an excellent song (where Bush plays electric guitar on record for the first time), but it could have benefited from a new version that is less Grunge-like and maybe has a Blues/Soul take. It is a fascinating song that barely anyone knows. One that Bush probably didn’t think too much of when it was finished. Surely that was viable for new inspection! The most glaring omission from Director’s Cut is Why Should I Love You? As Prince added so much to that song (the demo is vastly different from the album version), so maybe Bush felt it was disrespectful to him by re-recording it. As that song is so layered, busy and unfocused, taking it apart and giving it more room to breathe would have seem too good to miss!
I am not sure why she didn’t do that, but it seems like an opportunity missed. I hope that The Red Shoes gets love ahead of its thirtieth anniversary in November but, as Director’s Cut is twelve on 16th May, I wanted to use this feature to try and figure out why she selected the songs she did from The Sensual World and The Red Shoes for it – and why she left others on the cutting room floor. Even if it did get a lot of positive reviews in 2011, I see many fans and reviews that are more tepid and questioning – as to what purpose the album serves and whether there are any superior versions compared to the originals (one can argue there are three or four where that is the case). Whatever you think, do spend time with a rare album. This was Kate Bush looking back – something she had done much of before. Did recording Director’s Cut (a forty-two-year-old Bush had more depth and gravel in her voice as she did when she was in her early/mid-thirties) and seeing people appreciate these vocals and new versions inspire her to get back on stage for Before the Dawn in 2014 (thanks to Donna Rees for planting that seed). It definitely cleared a path for a new album (2011’s 50 Words for Snow), and it showed that these songs had potential and promise that may not have been apparent decades before. If she was taken some classics and giving them a modern lick of paint, you can applaud that dare and sense of determination – even if it did split some fans as to what the benefits and points were. I think that everyone needs to spend time with the…
SIMPLY wonderful Director’s Cut.