User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 21
  2. Negative: 0 out of 21
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  1. Jun 4, 2011
    10
    A stunning, understated return for one of the greatest, most original artists of all time. Kate Bush reworks the songs from her 1993 and 1989 albums to allow for a more intimate, yet spacious sound. The standout track for me is Never Be Mine - the original was flawless, yet somehow Bush manages to surpass it with this new version.
  2. Jun 1, 2011
    10
    Fantastic effort of the greatest living British musician. She was able to make huge changes in her own masterpieces without doing any harm. Rubberband Girl and Lily, both songs form the Red Shoes album are just smashing. And "Moments of Pleasure" shall give anybody any pleasure he or she needs.
  3. Oct 26, 2011
    6
    Every single release by the great Kate Bush is an artistic feast even if it is a collection of old songs with new vocals and some arrangement changes. Directorâ
  4. Sep 7, 2013
    8
    If anyone has the audacity to attempt to cover a Kate Bush song, there is surely no-one more worthy than Bush herself. This collection of songs from her 89 & 93 albums have been reworked and, in all but perhaps the case of Rubberband Girl, vastly improved. Flower of the Mountain has changed both the most and the least, with both a new title and new lyrics, Bush's original intention ofIf anyone has the audacity to attempt to cover a Kate Bush song, there is surely no-one more worthy than Bush herself. This collection of songs from her 89 & 93 albums have been reworked and, in all but perhaps the case of Rubberband Girl, vastly improved. Flower of the Mountain has changed both the most and the least, with both a new title and new lyrics, Bush's original intention of words lifted directly from Molly Bloom's soliloquy in Joyce's Ulysses now being permitted by the Joyce estate, and the song is better for it. The music blends seamlessly with the words and manages to beautifully emulate the whole modernist masterpiece.
    Perhaps not an album for first timers, and I would heartily recommend listening to both The Sensual World and The Red Shoes first, but still, an enjoyable listen.
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  5. Oct 29, 2013
    9
    Stunning. Gives a new meaning to the phrase 'older and wiser'. Former soprano, now a dashing contralto, Kate Bush takes her old numbers into a more present-day, streched-out and more subdued approach which sounds both contemporary and timeless. Standouts are 'Flower of the Mountain (with James Joyce's text)', 'Song of Solomon' and the ballads 'This Woman's Work' and 'Moments of Pleasure'.
  6. Dec 26, 2020
    7
    So...let me see if I've got this straight.

    Kate Bush, my favourite female vocalist of all time, decided to re-record elements of roughly half the tracks from two of her weaker albums, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, and jam them together and call it a new album. And, to my ears at least...didn't do anything especially new or exciting with said tracks the SECOND time 'round. (Okay,
    So...let me see if I've got this straight.

    Kate Bush, my favourite female vocalist of all time, decided to re-record elements of roughly half the tracks from two of her weaker albums, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, and jam them together and call it a new album. And, to my ears at least...didn't do anything especially new or exciting with said tracks the SECOND time 'round. (Okay, so one or two tracks have possibly been improved, but they were far from my favourites in the first place. Though the new version of "Rubberband Girl" is just straight-up bloody awful!)

    I'm all for artists indulging themselves, and no doubt some fans ate this one up. I'm gonna file it under "highly inessential" and probably pull it off the shelf once every three years at best, sadly.
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  7. Aug 31, 2019
    10
    kinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconic
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 22
  2. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. Dec 6, 2011
    70
    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.
  2. The Wire
    Aug 12, 2011
    80
    An unusual and unexpected triumph. [Jun 2011, p.44]
  3. Jun 20, 2011
    80
    Bush considers Director's Cut to be its own separate work, and with each revealing listen, that seems more and more to be the case.