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Director's Cut
by
Director's Cut Image
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 21 Ratings

  • Summary: The British artist reworked and rerecorded some of her songs from 1989's The Sensual World and 1993's The Red Shoes albums.
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Top Track

This Woman's Work
Pray God you can cope. I stand outside this woman's work, This woman's world. Ooh, it's hard on the man, Now his part is over. Now starts the craft... See the rest of the song lyrics
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. The Independent (UK)
    May 18, 2011
    100
    There's a consistency and homogeneity about the 11 tracks (seven from The Red Shoes, four from The Sensual World) which echoes her work on Aerial, and which lends the project a character entirely its own.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    May 18, 2011
    83
    But if Director's Cut is a tad superfluous, it's also gorgeous.
  3. The Telegraph (UK)
    May 18, 2011
    80
    There is, as Bush intended, much more air around the songs, which can reduce their original, raw intensity but also gives them a more mature, lingering potency.
  4. New Musical Express (NME)
    May 18, 2011
    80
    Her vocals now sound stately, and the impression is of a grande dame breathing new life into work made as an ingenue.
  5. PopMatters
    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.
  6. AllMusic
    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.
  7. Slant Magazine
    May 18, 2011
    60
    The reinterpretations offer interesting what-if scenarios, tweaking and altering familiar material, but inevitably reveal more about Bush's fussiness over her own legacy than anything else.

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User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Lodz
    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.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.… Expand
  2. curdey
    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 1989A 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.… Collapse
  4. katebush
    Aug 31, 2019
    10
    kinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconickinda iconic kinda iconic… Expand
  5. perUmbram
    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 aStunning. 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'.… Expand
  6. gregwalkeh
    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 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.    … Expand
  7. rjmacready
    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    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.    … Expand
  8. hydrawithears
    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 arrangementEvery 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… Expand

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