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Kate set to storm the UK album charts!

We are very happy to report that Director’s Cut is No 1 in the UK midweek album sales chart, which means it is the best selling record in the UK after the first day of sales. Fantastic news! We must bear in mind, however, that the figures include all the online pre-orders, plus we know a lot of fans were out yesterday to get copies in the record shops, so the sales will level out over the week. We are predicting that it will probably end up at 2 or 3 in the final chart published on Sunday. By any measure this is a fantastic success and we send our hugest congratulations to Kate and everyone involved in this release! What a tremendous first early indication that the UK public have embraced Kate’s new album.

Music Week are also already discussing the prospects of Director’s Cut toppling Adele’s astounding chart run. Read more here. The NME reckon Kate can take on Lady Gaga next week also! See their spin on the chart race here.

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Don’t forget: BBC Radio 2 interview with Mark Radcliffe tonight

UPDATE: Listen again to this interview on the BBC iPlayer here.

Mark RadcliffeKate is interviewed tonight, 11pm UK time, on BBC Radio 2 by Mark Radcliffe for his Music Club show.  Hear it live online here. “Mark Radcliffe devotes this week’s show to a particular musical favourite of his, Kate Bush. Mark finds out why Kate decided to re-visit material from two of her albums, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes – including signature song This Woman’s Work – and asks whether she approached the project with any great trepidation. The interview covers her albums and influences over the years, including changes in her personal life, and the developments in recording technology that helped shape her sound. And finally there’s talk of future plans, including the billion dollar question for any fan of Kate Bush: having been back in the studio, is she now inspired to start work on new material?”

Scotsman: Four Stars

Great review by Fiona Shepherd in today’s Scotsman:

Ever the perfectionist, Kate Bush has revisited earlier songs, the first-time recordings of which didn’t reflect her original vision. The resulting revamps are satisfying, rounded – and occasionally bizarre …Kate Bush has always done exactly what she wanted. It’s part of what makes her the singular artist she is, one whose increasingly rare musical outings have become so revered that there are many, many fans who would prefer to hear anything rather than nothing from her. So if Kate wants to revisit a selection of songs from two of her previous albums, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, then so be it …

Watch BBC Breakfast chat about Kate this morning

Kate feature on BBC Breakfast March 16th 2011

On today’s BBC Breakfast show, Emma B and Bernadette McNulty spoke about the continuing appeal of Kate. Watch it again here.

French interview with Kate in Next Libération

This is from last week, so it slipped by us! Kate spoke to the French publication Next – Libération. from Google Translate: “You are working on some new songs?
Yes, it’s like the pieces of Director’s Cut were children and had gone to bed so I could concentrate on new songs, explore new themes. The world we live in is so chaotic, between the disaster in Japan, Arab countries in turmoil and demonstrations in the United Kingdom. Paradoxically, I feel fewer barriers than before to write songs. It is a horrible period but in a very creative way for artists. Proof that there is always hope.”
Read the full interview (in French) here.

Four star review in today’s Metro “…a brilliantly fresh approach”

The Metro free-sheet paper in the UK and Ireland has ran a 4 star review from Arwa Haider who calls Director’s Cut: “a self-styled ‘remix’ album (with guests including Danny Thompson, Eric Clapton and Mica Paris) laced with heart-racing action.” Read the full review here

Interview in Pitchfork Media

Kate’s interview with Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork media is now posted:

After more than 30 years of singular, forward-thinking music, Kate Bush is looking back. Sort of. The British iconoclast’s new album, Director’s Cut, re-imagines songs from her own The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993) with new vocals and drums mixing in with the original recordings. A few songs– including a glacial, near-ambient take on her classic “This Woman’s Work”– have been re-recorded entirely. Leave it to Kate Bush to subvert the typical aging-pop-star reissue cycle ….

Director’s Cut released in UK today! PLUS: TV and print ads campaign

Happy UK release day! It’s finally here, Director’s Cut is out in Kate’s home territory today. News from EMI: they will be running TV ads in the UK from today to support the release of Director’s Cut. Ads will be on Sky One, Sky Atlantic and Sky News, Channel 4 and More 4. We do not have a schedule but they will be running from Sunday 15th through the week of release. There will also be press ads, in yesterday’s Sunday Times Culture magazine, and more papers during the week.

Director's Cut - out now in the UK

In fact, if you count the two CD versions of Director’s Cut along with the four new reissues of The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World and a remastered The Red Shoes, there are 6 new Fish People releases in UK record shops today. I’ve heard the new remaster of The Red Shoes and it sounds excellent; warmer, fuller and the ‘edgy’ sound Kate talks about in this album’s sleeve-notes is now gone. The reissued albums contain some new photos when compared to previous EMI releases and the booklets and packaging are crisply produced and presented. Interestingly, Hounds of Love now has the ‘Single Mix’ of The Big Sky. The Red Shoes has a charming new dedication to Lindsay Kemp.

Kate directs

Speaking of packaging, the 3-disc Director’s Cut set is utterly beautiful, and so carefully thought out. I love the different shape and colour grading of the cover artwork of the two versions of Director’s Cut. In the Collector’s Edition version it’s like the inner sleeves are giving the two original albums a big hug, keeping them safe – there’s so much respectful love for the originals side by side with the high drama of the way Director’s Cut is presented visually. Such a strong sense throughout the new album’s artwork of Kate, in Sergei Eisenstein mode, directing each intriguing scene and then running the finished product by her inner circle at the end. The iTunes digital booklet reveals much more of the written lyrics in the “nest” and “Marion” scenes, and I’m thinking the vinyl artwork will bring that out more. I can’t see how this could have been done better, and am looking forward to the vinyl to arrive in a week’s time. What a Kate year!

Independent: Plenty to Enjoy

Review by Simon Price in Sunday’s Independent:

“Director’s Cut was greeted with reactions ranging between disappointment, bafflement and ridicule, before anyone had heard a note. On paper, it’s true, the prospects didn’t look promising … Taken on its own merits, however, there’s plenty to enjoy …”

Three reviews in Times and Sunday Times

The first by Will Hodgkinson dated May 13 gives three stars:

Even the world’s greatest musicians get short shrift when they don’t deliver the goods. In 1988 nobody was kind about Down in the Groove just because Bob Dylan had made it. Kate Bush, however, is No 1 in a field of one: artists who can do pretty much anything and still be praised unreservedly …. that’s the general mood of Director’s Cut: interesting, but not easy to lose yourself in. Bush is currently hard at work on a new album. It could be that this was a stopgap, an itch that had to be scratched, before she could move on.

The second by Will Hodgkinson dated May 14 gives three stars:

A new album by Kate Bush is always worth celebrating. But even the most ardent Bush fans — and there are plenty of us — are left slightly flummoxed by her latest move …. Some songs have been re-recorded entirely, others merely tinkered with: a bit of reverb here, some editing there … It’s worth pointing out that every song on Director’s Cut is infused with the kind of sophistication and fusion of feeling and imagination that has made Bush so revered. What’s more dubious is the idea behind the project itself: to bring production changes to songs that are already fully realised. Bush is working hard on a new album proper — Director’s Cut really sounds like it was made to clear a case of writer’s block and let Bush move on.

The third by Dan Cairns dated May 15 gives four stars:

Ahead of a promised new album, and six years on from her most recent, the sprawling and engrossing Aerial, Kate Bush throws a curve ball … To listen to moments such as these, and to the emotional intensity she locates in her reworking of, say, Never Be Mine, is to be reminded that this extraordinary artist is without equal.

Just a reminder that the websites of the Times and Sunday Times are subscription only.

The Observer: the privilege of working in geological time

Interesting review in Sunday’s Observer, by Kitty Empire:

Kate Bush has earned the privilege of working in geological time. She was once a pop star who turned out landmark releases relatively quickly, but now, aeons pass between releases … Only a nerd of the deepest hue would bother to painstakingly transpose her 1993 album, The Red Shoes, from its digitally produced final cut into analogue tracks, held by many audiophiles to be “warmer”-sounding. This is precisely what Bush has done on Director’s Cut. The album takes great swathes of The Red Shoes and choice cuts from its predecessor, 1989’s The Sensual World, and reworks them, sometimes with subtlety, and sometimes with daring …

UK tabloids giving Director’s Cut some love! “…a dreamy, bewitching treat”

The News of the World give a four star review to the new album. “The first new album in six years by Florence And The Machine’s spiritual mum. Sort of – it’s new versions of her old songs. Which is a swizz, but there’s a playful adventurousness here that’s more imaginative than most brand-new music.” The Sun gives Director’s Cut 4 out of 5 and describes the album as “beautiful” in the review below. (with thanks to rblazon on the forum)

Kate’s official Fish People site goes live!

While we were all busy watching the Eurovision this evening, Kate re-launched her official site! See it here.

Kate 2011

Toll & Rook

The Irish Times gives four stars to Director’s Cut

“…some truly remarkable performances here from one of the most intriguing and bountifully talented musical artists of our time.” Read Brian Boyd’s review here.

Daily Telegraph: Four Stars

Very good review by Helen Brown in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph:

Wisdom replaces grief in Director’s Cut

Director’s Cut should really be enjoyed as a rare, live performance from an artist who hasn’t toured since 1979. The lead vocals and drums have all been re-recorded, allowing us to hear how Bush sounds in 2011. She’s stripped back the digital crunch of the production, giving the instrumentation more breathing space and creating a more intimate, organic feel: Rubberband Girl sounds like it could have been recorded in the backroom of an Irish pub ….

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