Read another great review of Director’s Cut at The Vine website here. “There remains an ageless quality to her voice, occupying everything from childhood to middle age (and older) with authority.”
“Radical reinvention and unfettered weirdness.” Graeme Thomson has written an enthusiastic review of Director’s Cut for Word Magazine. He has provided a scan of the article at his blog here. Graeme wrote the well-received 2010 biography of Kate, ‘Under The Ivy‘. He calls the album a “vibrant act of restoration.” Very nice read. UPDATE: 12th May Graeme Thomson also writes a new article on Kate in the Telegraph here.
Some excellent news for the week of release of Directors Cut. BBC Radio 2 have added the album to their B List, which starts this coming Saturday, following it being album of the week this week (hence all these track premiers we’ve been enjoying!) BBC 6 Music will have Director’s Cut as the album of the day on 20th May, with a track played on every show. National commercial station Smooth FM have it as album of the week next week, at least two tracks played each day, lunchtime and evening shows.
Vinyl version of Director’s Cut delayed by one week – out Monday 23rd May
The double vinyl version of Director’s Cut will not be released on the same day as the two different CD versions, we have officially been told. It will now be released one week later on Monday 23rd May. This applies to in-store copies and those ordered on-line. We suspect that this will apply to all territories. So, please don’t panic when it doesn’t arrive on Monday. We know the sumptuous large-format artwork will make this extra wait well worth it.
Ken Bruce played Kate’s new version of ‘And So is Love‘ from Director’s Cut on his BBC Radio 2 show today. You can listen again by going to 1 hour 55 minutes into the iPlayer stream here.
Thanks to JustinX for the heads up: Nadine O’Regan, who interviewed Kate for the Sunday Business Post will be talking to Kate on Saturday (11am-12am Irish time) on her Phantom FM show, The Kiosk. Nadine writes: “Hi folks, just a little update to let you know that the fabulous Kate Bush will be on The Kiosk this weekend. I’ll be talking to her about her new album Director’s Cut, a new take on some of her older material, and plenty more besides.” Listen live on Saturday at the Phantom FM site.
New German interview is here. Read the comments of this post to see translations from our German friends – thanks!
Thanks to Louise for sharing this: BBC Radio 2 continue to feature tracks from Director’s Cut all this week. For the first full play of Kate’s exuberant new take on The Red Shoes, from the Alex Lester show this morning, skip to 2 hours 30 minutes at the BBC iPlayer here. The stunning new version of This Woman’s Work, played on the Ken Bruce show, can be heard at 1 hour 55 minutes at the BBC iPlayer here.
The most relaxed interview with Kate yet, if that’s possible. She seems in such great form these days. Ken Bruce also premièred the new Moments of Pleasure (well, most of it) in this programme. If you haven’t heard it, you’re in for such a treat. (thanks again to Hammer Horror on the forum for the MP3) UPDATE: The BBC website review of Director’s Cut has been posted here. The review sees Kate as an “artist reborn” and calls Director’s Cut “a gorgeous body of work.”
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Hounds of Love, the acclaimed Kate Bush tribute band, are playing in Poole, UK tomorrow. More details at our featured artist’s gig guide here.
Del Palmer’s official Facebook page has just posted the following. Just like the Kate Bush Club magazine days. Looking forward to Del’s piece, and to seeing what Kate has in store for us on her official site!
Another interview tomorrow sees Nadine O’Regan talking to Kate in The Sunday Business Post. You may remember Nadine talking about having heard a playback of the album on Phantom FM here. The print edition hits Irish shops tomorrow and the online edition will be out 10am Monday morning. Update: highlights below, full article here.
“If people want to compare me to Greta Garbo, that’s fine by me,” she laughs. Nothing earth-shatteringly new in this interview, but it is a very nicely written, well-rounded overview of Kate’s career and another Director’s Cut interview that covers Joyce, her thoughts on live work and the pace of her output. The lyrics of Deeper Understanding are reproduced in a sidebar. Conducted over the phone, Kate apologised to Nadine for being late: “Nadine, I’m so sorry…it’s just been such a nutty day”. Meanwhile Nadine O’Regan comments “I marvel that she’s actually saying my name” O’Regan describes Kate as “warm, deeply likeable and even maternal.” The intensity of this current period for Kate is evident. “At the moment it’s just ridiculously busy” The article should be online tomorrow at the Sunday Business Post website. The same “Tibetan girl” photo is used in the article and, as with the Irish Times, it features on the front cover of the paper also. This photo seems to be credited to Trevor Leighton, not John Carder Bush but I’ll try to confirm that.
On Director’s Cut: “I think of it as a new record. It doesn’t feel to me like they come from two separate pieces of time”. On recording techniques: “With The Red Shoes, that was done at a time when digital equipment had suddenly come on the scene. Although there are advantages to working digitally, it doesn’t have the same warmth and fullness that analogue has – so for this record, we transferred any original performances that we were keeping back to analogue tape. I worked between analogue and Pro Tools – hopefully getting the best of both worlds: the warmth of analogue and the technical agility of Pro Tools. With This Woman’s Work and Moments of Pleasure, I just wanted to start from scratch. And take the key down a bit because my voice is lower now. And take away some of the elements that clutter it up a bit.” On losing her mum while making The Red Shoes: “It was (tough)….life has a way of throwing things at you. But I had written all the songs. And that was a blessing because just to carry on the recording after she died was not so difficult as if I had to be writing material.” On live performance: “It’s a fascinating art form. There’s a great spontaneity and vulnerability to it.”
It’s official. We’re being spoiled now. Here’s a preview of the interview that Ken Bruce has recorded for his BBC Radio 2 show at Kate’s house. It airs Monday 9th May, show starts from 9.30am. UPDATE: Second (slightly different) excerpt now posted below also. (thanks to Justinx for the sound files)
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[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/justinx-1/2nd-preview-kate-bush”]
Sinéad Gleeson’s interview feature with Kate has been published in today’s Ticket section of The Irish Times. You can read the interview at the Irish Times website here. Kate talks about the influence of Irish music in her work and what her son makes of her body of work. A lovely read!
Well, the excitement generated by yesterday’s truly special John Wilson interview with Kate (longer version here) has continued today with BBC Radio Bristol devoting a sizeable portion of their Afternoon Show with Anna King to Kate. As well as replaying parts of the Front Row interview, Anna chatted live to Dave Cross (of HomeGround Magazine) and to myself! If you want to hear what we had to say, the programme is now archived by the BBC here. (our bits are between 25mins 30secs and 35mins 30secs into the stream).