As someone who seems to spend the best part of an ice age meticulously assembling an album, it’s perhaps unsurprising that perfectionist Bush should feel the need to revisit past releases for some late-in-the-day tweaking.
Director’s Cut is largely a cosmetic exercise, a series of subtle shifts in tone to selections from The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993). The title track of the former (retitled here as Flower Of The Mountain) now includes the passage from James Joyce’s Ulysses blocked by the author’s estate 22 years ago, and Bush has also recorded new vocals for all 11 songs.
Musically, the most telling changes are in the hushed intimacy of This Woman’s Work, pleasingly shorn of the cold synthesised production of the original, and a more fulsome guitar strum to Rubberband Girl, turning it into a the kind of mid- tempo rocker more commonly associated with Sheryl Crow.
It may be enough to keep fans sweet until there are new songs to put out, which could be a while yet if her usual work rate is any indicator.
