It may not seem like it in these parts, but I'm still very actively reviewing albums. Both up this week at the Village Voice: my takes on Kate Bush's Director's Cut and Lady Gaga's Born This Way. True to form, I like Gaga and love Kate (Director's Cut is my favorite album of the year so far -- it's a lot more fascinating than a rehashing of lesser works may seem).
Just for the fun of it, I rank the Director's Cut reworks after the jump...
From my favorite to least:
1. "Moments of Pleasure"
2. "Song of Solomon"
3. "Top of the City"
4. "Rubberband Girl"
5. "Deeper Understanding"
6. "And So Is Love"
7. "Never Be Mine"
8. "The Red Shoes"
9. "Lily"
10. "Flower of the Mountain"/"The Sensual World"
11. "This Woman's Work"
(Again, this is an evaluation of the new versions -- "This Woman's Work" in its original form pretty much > just about anything else Kate's done, which makes this entirely too obvious remake feel even worse than it probably should.)
And, here's how Director's Cut falls in my ranking of all of Kate's albums, again from favorite to least:
1. The Dreaming
2. Hounds of Love
3. Never for Ever
4. Director's Cut
5. Aerial
6. The Red Shoes
7. The Kick Inside
8. Lionheart
9. The Sensual World
So yeah, I think Director's Cut wipes the floor with its source material. There's no way to put this so that it doesn't sound cheesy and overly sentimental, but I feel really lucky to have Kate in the world making music. Love her ridiculously.
And while I'm obsessing and loving ridiculously, here's my favorite interview of hers:
"One day I just had a stew, and tried to eat a bit of meat in the stew and it was so raw that I just identified immediately with the fact that it was an animal. That this thing was alive and it had been killed for me to eat it. And I thought, 'No. I'm not into this.' So I thought, 'I'll become a vegetarian.' And I didn't have a clue, you know? I had no idea what I could eat. All I knew was that people didn't eat meat or fish. And I used to eat a lot of chocolate. So I lived for the next week off chocolate and tea."
Kate makes me feel like I'm in a perpetual state of living off chocolate and tea.
A few other recent reviews of mine, while I'm on the subject:
My Chris Brown review for The Daily is currently M.I.A., but surprise: I don't like it (but even bigger surprise, I will admit that F.A.M.E. is by far his best album in that a few of the tracks are better than mediocre).
Some other stuff I'm enjoying that I may or may not get around to writing about: Junior Boys' It's All True, Friendly Fires' Pala and especially (and maybe even more surprising than Pala, which shocked the shit out of me), GusGus' Arabian Horse. That one could easily end up being my No. 2 of 2011. Works beautifully as an album and takes house music really seriously without getting tangled in strict dogma. Very special.
Skream's "Hats Off," which to my knowledge was just officially released though it's been on the Internet for months, is my favorite track at the moment. The guy turns nostalgia into an art:
Kate Bush's speaking voice is like a lullaby, and I mean that in the best possible way.
Posted by: BlackRaspberry | May 25, 2011 at 09:55 AM
I feel almost 100% the same about the order of favorite/least favorite from Director's Cut, with the exception of This Woman's Work being at the bottom. I actually really liked the newer version, and put it more towards 4 or 5 on my list.
The version of "Sensual World" made me cringe. And as it was the 1st song on the album, it kind of freaked me out. But I went ahead and listened to the rest of them, and felt much, much better after I did.
Good God, that woman is awesome!
Posted by: Faith | May 25, 2011 at 11:00 AM
I listened to Director's Cut on the NPR Web site and, while it was fine, I didn't feel the songs needed to be remade. I agree with you about This Woman's Work. Without the emotional crescendo at the end, the new version falls flat. As far as her other albums go, Hounds of Love was like her Sgt. Pepper to me. Everything prior to and including Hounds of Love was great; everything after it was a steady pattern of diminishing returns. Still, I think she's an amazing musician who made an incredible mark on the world.
Posted by: Neal | May 25, 2011 at 11:29 AM
Not really impressed in the revamped Sensual World tracks. The originals remain superior, particularly Deeper Understanding.
However she did The Red Shoes album justice. Song of Solomon, Lily, And So Is Love, Top of the City and Moments of Pleasure are marked improvements. Though Rubberband Girl and taking on The Red Shoes track was a bit of a waste.
Wish she had revisited Why Should I Love You? minus the Prince contribution instead. That unreleased demo floating around on youtube has so much potential.
It would have been fun too if she revisited something from The Kick Inside/Lionheart era.
Posted by: Gareth | May 26, 2011 at 09:04 AM
I can never hear a British person say the word "lentils" again without thinking of Nigel in "The Young Ones." Just thought I'd throw that out there.
Posted by: JC | May 26, 2011 at 01:43 PM
another beautiful veghead. sigh...
Posted by: miks | May 26, 2011 at 06:17 PM
Works beautifully as an album and takes house music really seriously without getting tangled in strict dogma. Very special.
Posted by: vibram five fingers | May 26, 2011 at 11:07 PM
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Posted by: birkenstock | May 31, 2011 at 02:19 AM
I fucking love Kate Bush more than anything on Earth, she is my number one favorite singer of all time, and I love that you love her too. One of these days, Rich, you and I will hang out.
Posted by: Maxam | June 05, 2011 at 09:24 PM
I love Kate Bush,Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: iPhone Solar Charger | August 02, 2011 at 09:35 PM