Album: Kate Bush, Director's Cut (Fish People)

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. Six years since Aerial, itself her first release after a 13-year break, the "new" Kate Bush album consists merely of rerecordings of tracks from 1993's The Red Shoes and 1989's The Sensual World – with which, for whatever reasons, she was unhappy.

Taken on its own merits, however, there's plenty to enjoy, as Bush sings new vocals over remixed and re-edited backing tracks in a deeper, more weathered voice. See Director's Cut as an alternative rather than an outright replacement. At the very least, see it as Kate warming up her lungs for a renewed burst of activity (maybe even, she has hinted, a return to live performance). And if you don't like the remakes? As Bush herself puts it, "The old ones are still there."