In my opinion it's much more important to get approved than submitting to the highest PR directories only and ending up on endless queue. This is the best free directory list that I can recommend. Most of these directories are brand new and will approve your site in 1-2 days.
Here it is - Free Directories List - Top 100 on World Wide Web http://www.caisc.co.in/list-of-free-directories.html
I do agree with you most high PR directories hardly approved new listing or submissions now. I prefer submitting my blogs to new ones since it has high rate of approval and it can help you in the long run...When I need to submit my blogs in directory I usually check the directories section here in DP