Rubin’s reputation is for having the best ears in the business - regardless of style, from hip-hip to metal (and funk metal like the RHCPeppers) to Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond, he brings out their best.
So what does he like? The list is here:
I love his choices - I much prefer Revolver to the White Album, but understand his choice. I love the fact that he went with Highway to Hell - I wonder if “natural sounding” is a comment on Mutt Lange, the producer, who modified his approach after Highway to a more studio-constructed type of sound. I love his emphasis on riff rock, the inclusion of Gang of Four (Love Like Anthrax just blows me away) and I think my love of the Ramones is well-known on this board…
All in all - a fine list, as interesting for its exclusions - no Quincy Jones, no Hank Shocklee/Bomb Squad (Public Enemy), no Brian Wilson, no Phil Spector, no Zeppelin? As a producer, he is leaving off some of the key touchpoints in the evolution of the sound of hip hop and rock…
I guess as I think about it, one thing I like is that his choices seem to all be characterized by having a lot of space in their sound - even Black Sabbath - it’s just their instruments - there’s not a lot of multi-tracking and studio wizardry. Run DMC is particularly spare - well, it’s his, but you get the idea…
I like his choices too. And I thought it was interesting that he loves the spare natural sound, because that isn’t what I think of at all when I think of Rick Rubin’s production sound. I need to go listen to a couple of the albums he produced again and see if I can see the influence.
It’s always facinating to me what people like him think about music, it’s almost never what I expect.
I never knew much about Rick Rubin until I saw the show on him producing the Chili Pepper’s BSSM. After that I was pretty blown away to also see the other titles he’d produced. His judgement I value so this list is a real good read. Owning 6 of the 8, I guess there’s 2 more that I “need”. Thanks, WordMan.
I’ve done that too, at least it has been the tie-breaker when trying to decide. Has anyone ever done a thread on favourite Rubin-produced albums? I imagine there’d be some big surprises on the list, he works with such a wide variety of artists.
Well, Zappa was a studio whore and a psychotic perfectionist when it came to production. I doubt that a natural, easygoing production style would appeal to him very much.
Oh man! I wish you success with this one. After he auditioned for the bassist job Pepper Keenan said something along the lines of “those dudes need to go back to the woodshed”. I think they tried with the last album but it didn’t work, Rick Rubin would be a great candidate for restoring Metallica to their former greatness.
I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. Zappa was listing After the Gold Rush as one of his own (current) favorites when he said that. I really think he was saying the same thing as Rubin, just in a characteristically acerbic way.
