It’s easy to call the combination of Neil Diamond and producer Rick Rubin a musical odd couple, except that this description can be applied to virtually all of Rubin’s projects.
The Long Island native was only 3 years old when Diamond first cracked the charts with “Solitary Man.” Rubin and Russell Simmons launched the pioneering hip-hop label Def Jam out of the former’s New York University dorm room in 1984 with LL Cool J’s “I Need A Beat.”
Rubin’s productions of the Beastie Boys’ “License to Ill” and his inspired pairing of Run-D.M.C. with Aerosmith on “Walk This Way,” both in 1986, were the foundation on which the rock and rap fusion was built. He later started American Recordings, where he indulged an eclectic taste that included Slayer’s heavy metal, the roots rock of the Black Crowes, folkie Donovan and even lowbrow comedian Andrew Dice Clay. At the same time he maintained a parallel career as a producer-for-hire on records by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, AC/DC, Mick Jagger and others.
Rubin’s production style reached an apotheosis in the series of four astonishing albums he recorded with Johnny Cash between 1997 and the country legend’s death in 2003. Rubin peeled back the sound until nothing remained but Cash’s raw artistry. The ability to zero in on the artist’s essence also distinguishes the upcoming Diamond album, and most every other Rubin venture.
“It’s really from a fan’s point of view,” the producer recently told the New York Times. “These are people that I love, and (I’m) trying to get them to be what I imagine they could be.”
Rubin’s taste remains unclassifiable. The only conceivable thing Audioslave, Shakira, System of a Down, Weezer and Jay-Z have in common is that they’ve recently been produced by Rubin. While he puts the finishing touches on the Diamond album, he’s also in the studio with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Dixie Chicks.
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