Loved the Rick Rubin producer blurb. A lot of people hate him because he makes somewhat seminal bands “mainstream,” but that’s shite, as complaints go. What he does to these bands (i.e. clean up their sound, put the mic closer to the singer so he doesn’t have to sing so much as purr, force bands to cut twice as many songs as they’re accustomed to and cull those to the best 12-15 for the album, and attempt to make everything as controversial as possible for the sake of sales) is admirable.
On “What You Are” from the Audioslave disc, when Chris Cornel sings “And when you wanted me / I came to you / And when you wanted someone else / I withdrew / And when you asked for light / I set myself on fire” and on the word “myself” Rubin overdubs what sounds like a grill full of lighter-fluid soaked coals being ignited … well, it may not be genius, but it most definitely ROCKS!
In Rubin we trust.