Rick Rubin Songs Quotations

He is one of the few people who can get on a stage in an arena in front of any audience anywhere in the world and and play original songs for hours (that) everyone would be familiar with and sing along to. The list of people whose music has this power could be counted on one hand, tops.

He is playing guitar because he wrote the songs on the guitar, and the essence of the song is contained in that performance. As far as the new album goes, there was no attempt to recapture anything.

The songs are classic Neil Diamond songs. Nobody else could have possibly written them. The sound of the album is very personal, intimate and honest.

These songs are Johnny's final statement. They are the truest reflection of the music that was central to his life at the time. This is the music that Johnny wanted us to hear.

In Neil's mind, what separated him from all of his Brill Building songwriter counterparts was he wrote songs on the guitar and everyone else wrote on the piano, ... Guitar is equated with rock in a way piano has never been, so Neil has an unusual mix of guitar-based (rock) songwriting mixed with Brill Building melodic (piano) approach.

It's a tentative feel with him playing guitar, and the songs feel like they are coming from a true and honest