Man behind Beastie Boys tries to make Neil Diamond cool

Neil Diamond

He is the man behind some of the biggest success stories in the music industry.

Now Rick Rubin, who launched the Beastie Boys, worked with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Run DMC and revived the career of Johnny Cash has a new ambition - making Neil Diamond cool.

The housewives' favourite, who shot to fame in the 1970s with hits including Sweet Caroline and Song Sung Blue is attempting to stage a comeback in Britain.

Rubin has produced Diamond's new album "12 Songs", which has already been a commercial and critical hit in the US, where it went straight into the Billboard chart at number four, the first time the singer has seen one of his albums debut in the top ten.

"12 Songs" is released in the UK in early 2006 and if Rubin's magic works it will introduce Diamond to a whole new audience.

The 42-year-old from Long Island became involved with the early hip-hop scene in New York.

Together with DJ Jazzy Jay, he set up the Def Jam record label in the early 1980s, which produced LL Cool J and Public Enemy.

Rubin also produced the Beastie Boys and Run DMC, combining their hip-hop sound with elements of heavy rock.

In 1988, he parted amicably from Def Jam and set up the Def American label in Los Angeles, which later became American Recordings, where he worked with rock acts including Slayer, Danzig and The Cult.

In 1993, Rubin met Cash, whose singing career had taken a dive after Columbia Records dropped him six years earlier.

The following year, the two released the first of four albums that were to restore Cash to fame and prove particularly popular with college radio stations.

While working with many of the elder statesmen of rock including Mick Jagger, Tom Petty, AC/DC and Donovan, Rubin continued to produce new acts including System of A Down, whose debut album came out in 1998.

Phil Alexander, editor-in-chief of Mojo magazine, believes there are two key reasons for the success of Rubin, who was described by MTV News as "simply the most important producer of the last 20 years".

"Firstly, he's an incredible music fan. He understands an artist's catalogue and heritage. The second point is that he has a great set of ears. He lets the musician work with stuff then sits and listens back to it. He's using his ears rather than wasting time twiddling knobs."

Despite his respect for Rubin, Alexander is not convinced that Diamond will play well with British music fans.

"Unfortunately he has been tarnished by the housewives' favourite label. I think he's a great American song writer, but a lot of the time there's a sense of middle of the road, soft focus that loses some of the directness within his music," Alexander said.

Radio producer and music journalist Paul Sexton thinks on the contrary that Rubin can engineer a successful comeback for Diamond.

He said: "Rick Rubin seems to revel in the improbable. It's impressive enough to uncover three rough diamonds in the streets of Greenwich Village and create white hip-hop, as he basically did with the Beastie Boys."

But the sheer sonic scope of what he's taken on as a producer is extraordinary, the word 'versatile' doesn't do him justice.

By the time he got together with Cash, he was already known not just for his daring collaborations but as a real production guru in the old-fashioned sense, someone with ears that apparently work in any genre.

The fact that he's simultaneously been working on records by Neil Diamond, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Dixie Chicks says it all.

"The Diamond album gets back to the essence of what made him good in the first place, which is exactly what he did with Cash.

He seems to know these artists better than they know themselves, and I can't see why Neil Diamond won't be one of next year's coolest names to drop."

- INDEPENDENT