JAKE BROWN - review added 12th October 2009
Book Review: Rick Rubin In The Studio (2009)
Type: Factual, Biography
Jake Brown hails from Nashville and already has 20 books to his name. His subjects - all music based - include Prince, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, The Black Eyed Peas, Heart, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Motley Crue and more. He's also the owner of label Versailles Records, a company specializing in rock tribute albums.
This particular book is sat on an ill-balanced see-saw when it comes to quality. It has a few positive sides, a few negatives, and a few which can only be described by the word 'meh'.
Before we go on, let's start with the biggest of the annoyances I have: Jake Brown does not at any point seem to have made contact with Rick Rubin (or indeed anyone else) during the writing of this book. Most of it is a compendium of quotes and quips from varying sources across the globe. Jake's research was clearly exhaustive, but all he has done is quoted other quotes. He hasn't talked to Rick or anyone else, and that's a terrible omission.
Jake is therefore only relying on the honesty of other writers and journalists - something no one in their right mind should ever do. It also means the book is totally unoriginal. There is absolutely nothing new here (apart from Jake's admittedly well-written filler text) and that's a total waste of a good opportunity to explore Rick's unexplored facets.
The second problem is Jake's apparent obsession with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and, to a lesser extent Johnny Cash. It feels like almost half the reading time is taken up looking at the various works Rick did with those artists. The reality is he's done so much more than that. What about all the work with Slayer, System Of A Down and Slipknot? They get mentions, but not to the same extent.
Although he clearly has a big love of Rick's work, the writer barely expresses a personal opinion about him. To an extent leaving the reader to form their own judgment is fair enough, but the way Jake presents the facts on the table makes that harder than it should be. He dishes out the story in a straight ahead, clear way but refuses to reproduce anything negative about this almost mystical figure. I refuse to believe there is nobody in the world who thinks Rick Rubin is a big bearded pain in the ar*e. The closest quotes we get suggest he's demanding and a touch opinionated.
If I'm going to make a valued decision on what I think of someone, I need all the information before me. This book is written in a standoffish factual way so should have merrily displayed both sides of every story. Unfortunately it doesn't.
What it does do, if you forget the above problems, is manage to be very interesting. As said, Jake has put a huge amount of effort into compiling the book, and it really is eye opening finding out just how Rick Rubin works. I was amused to hear his production style revolves around sitting in an armchair with his eyes closed and nodding along appreciatively. It was also good to know how he got where he is now and the trials he has gone through to get there. The way the book gradually works through his career is well-judged too, although the focusing on certain artists does grate.
In the end this is a decent read, but you're left with a sense it should have been more. The author really should have performed his own interviews rather than cutting them from elsewhere. He should also have tried to suppress his own artistic inclinations rather than wearing them very obviously on his sleeve.
If you want to know more about Rick Rubin this is a bloody good starting point and you won't go far wrong buying it. But...and this is a BIG but...it will be made obsolete the moment somebody sits down with the great man to write a proper biography.
Publisher: ECW Press
