rick rubin on damien rice

[verenita]

here´s an articule in which rick rubin talks about some artists, damien among them. it´s in spanish, but i´m copying the link anyway:

http://jenesaispop.com/2015/02/03/21...o-james-blake/

here´s the part where he talks about damien:

También habla del último disco de Damien Rice, el maravilloso ‘My Favourite Faded Fantasy’: “las letras de Damien me matan. Son increíbles. Una tras otra. Me sorprende. Intenté ayudarle a terminar o simplemente a salirse de su propio camino. Le decía: “no creo que esa línea sea lo suficientemente buena”. Pero en ese caso, escribía muchas cosas que eran realmente buenas y con las que no se sentía convencido, así que era más para darle confianza”.

he says, roughly, "damien´s lyrics/songs kill me, one by one, he surprises me (my own assumption, maybe it´s a mistypo and he could be talking of the songs), they are amazing (incredible). i tried to help him to finish the process of writing (he didn´t say so, but it´s implied) or simply to *go out of his own way* (i´d prefer to go beyond himself, he). i would tell him: ´i don´t think that line is good enough´. but in that case (? doesn´t make any sense to me in spanish), he wrote so many things that were really good but he wasn´t convinced, so i would just give him confidence (or help him to be confident).

i also checked with google translate, but it´s not really accurate:
"Damien letters kill me. They are amazing. One after another. I'm surprised. I tried to help him finish or just to get out of your own way. He said: "I do not think that line is good enough". But in that case, wrote many things that were really good and they did not feel convinced, so it was more to give you confidence."

anyway... i think you get the idea... plus, it´s kind of what damien has been saying on the interviews

[tessalasset]

He posted on genius.com. I just came here to post it. I think it might have gotten translated from English to Spanish and back to English? Here's just English:

Damien’s words kill me. They’re unbelievable. Just one after another. He surprises me.

When he did “My Favorite Faded Fantasy,” he hadn’t made a record in eight years He made one album that was great, called O, and then another one called 9 that’s not very good. And then he disappeared, until now.

I would try to help him finish or just help him get out of his own way. Sometimes I’d say “I don’t think this line is good enough.” But, in this case, he wrote a lot of things that were really good and he just never felt confident enough about them, so it was more about empowering him.

[verenita]

great, thanks! the "back to english" was my own, as i got the article in spanish and had no clue what genious was, hehe... so, i translated into english based on the piece in spanish... much better to have the original

[eva_arg]

That's nice, except the part about 9. I get it, maybe from his producer's point of view is "not that good", but I think 9 has pretty good songs. I don't understand all the hate. 9 Crimes, Elephant, Rootless Tree, Accidental Babies.... I mean, c'mon! Those are great tunes

[verenita]

i agree with you, eva... i think 9 is a lovely album indeed... actually, many people discover damien through that record and they started loving him! for me the only *weak* song is "the animals were gone" for some reason, but i deeply love the rest.

i believe 9 is considered "not that good" because they tend to compare it to what it could have been (not to mention the comparison to o). pity, because they´re loosing how great it actually is, imho.

[tessalasset]

I totally agree. I actually really really liked 9. Maybe Damien doesn't think it's good. Rick obviously doesn't. That was very interesting to see how frankly he speaks.

[ramiendice]

9 is close to perfect, I'm not sure what record Rick was listening to. Only song i'm not a fan of is Me My Yoke and I. It feels more like a bside added just to give the album a louder track. I would have included The Rat Within The Grain as an official listed track instead.

[damien lisa]

9 sure great. But compare to o, it's a disappointment