>I don't really blame him for feeling like that guy, the
>devoutly religious force of nature that he was, might not have
>been meant to be recording Danzig records while laying in a
>3/4 reclined craftmatic bed with a mic in his face until he
>ran out of breath.

He recorded "Thirteen" just before he stopped going on the road.

>I loved the 'Hurt' cover but I don't think it's unfair to say
>that Rubin went to the well a few too many times making six or
>seven albums worth of that type of stuff while becoming
>increasingly frail & fighting off death.

By the last two, the "step-outs" were NiN's "softest" song, "Personal Jesus," and a Bruce Springsteen joint from "The Rising"- all three of which Johnny absolutely murdered it on. Give a re-listen to IV and V.

>Thought that him sorta pointing out the 'stripped down' retro
>strategy not working for everybody (correctly pointing out
>that wasn't why people appreciated Neil Diamond's career) was
>kinda interesting too.

Now, that I can agree with. It worked really well with Cash because at his best, it was just him and the Tennessee Two, so you can strip back down to just guitars and you still have THAT voice, even in its decaying state.