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...and not Y

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Before long, producer Rick Rubin will setting up a recording studio in a retirement community. Last week we announced he was set to work with Texas rockers ZZ Top. His latest project - Woodstock-era harmonizers Crosby, Stills & Nash.

But no Neil young, however.

Anybody expecting Rubin to makeover the trio with Red Hot Chili Peppers funk beats can think again. The project is to be a set of cover tunes, similar to the treatment Rubin gave Johnny Cash on the series of recordings the two did together during the singer's last years.

"Rick Rubin's a brilliant man," says Graham Nash, "and what he wants is an album with no CSN songs. He wants to do an album of all the songs we love, all the songs we wish we've written. It's brilliant from this point of view because we usually wait five years to record an album. This way there's no pressure."

Nash says he, David Crosby and Stephen Stills have had "many discussions" with Rubin about the project, whittling the proposed list of songs from 60 down to a current 20. Nash declines to name specific songs but acknowledges most would be considered well-known.

He expects recording to start in early 2009 for a release later in the year. The covers set will be CSN's first new release since 1994's After the Storm.

Still, we at MusicRadar can only hope that Neil Young joins in.

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