|
David Yazbek first turned the heads of discerning pop fans in the mid ‘90s, when
his name was linked with XTC frontman Andy Partridge, but a quick scan of his
accomplishments prior to his solo recording career offers the surprising
revelation that he was also an Emmy-award winning writer for “Late Night with
David Letterman.” Beyond his solo work, he’s also composed the scores for two
critically acclaimed Broadway musicals – The Full Monty and Dirty Rotten
Scoundrels – as well as having worked with Tito Puente, They Might Be Giants,
Ruben Blades, and the Crash Test Dummies. (Now that’s diversity.) He’s also
responsible for inflicting upon the world the so-catchy-it’s-dangerous theme
song for the award-winning PBS show, “Where in the World Is Carmen San Diego?”
Despite these accomplishments, Yazbek still manages to fly under the radar when
it comes to his solo work...and I’m talking waaaaaaay under the radar. Case and
point: I’ve been a fan of his first two albums and have stayed on the lookout
for new material by the guy...and, yet, I was utterly unaware of the existence
of a third album – released way back in 2001, no less – until examining the
liner notes of Yazbek’s first career summary, the just-released Tape Recorder
(Collected Works), on his longtime label, What Are Records.
It only takes the first song on the collection, “Strange Warm Day” (taken from
that aforementioned third album, titled Damascus), for the listener to realize
that the pairing of Yazbek and Partridge is a natural. The similarity between
their voices is instantly noticeable. Partridge is thanked by Yazbek in the
liner notes, describing him as “my friend of the last 16 years, who has served
as an inspiration as well as an occasional coconspirator and ongoing
correspondent.” Partridge’s only confirmed contributions on Tape Recorder,
however, are to the closing track, “Mississippi Honeymoon,” to which he added
guitar, backing vocals, and percussion. (The individual credits for each song
aren’t listed in the liner notes.) Still, if you were to think he’s on “Surface
Tension” (he isn’t), you’d be forgiven; it’s two minutes worth of the best XTC
song never actually written by the band.
Imagine a combination of Partridge, Jon Brion, and Donald Fagen, with the
occasional bit of Rufus Wainwright (Yazbek does write show tunes, you know), and
you’re starting to get the idea of what you have on your hands with Tape
Recorder. The pure pop bounce of “Monkey In The Middle” will have you toes
tapping out of control, “Cowgirls Go to Santo Domingo” sounds intentionally
reminiscent of “South of the Border (Down Mexico Way),” and “Schmuck in a
Vacuum” manages to be quirky fun without reaching the point of inaccessibility.
The only inclusion from Yazbek’s Broadway forays is a newly re-recorded version
– now with steel guitar! - of “Breeze off the River,” from The Full Monty, its
lyrics describing a father still trying to come to grips with parental
responsibilities.
And I never feel like somebody
Somebody calls a father
And I can’t explain
But when I look at you, kid
It’s like a mirror
It spins my head
It wakes me
Like the breeze off the river
Every time I see your face
And it’s strange but familiar
Like a map of a better place
What’s ultimately most disappointing about this anthology of Yazbek’s work is
that it doesn’t fill out the entire disc; even with exclusion of his Broadway
work, his three studio albums for W.A.R. provide ample material. In particular,
it seems like a missed opportunity that “Welcome to My World,” the lead track
from Yazbek’s debut album (and a vocal collaboration with Rockapella founder
Sean Altman), wasn’t used to introduce listeners to Tape Recorder. A less
surprising exclusion, though one that still would’ve been pleasant to find here,
is “You Are Here,” an Andy Partridge composition that, to date, has only
appeared on Yazbek’s second album, Tock.
If David Yazbek maintains his success on the Great White Way, it’s anyone’s
guess when we’ll see another proper studio album from him. Until then, however,
Tape Recorder fills a void - albeit not as completely as it might have – and
will very likely serve to steer people toward picking up the three discs from
which this compilation’s contents are derived.
~Will Harris
wharris@bullz-eye.com
|
 |
|
