As busy as I’ve been, I still had time to pick up the new David Yazbek CD, Tape Recorder. It’s a collection of earlier recordings, featuring some of my favorite songs like Montgomery, Alabama and Strange Warm Day.

But what makes this CD a must for theatre-music fans is a newly-recorded version of “Breeze off the Water” (clip) from The Full Monty, one of the best songs Yazbek has composed. I’d rank the song as one of my top-three favorite “father to son” songs (along with William Finn’s “Father to Son” from Falsettos and Stephen Schwartz’s “Fathers and Sons” from Working). It’s songs like these that almost make me sorry I don’t plan on having children.

The CD won’t be available in stores for a while, but you can order it online directly from What Are Records?.

And speaking of fantastic singer/songwriters who have written musicals, I also picked up the new Rupert Holmes complete collection, Cast of Characters (so I finally have all his music on CD). Theatre-music fans will be intrigued by the pop-cover of “Perfect Strangers (Love Theme From The Mystery Of Edwin Drood)” (clip), a duet with Rita Coolidge.