Yazbek's "Evil Monkey Man" to Be Released on Ghostlight Records

By Ernio Hernandez
December 12, 2007

Ghostlight Records will release Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and The Full Monty composer David Yazbek's new collection of songs, "Evil Monkey Man."

The release of the new album is slated for Feb. 26, 2008. Dean Sharenow and Yazbek produced.

"These songs come out of a tumultuous time in my life when I experienced a personal loss and I touched some real darkness," Yazbek commented in a release. "That said, I can't help but find things funny, so there's a lot of gallows humor and regular old humor in these songs. But they're deadly serious and the place they come from is real."

Playwright Howard Korder (Boy's Life, Sea of Tranquility) penned the lyrics to the song "Industrial Love Song."

The track listings follows:

1. "Terrible Thing"
2. "Monkey Baby Hanging On Chicken Wire"
3. "A Blustery Wind"
4. "The Traveler (#1 – The Fecund Woods)"
5. "Never Get Out of This"
6. "That Lucky Old Sun"
7. "Bazooka Joe"
8. "The Traveler (#2 – He Stomps Rhythms Down To Hell)"
9. "Steps of Another Man's House"
10. "It Isn't Fair"
11. "Eight Evil Men"
12. "The Traveler (#3 – Beside The Antifreeze Pond)"
13. "Wasted"
14. "Industrial Love Song"

The album features David Yazbek and His Warmest Regards — the band featuring Erik Della Penna (guitars, lap steel, background vocals), Mike DuClos (upright/electric bass), Dean Sharenow (drums, percussion, background vocals) and Tony Orbach (saxes).

A recording artist, vocalist and pianist, Yazbek was Tony Award-nominated for the musicals The Full Monty and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. His first album, "The Laughing Man," won the N.A.I.R.D. Award for Best Pop Album of the Year. He has also served as a writer for "Late Night with David Letterman."

Yazbek next appears in the Lincoln Center American Songbook series Feb. 9, 2008, in The Allen Room at Frederick P. Rose Hall. He will preview songs from "Evil Monkey Man" as well as a selection of tunes from other albums and his Broadway shows.