Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

TRYIN’ TO STAY POSITIVE by Jim Jacobi is an interesting concept, in the same sense that road kill, to a certain special mind set, is interesting. Protest rock set to a surf music beat. Even some of the song titles, “Vagabond,” “Bird Flew,” “Deck,” and yes, the self-explanatory “Brain Damage,” lend themselves to this. Channel the lyrics out, however, because for this disc is terrible.

Jacobi is off key, he has no concept of songwriting, and he has a half-decent ability to play guitar. One out of three isn’t bad. He is probably sure that he cannot get a record deal because in his words on “Bird Flew,” “Point things out that no one wanted pointing.” Like, f’instance, that Jimbo is probably walking around with his fly down. The pictures of Mr. Jacobi on the jacket for TRYIN’ TO STAY POSITIVE consist of him wearing a gas mask and such. I tried to listen to this thing all the way through on three different occasions and couldn’t do it. I’m sorry. It not only stood on my last nerve, but also ground its high heel into it. The first time I got as far as “Corporate Blitz,” the second time all the way to “Orwellian World,” and couldn’t get past “Abe” the third time. Think Wild Man Fischer with access to electricity and possessing what The New York Times would consider a social conscience. The lyrics basically go as follows: “Bitch bitch, corporate, bitch, corporate.” Yep. Jacobi needs to do a tour in Somalia, or work in a children’s hospital, or engage in some other activity where he might acquire just a drop of insight into how good his life is, that he has the time, and money, to indulge himself by recording a piece of shit like TRYIN’ TO STAY POSITIVE.

It really pains me to write a negative review, it really does; but when I have to, I’ll do it, and I’m doing it right now. Blah. In Somalia, he’d get necklaced for a piece of crap like this; here, it just gets consigned to the skeet pile. PULL! BAM!