Review by Mary McPage

I have had this song running through my head for the past month and a half … “Every time I’m wiping, I think of __ I insert my own verse here __ … and how it sucks.” Wipe Away is not the title song on the Crap Detectors newest CD Parrot Ma...n. But it is pretty darned clever & totally sing-along-able. First time I heard it I laughed out loud and then went back and listened again, until I couldn’t get it out of my head. Now when I hear or see or encounter something I don’t like, I sing Jacobi’s Wipe Away. This is punk at its best, singing about wiping away all the shit that truly stinks!

Then there’s Conservative. Track 4. One of the lines “I’m a Conservative, I pander to the rich-I will destroy the poor, cause I’m a son-of-a-bitch.” As Jim sings, at first the refrain is nice, it slowly becomes louder and before you know it, you’re screaming along, Conservative! Conservative! It’s not a pretty sight.

I’m also fond of Parrot Man the title track of the CD and track number 13. I haven’t fully grasped this tune, but I love the gurgle at the end of the phrases. “He’s looking for his Parrot woman.”

On my CD player, the vocals aren’t as clear as I would have liked them to be. Jacobi’s lyrics are compelling and entertaining at the same time, and I feel they could have been brought to the front a little more. His guitar playing is crunchy, gritty and he easily moves between rock, funk, and country.
For someone who was going to hang it up a couple years ago, the songs keep coming and his passion for music keeps burning.

Mary McPage Was an editor for musicians network magazine. Seattle, Wa. 1990's