The Mike Jacoby Electric Trio: “Rocket Fuel Logic” (2024) CD Review

For a while, singer and songwriter Mike Jacoby was doing it all himself – writing, singing, and playing all, or most of, the instruments on his recordings. He released several solo albums, starting with 2013’s The Big 5-0 and also including 2016’s NorthEastSouthWest and 2019’s Long Beach Calling (the title and cover for that last one a play on The Clash’s London Calling). Then in 2023 he put out The Long Haul, this album by The Mike Jacoby Electric Trio, where the vocalist and guitarist was joined by Don Read on bass and backing vocals, and Mike Levin on drums and backing vocals. And last year, the trio followed that with Rocket Fuel Logic. Interestingly, on this album Mike Jacoby revisits songs that he had included on his solo albums. As with Long Haul, there are a couple of special guests on this album, including Ann De Jarnett on violin.

The album opens with “There Oughta Be A Law,” a good solid rock number that Mike Jacoby previously included on The Big 5-0. “Try getting with the program/It’s politically correct/And pretty soon you end up/One more nasty nervous wreck.” These days, I think a lot of us are nervous wrecks, anticipating the descent into derangement this country is about to experience. “The slightest push shouldn’t make you fall,” Mike Jacoby sings here. Indeed. This track also gives the album its title in the lines, “It’s rocket fuel logic/It’s ignorance is bliss.” There is some really nice work on guitar. “Stomp The Gas” follows “There Oughta Be A Law” on The Big 5-0, and so it does here. This song has a great energy, like a boogie, and features more good guitar work. It’s a song that urges, “Get off your ass while you’re still alive.” Some folks are lazy, and some folks put off pursuing their dreams for other reasons, but whatever the case may be, life is short, it’s over before we know it, before we’re ready. “How many last chances do you think you get?” Mike Jacoby expresses the idea in several ways, often with humor, as in this line: “You just got up, you don’t need a nap.” This is a great song, one of my personal favorites from this album.

“Your Love Song” is a fun country rock number about divorce. “Our divorce is almost over, and the news is all over town/But there’s a little thing that might just bring the whole deal crashing down/That was your love song/And you can keep it on your stack/That was your love song/‘Cause I sure don’t want it back.” I also love these lines: “Now it might make you uneasy, and it just might make you sad/A bit of human emotion that I’m not sure you ever had.”  I dig that work on keys. Special guest Art Bailey is on piano for this one. This song was originally on Long Beach Calling. That’s followed by another fun song, “Explaining To Do,” which was originally on NorthEastSouthWest. There is a wonderfully cheerful energy to this track, even as it describes a couple that has some troubles. Their questionable behaviors all seem to occur because of alcohol: “It was just one stupid drunken night.” And check out these lines: “Heaven knows we love each other still/It makes us crazy in the head/And maybe we should stop picking at the sores/And take a sedative instead.” Wonderful! It began with him having some explaining to do, moved to her having the same, but it ends with “We got some explaining to do,” which in a way is strangely romantic, right? So at the end these guys are still together. Whether they should be or not is a whole other matter.

“Lie In Bed” is a song about dishonesty in a relationship. It contains some really good lines, such as “We’re both alone, and now it’s all we share” and “Shed our skin and left it on the floor/No one talks about it anymore.” Here Mike Jacoby also sings, “I count the hours as they move too slow,” and this song itself moves at a slower pace, which works well for the subject, helping to immerse us in its atmosphere. Still, it builds in power in the second half. This song was also originally on NorthEastSouthWest. “Ready When You Are” is another track that was on NorthEastSouthWest. The guitar intro reminds me a bit of The Band’s “The Weight.” Then the song comes in with a good power. It turns out there is trouble in this song’s relationship too, with Mike Jacoby singing, “There’s a wall between us, something went wrong/There has to be more to this than just getting along.” But perhaps there is still something there, though maybe only one of them sees it. “I’m ready for the ride, ready for some kind of trust/I’m ready for the rain to come damp down the dust/Or maybe there’s sunshine or big skies of blue/I’m ready for the life I was meant for with you.” Ultimately it’s an optimistic, hopeful song, with some seriously catchy elements, and it features some good guitar work.

“Lay Of The Land” is also from NorthEastSouthWest. It has kind of a sweet, thoughtful vibe as it begins, and features some nice work on harmonica. Its first line mentions that “New Year’s Day is finally here.” So we are immediately put in mind of a time of change, of new beginnings, new opportunities, or at least promises of such. Soon we learn the character of this song is at a crossroads, realizing “Life ain’t going quite the way you planned.” And what will this person do to change things? Anything? And what will we do? Because of course we find ourselves in this song, at least in some lines. “The highway stretches on and on/Don’t count the days that you’ll be gone/Out searching for a solid place to stand.” Then “Here And Now” opens with a delightful, bright energy. As this seriously good rock song begins, Mike Jacoby tell us, “The bones get brittle past a certain age/I need big letters just to read the page/My back’s getting worse, my hair’s turning grey/There’s no going back to yesterday.” But he is not lamenting anything. Instead, he announces, “I’m here in the here and now.” Oh yes! We might be older, but we’re not quite dead, so let’s get on with it. This track is another of my personal favorites. There is a bit of a punk rock energy to it, which is great. “I know I screwed up, I know what went wrong/I remember every place I didn’t belong/But at the end of the day, with the setting sun/I won’t lose sleep over what I’ve done.” This song was on Long Beach Calling.

“Resume Speed, Texas” was included on The Big 5-0. This new recording is quite a bit different from that earlier version, right from the start. It opens with its title line, which the original recording did not, and it has more of a rocking thing happening here, sort of along the lines of something Reverend Horton Heat might do. It’s fantastic and a whole lot of fun. I imagine this song must be a highlight of the trio’s live performances. The album concludes with “Try,” which was also included on The Big 5-0. Mike Jacoby’s delivery of that first word, “Hey,” is quite a bit different from the original recording, and so it puts us in a different frame of mind when receiving the rest of each line. It’s an interesting effect. There is something more intimate about it, like this is a one-on-one conversation. “Hey, try not to notice/Hey, try feeling cold/Hey, try tired and lonely/Hey, try growing old.” And then in the second half, it kicks into higher gear, in a way that the original recording did not, and becomes more positive, more hopeful. “Hey, try even harder/Hey, try pushing through/Hey, try all around us/Hey, try I love you.” That last line is repeated, and its final delivery is a cappella. What better way to end an album in these trying times than with “I love you”?

CD Track List

1. There Oughta Be A Law
2. Stomp The Gas
3. Your Love Song
4. Explaining To Do
5. Lie In Bed
6. Ready When You Are
7. Lay Of The Land
8. Here And Now
9. Resume Speed, Texas
10. Try

Rocket Fuel Logic was released on June 21, 2024.