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| Bbc |
 On his third album, the US soul singer Eli “Paperboy” Reed proves he isn’t just a high-octane performer strutting his stuff on the dance scene, but a songwriter with a genuine flair for pastiche. In this collection of songs, largely self-penned, he recalls the feel-good factor of the mid-1960s in sentiment and tone: you can almost smell the slicked-back hair of Eli and his accompanying male vocal group as they schmooze their way through the slow burning ballad Pick a Number, or let rip with a an exuberant rock‘n’roller like Tell Me What I Wanna Hear.Sixties culture, from the performers themselves to the TV shows, plays fast and loose as reference points. There are echoes of a Quincy Jones TV theme in Young Girl, Eli’s raw vocal pyrotechnics in Just Like Me recall Wilson Pickett, and then he summons the sweeter sound of Sam Cooke on the title-track. Eli’s irrepressible personality shines through this varied and very appealing collection of songs, and tunes abound. Two country style songs, Time Will Tell and You Can Run On, offer contrasting approaches to the genre whilst Explosion, the album’s firecracker finale, brings to mind a review of his stage show in The New York Times: “a raucous, riveting, live act”. Eli’s trademark howl and falsetto are much in evidence, but the voice also has an endearing creamy tone which shows to advantage in songs like Pick Your Battles....full text |
| Allmusic |
| Ever since the dawn of the electric guitar, white boys have sung the blues, some with considerably more success than others. Eli “Paperboy” Reed is part of that long tradition, but he stands apart from the pack as much as he belongs to it, due in large part to his age. Raised on CD reissues of classic blues and soul -- he was not even 10 when the first Complete Stax/Volt Singles box came out -- Reed has absorbed the sound and sensibility of classic ‘60s soul but sings without any white-boy blues affectations, totally comfortable in his own skin because nobody else his age, of any race, was attempting to make this kind of music. This can cause a kind of a disconnect -- Reed sounds so white when he sings, it’s disarming -- but he pours on the passion and has fully absorbed the tight turns of Stax and loves the sound as much as the structure, so much so that Come and Get It! -- his third LP and first for a major label -- feels a bit like an unearthed relic, built on songs and sounds that could pass for unheard gems if it wasn’t for Reed’s unapologetically white voice, free of affectations and ticks. Some of that may be due to producer Mike Elizondo’s work -- he manages to make this sound like a throwback without being stiff, and without having a hint of Mark Ronson’s hipster retroism for Amy Winehouse -- but he’s just articulating Reed’s gifts, letting the songs stand front and center. And that’s what’s remarkable about Come and Get It!: this is not a modern-day blues album, it’s a classic soul album, with almost all the tracks clocking in at 3:30 or less, leaving very little room for showboating solos. All concentration is on the tunes themselves, with the band kicking them toward kineticism, Reed channeling all his energy into making the songs sing, and they wind up sticking, sounding a bit like forgotten classics upon first listen, then winding up as familiar favorites upon the second. If there is any fault here, it’s that Reed’s voice remains perennially boyish, sometimes preventing this from achieving a level of gravity, but there’s no attempt to hide this: it’s an honest reflection of who Reed is, a young kid from Boston in love with the Southern sounds of the ‘60s and intent on carrying them on, even if he invites ridicule or scorn. He believes it, man, and based on Come and Get It!, it’s hard not to believe it too....full text |
| Thephoenix |
| Local boy Eli "Paperboy" Reed isn't so local anymore. Now based in Brooklyn instead of Brookline, Reed has been touring Europe for several months, satisfying that continent's thirst for authentic American soul and R&B. And when it comes to lyrical soul vérité and scorching vocal performances that conjure greats from Sam Cooke ("Tell Me") to Sam & Dave ("Name Calling"), the "Paperboy" delivers the goods. Impeccably produced at Somerville's Q Division Studios, Come and Get It! is Reed's major-label debut, and it should be interesting to see what happens as Capitol tries to market him to Duffy and Raphael Saadiq fans. The lead-off "Young Girl" — a tribute to the man for whom it was a 1967 hit, the late Boston soul singer Frank Lynch, and the only track out of 12 here not written by Reed — skips along like a rare Archie Drell cut. "You Can Run On" aims straight for a Soul Stirrers–style hootenanny. In fact, what separates Reed from his would-be contemporaries is just how much Come and Get It! is not a pop-crossover record — a point that is the album's strength, as well as its potential weakness....full text |
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