Eli “Paperboy” Reed
Come and Get It
Capitol Records
9/10
Eli “Paperboy” Reed is a musical oddity. In a music scene dominated by auto-tuned techno-pop and skinny-jeaned screamers, it’s a soulful expression of the game of love. Warnings to girls whose loins would stray, longings for the missing pieces and subtle sexual innuendos are all expertly delivered with hoots and hollers that would get even your grandparents up and dancing. Horns, piano, a bombastic rhythm section and shimmery guitars pair perfectly with Reed’s voice.
While the opener, “Young Girl,” Reed lays down the style early, jumping into “Name Calling,” you get an amazing tale of “going from name-calling to calling my name.” The manly tale of love, “(If You Want the Love of a Man) Come And Get It,” says that men can exhibit emotions, if the ladies stop being turds about it. To round out the spectrum of relationship-based songs is “Pick Your Battles,” which is, of course, about how to get through fights, you know, not break up in the mean time.
If your woman wants to listen to lovey-dovey songs, but you don’t want to listen to pure horseshit, THIS is your album, the perfect blend of emotion for her, and badassery for you.
-Jonathan “The Emperor” Yost