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Reed’s Capitol Records debut, due May 10 in the U.K and August 10 Stateside, is a wall-to-wall barn-burner. In fact, it’s exactly the kind of record legions of jaded critics and burned-out music fans claim isn’t made anymore.
But the best part about the album is that it captures much of what the singer has built his reputation on – the energy of his live shows, which The New York Times called “raucous” and “riveting.” And Reed’s about to hit the road for an extensive tour that will see him heating up venues across the globe.
The trek kicks off April 26 in Berlin, with additional European stops in France, The Netherlands, Spain and Ireland and U.K. shows in London, Manchester, Brighton, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast.
The U.S. leg of the run kicks off June 3 at New York City’s Mercury Lounge, with dates currently on the books through the middle of the month.
After you listen to Come And Get It, you’re going to be in for a shock when you seek out a video. The man who many are likening to a modern Otis Redding or Wilson Pickett is a baby-faced Boston boy who looks like an extra from the Broadway musical version of “Hairspray” and is prone to wearing sharkskin suits. As a matter of fact, those suits, coupled with his energetic performing style, have caused him to suffer a “wardrobe malfunction” a time or two.
“I had gotten a new blue sharkskin suit that I loved, and I was doing a ballad where I got down on one knee and suddenly the entire left pant leg ripped wide open,” Reed told Rolling Stone. “I was standing there with one pant leg. There were three songs left in the set, and there wasn’t much I could do but finish the set. I rip a lot of pants.”
But don’t think for a moment the singer wandered off the Boston common and into the shoes of soul greats like Redding and Pickett overnight. His musical journey has taken him from “a high school band room to a Mississippi Delta juke joint, from Sunday morning gigs behind the organ at a tiny South Side church to headlining the coolest clubs in Brooklyn with his red-hot band [The True Loves].”
“It’s been a wild ride, that’s for sure,” Reed explained. “For me, it’s all about writing pop songs. Soul music was the greatest pop music of the 20th century and its influence is so far-reaching. When I pick up a guitar to write a song, the influence of the music I love invariably comes out. I can’t sing or write any other way than I do.”
Check out “Come And Get It” and other tracks by Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves on the singer’s MySpace page.