Eli Paperboy Reed - Nights Like This (2014)

Tracklist

01. Well, Alright Now
02. Grown Up Explicit
03. WooHoo
04. Nights Like This
05. Lonely World
06. Shock to the System
07. Not Even Once
08. Shoes
09. Ain't Worth It (Goodbye)
10. Pistol Shot
11. Two Broken Hearts

From the start, Eli "Paperboy" Reed has specialized in soul like they used to make back in the good old days, but being a revivalist only goes so far. Sooner or later, revivalists hit their glass ceiling, left with only two paths forward: either grind out a living on a blues circuit or place all their chits on a crossover. Reed opts for the latter on Nights Like This, his first album for Warner that also, for most intents and purposes, functions as a reboot of his entire career. He replaces his Stax foundation with a stack of Motown 7"s that are indeed more welcoming to his new style, a fashion heavily indebted to the productions of Mark Ronson, particularly his sharp neo-soul for Amy Winehouse. At times, Nights Like This quite explicitly draws connections between Ronson and Reed - "Shock to the System" rides a Tamla bounce that's quite similar to "Valerie" - but Reed also shows an awareness for sounds that have reached the charts in the 2010s. "Lonely Word" opens with a desolate piano plonk that's a dead-ringer for Katy Perry's "Roar," but Reed and his chief collaborator Ryan Spaker generally don't dive head-first into complete crossover territory (with its iciness, it's reminiscent of a warmer Ryan Tedder). He still favors tightly written, cannily structured songs, but this time favoring aggressively friendly melodies and R&B stomps to signifiers of authenticity, and that craftsmanship is why his music is appealing whether dressed in thrift-store suits or modern threads. Underneath all this gloss and glitz - and, to be sure, there is a lot of razzle-dazzle here, enough so that it may alienate some fans of his earlier, simpler material - Reed remains the same sharp, skillful soulman, one whose good taste and craft are hard to resist.

DOWNLOAD ALBUM [flac]