If It's Too Loud...

Steely Dan is in a bit of a resurgence lately. I can't say I've ever gotten the whole Steely Dan thing, but I do love when Eli Paperboy Reed turns a non-soul/R&B song into his own style, and that's what he's done with "Do It Again." The jazz rock classic is reworked as a classic soul song, which is what Reed has always done best. Steely Dan fans may enjoy this as a curiosity, but fans of Reed's and neo-soul in general are going to love this as just a killer soul song. That's one of Reed's superpowers: He can take a song you've never liked and turn it into gold. Eli Paperboy Reed says of the new song: " Sometimes it pays when things don’t work out. From time to time, I get asked to do things for movies, television and commercials. In this instance, I was asked to put my spin on Steely Dan’s 'Do It Again.' My concept (inspired by the sounds of my friend Nick Waterhouse), came fast. I took my Brooklyn crew into my favorite all-ana...

Last year we were pleasantly surprised by Eli Paperboy Reed's album of Merle Haggard covers. The neo-soul long timer taking on classic country songs didn't sound like it would work, but Reed pulled it off expertly. Imagine our surprise when we saw that Reed had released a cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades." A soul version of a (if not the) legendary metal/punk song really shouldn't work, but this is great. Sure, there's the novelty factor of a soul version of a classic metal song at work here, but it's impossible not to enjoy Reed's version of "Ace of Spades" purely as a great song. This is a ton of fun, and a surprise must listen. Eli Paperboy Reed says of his cover: “‘The Ace of Spades’ basically happened by accident.  My guitar player at the time started playing the iconic riff at a soundcheck and I, having never heard the original, started playing along. The band fell in and the arrangement wrote itself.” You can listen to Eli Paper...