Mojo - The Music Magazine

It’s Bank Holiday Monday. He’s in London. And it’s raining. Despite these adverse conditions Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed is in chipper form as he strolls from Cottons Caribbean eatery towards The Enterprise pub. Upstairs at this 120-capacity Camden venue, Reed is due to play the first of two showcases in two days intended to introduce him to assorted movers and shakers (and indeed the odd shuffler and wobbler) as he prepares for the launch of his second album, Roll With You, set for release on June 23.

Tonight, Reed takes to the stage without his eight-piece band, the True Loves, and reinterprets key tracks from his new album in a stripped down manner. Opener Stake Your Claim sees him fumbling his way through the chords on a guitar he’s borrowed from his friend Nick Lowe, but it doesn’t take long for Reed to find his mark in a set that highlights once again just how powerful his voice is.

In the past comparisons have been made between Reed and soul heavyweights such as Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, but tonight the 24 year-old Bostonian is his own man, using his Mississippi apprenticeship to inform tracks such as Am I Wasting My Time, Walking And Talking (the title track of his debut album) and It’s Easier with a rare fire and passion.

“Being without the band means that I get to play some songs that they don’t know but that I love,” states Reed as his set progresses. As a finale one of those songs includes a hair-raising cover of the Soul Stirrers’ Last Mile Of The Way that is a further example of lessons well-learnt in the company of soul star-turned-minister, Mitty Collier.

Reed’s 50-minute set is met with widespread approbation and swift sales of the few advance copies of Roll With You which he has with him. “Time for chips!” declares the Paperboy. A man with few airs and graces, he then heads for the tube that will transport him from Camden to his Central London hotel.

The following Tuesday evening, MOJO arrives at The Dublin Castle where Eli is a late addition to a four band bill, playing just before ridiculously named Ham Sandwich. It looks like yet another inglorious proposition, made even more so my the fact that Reed has split the trousers from his knee to his groin on the fetching green tonic suit he’s sporting. Masking tape is swiftly applied and the show does indeed go on, with Reed taking to the stage in front of an audience that includes the likes of Nick Lowe and Mark Lamarr.

Fresh from his success the previous night, Reed slips into his set and adds his customary jovial patter to a set that once again combs through Roll With You – a noted highlight includes (Am I Just) Fooling Myself. Following a rambunctious 30 minute set, the applause garnered by Reed solicit an encore which even the sound man gives a thumbs up to. Once again, Reed turns to a gospel track – the hugely emotive Too Close To Heaven by Alex Bradford – for his final bow. It is a momentous end to a set which once again underlines both Reed’s authenticity and range. Put simply, his return to these shores in July with The True Loves is a truly tantalising prospect. Watch this space…