Eli Paperboy Reed, that venerated progenitor of all things soul, R&B and Americana, today announces the October 20 release of Hits and Misses: The Singles. Featuring songs that were previously only available as 45 rpm singles at the merch table during Reed’s international tours,  this 11-track remastered collection features vividly reimagined covers spanning every genre as well as a trio of originals not on any album. 

Pre-Order “Hits and Misses: The Singles” from the Yep Roc Store 

Reed’s take on Motörhead’s classic, “The Ace of Spades,” is the first single unveiled from the forthcoming release; listen here. Reimagined as a soul revival, the pulsing organ, Memphis style-horns and chicken scratch guitar serve as a backdrop for Reed’s signature vocal wails. So convincing is Reed’s rendition of “Ace,” it had listeners wondering if it was Motörhead doing the covering rather than the other way around!

“‘The Ace of Spades’ basically happened by accident,” says Reed. “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.”

With a noirish R&B take on Steely Dan’s 1972 hit “Do It Again,” the album also includes covers of Bob Dylan’s “To Be Alone With You,” Merle Haggard’s “I’m Gonna Break Every Heart I Can,” Latimore’s 1974 hit “Let’s Straighten It Out,” showcasing a vocal intensity that’s not quite as present in the nearly spoken word original. “Steal Away“ and “I Don’t Know What the World is Coming To” were cut live at FAME in Muscle Shoals, with the swampers David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, and Spooner Oldham.

The collection also includes three Reed originals, including the high-energy, anthemic party starter “IDKWYCTD (I Came to Play),” featured in Disney’s Marvel comic series, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

 Now eight albums deep in a nearly two-decade career, the earliest tracks on “Hits and Misses” were cut in 2009, following Reed’s career-launching album, Roll With You, and the latest in 2020, just before the release of his critically acclaimed album of Merle Haggard songs, Down Every Road.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Reed spent much of his teens and twenties immersing himself in the juke joint culture of the Mississippi Delta and playing organ and piano in the Chicago church of famed gospel singer Mitty Collier. A series of studio albums earned widespread critical acclaim, with NPR hailing his music as “inspired, raw and powerful,” and Uncut lauding its “urgent, electric energy.”

Hits & Misses: The Singles Tracklisting:

SIDE A

1. Ace Of Spades
2. Do It Again
3. To Be Alone With You
4. Anytime You Want Me
5. IDKWYCTD (I Came To Play)
6. Let’s Straighten It Out

SIDE B

1. Bad Girl
2. I Don’t Know (What The World Is Coming To)
3. I’m Gonna Break Every Heart I Can
4. That’s Love
5. Steal Away