There are a couple of reasons Eli “Paperboy” Reed is not recognized as one of the 1960s’ great soul singers. 

First, Reed was born in ’83. And second, the musician is as likely to lend his cries and smooth pleas to dramatically reworked, festooned-with-brass renditions of Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades” and Steely Dan’s “Do it Again” as he is to take on more genre-friendly material like Latimore’s “Let’s Straighten it Out.” 

These are but three of the 11 cuts on Hits and Misses: The Singles, which collects tracks previously available only as 45-rpm vinyls at Reed’s gigs. 

Also including such left-field selections as Bob Dylan’s “To be Alone with You” and Merle Haggard’s “I’m Gonna Break Every Heart I Can,” this is a soul record through and through with the exception of the whimsical rocker “IDKWYCTD (I Came to Play)” from “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” and one of three originals on the compilation. 

As if to underscore this soul bonafides, Reed tapped the Swampers to back him on live-in-studio takes of Jimmy Hughes’ “Steal Away” and the Soul Children’s “I Don’t Know What the World is Coming To.” 

This album could’ve accurately been called Hits: The Singles, for while Reed is not a chart topper, the titular misses are missing from this collection of neo-soul classics.