There’ve been a great many old talents that get strutted around past their prime only to muddy a fond remembrance of past glories. Nathaniel Mayer might be another. It’s honestly dependent upon one’s perception of the two full lengths that the guy was involved with after his twenty year absence from music.

During the early ‘80s, Mayer cropped up and released a surprising single. No one had heard from him for almost a decade at that point. Moving still further back, the singer’s recordings from the latter part of the ‘60s, while perhaps as strong as his ‘hit,’ weren’t met with anything other than a tepid reception. That one hit, recorded in ’62 – “Village of Love” – has become a sort of right of passage for garage bands.  Released forty-seven years ago, that song obviously reveals its age. All group backing and doo wop styled crooning colors the track. The soul clapping’s a plus, but at this late date, the covers are almost as interesting as the original. Not to denigrate the track, it’s obviously been widely embraced, but some of Mayer’s JB’s styled work outs are perhaps as entertaining now.

Regardless of that, since around 1980, Mayer was virtually lost. There’d be sporadic sightings and the like. But with the garage explosion that happened during the late nineties and the early aughties, bands from Detroit sought to embrace the singer. Eventually working out a deal with Alive – a Bomp! subsidiary – Mayer headed back to the studio and wrote a new spate of tunes with Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys and some other folks. The recordings that resulted were collected on Why Don't You Give It to Me? and released in 2007. The disc received a wave of positive reviews and seemed to grant Mayer a second career.

As life is a perpetual bummer, though, the singer suffered a series of strokes during the following year and passed away.

That simple fact – and it is horrific considering not just the loss of life, but the fact that  Mayer seemed to have found a new and perfect format for his voice – makes the release of Why Won't You Let Me Be Black? this past August seem suspect. The disc is comprised of a series of leftovers from the 2007 sessions that yielded that other disc. So is this a case of the label trotting out a disc to make a dollar or did they genuinely want all of these tracks to see the light of day?

Admittedly, “The Girl Next Door” could be one of the best songs that I’ve heard all year, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the disc counts for too much. It’s not all bad, but “Mr. Tax Man” is just this side of God awful. There’s a childlike drum beat behind some average guitar vamps. It might not be as offensive to those who worship at the Auerbach alter, but there’s not too much here worth keeping.

Regardless of this second collection, Mayer’s career has received a second look. So Alive can be applauded for that.