Revenge Is a Dish Best Served on Soul 45!

Buddy Ace - Screaming Please

The male "revenge" soul song is one of the lost arts of R&B (along with 12/8 ballads and male duet singing), but from songs like Brook Benton's "It's Just a Matter of Time" and Bobby Bland's "Farther Up The Road" from the late '50s to Howard Tate and then B.B. King's "Ain't Nobody Home" in the '60s and '70s, quite a few haughty women were promised their come-uppance. Today's selection is part of that litany.

I don't know much about Buddy Ace, having initially heard of him back in the late '80s or early '90s via the WGN "Blues Goin' On" specials (where the silver-maned Ace thrilled the enthusiastic soul-blues studio audience with "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man" and was the object of a hilarious "come on" by Katie Webster in song). I know that he recorded for Duke (where he picked up the "Buddy Ace" moniker in memory of the tragic Johnny Ace) and later for Jewel, but that's about all I know. Any help from anyone?

"Screaming Please" is a 1962 Duke recording that really sounds like it should've been recorded by Bobby Bland. Ace, however, tries his best to get into his labelmate's territory, making good work of the "Fever"-styled melody and good dance beat. Ace brings a "slow burn" to the reading of the song which really works, although I can't help but think about how Bland may have put his "squall" on it to take it to that next level.