Previously Unreleased Richard Pryor Records Issued On Vinyl

06-20-2023

Album art

(Stand Up! Records) Previously Unreleased Richard Pryor Records Now Available on Stand Up! Records. A legend. Electric. Transformative. The greatest of all time. There's no superlative that Richard Pryor hasn't already earned, and with good reason. From the very start, his voice was both singular, truly unmatched, and plural, containing multitudes. Now, for the first time ever, Stand Up! Records is releasing three Pryor albums on vinyl: "Richard Pryor: Live at the Comedy Store 1973," "'Craps' (After Hours)," and "Richard Pryor." Listen as Pryor punctuates every laugh with a jab, sharply rebuking all the social ills that seek to divide and conquer, all the filthy, inhumane -isms that offend the senses (or rightly should). Perhaps the most astounding thing is realizing that, in 2023, not a moment of these records feels out of date or distant; it's all right there, the troubles of our times, unfolding then as they unfold now. At least then we had Richard Pryor to guide us through.

Stand Up! Records teamed up with Omnivore Records and Richard Pryor's production company Indigo to pack this double-deluxe vinyl release, "Richard Pryor," with delights aplenty: sides one and two are the original, but newly remastered classic album, recorded live at The Troubadour in 1968; sides three and four are bonus material recorded at the same time, originally issued as tracks on Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966-1974), now on vinyl for the very first time. And we've wrapped it all up with the original Grammy-nominated cover art (designed by Gary Burden) updated with the addition of the border art by another legend, Bay Area surfer and poster artist Rick Griffin, who also designed the labels. In Pryor's terms, we're fully confident: this one's a real wing-dang-doodle!

All three albums' re-releases were produced by Jennifer Lee Pryor, Reggie Collins and Cheryl Pawelski and were all mastered by Michael Graves, with vinyl remastering on the self-titled album's bonus material and lacquers cut by Greg Reierson. Check them out here.