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The Rill Thing

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Untitled

The Rill Thing was Little Richard's comeback album after three years away. Utilising yet another new sound, the largely swamp rock album contained Little Richard's biggest post-Specialty single in "Freedom Blues", which broke the Billboard top 50, and a lesser success with the follow-up single, "Greenwood, Mississippi", which made the top 90; although the tune made number 56 on Cashbox Black Singles. The title track itself was a ten-minute plus instrumental penned by Richard. Despite the success of the two tracks as singles and the inclusion of two cover versions, the album itself failed to chart. (although actual sales are reported well over 200,000).

History

Between the release of The Rill Thing and Little Richard's last album Little Richard's Greatest Hits: Recorded Live! (1967) there had been several album releases, but all were repackaged collections of songs that had already been released previously, including some of his Specialty work.

The release of the album came less than a year after Richard's performance at Atlantic City Pop Festival, and with "Freedom Blues" he had his biggest American pop hit in thirteen years. This period was shortly before reported usage of cocaine [1] and concerts to promote the album on the back of the single were increasingly erratic; though he made a memorable visit to Madison Square Garden in October 1970. After the album failed to chart, Richard returned to the studios in May 1971 to produce a follow-up for Reprise with a more "teen" sound.

Track listing

  1. "Freedom Blues" (Richard Penniman, Esquerita) - 3:01
  2. "Greenwood, Mississippi" (Travis Wammack, Albert Lowe Jr.) – 3:32
  3. "Two-Time Loser" (Larry Lee) – 3:20
  4. "Dew Drop Inn" (Richard Penniman, Esquerita, Keith Winslow) – 2:41
  5. "Somebody Saw You" (Richard Penniman) – 3:39
  6. "Spreadin' Natta, What's The Matter?" (Richard Penniman, Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Maybelle Jackson) – 4:37
  7. "Rill Thing" (Richard Penniman) – 10:27
  8. "Lovesick Blues" (Hank Williams) – 4:34
  9. "I Saw Her Standing There" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 3:31

Personnel

Tracks 1,4,7

Rest of personnel unknown, records not kept by Reprise.

Tracks 3,5,7,8,9

Technical

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1970 Billboard Pop Albums Did not chart

Single

Year Single Chart Position
1970 Freedom Blues/Dew Drop Inn Billboard Hot 100/ Cashbox Top 100/ 'Billboard R & B Chart 47/ 62/ 28
1970 Greenwood, Mississippi/I Saw Her Standing There Billboard Hot 100/ Cashbox Top 100 85/ 96

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Rill Thing.
  1. ^ White, Charles. (2003). The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Authorised Biography. Omnibus Press.
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