Expanded edition of legendary comic’s landmark debut.

“What you hold in your hands is something precious: both the landmark debut that was, and the piece of cultural dynamite that might have been. In its original form, Richard Pryor alerted the world that Pryor had stepped out of Bill Cosby’s long shadow and developed a style—surreal, nervy, improvisational—that was all his own.”

From the liner notes by Scott Saul

Originally released in 1968, Richard Pryor’s cover art (shot by legendary photographer Henry Diltz) should have been enough to let the buyer know this was not your average comedy release. Pryor was at a career crossroads that year, when the earliest tracks for the release were recorded at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. He’d already become a regular on The Merv Griffin Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, and was signed to the same agency that handled The Beatles and The Supremes. But it wasn’t just his love of artistic freedom that pulled him toward what many looked at as defiance. Pryor wanted to not only change comedy, but how we look at ourselves and those around us.

Richard Pryor’s original 8 tracks make up disc one of this new edition, while the second disc contains 21 tracks from the out-of-print Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966-1974) collection—originally compiled by producers Reggie Collins and Steve Pokorny, the former of whom helms this new set along with Jennifer Lee Pryor and Grammy®-winning producer, Cheryl Pawelski. With new liner notes from Scott Saul, author of Becoming Richard Pryor, and restoration from Grammy®-winner, Michael Graves, Richard Pryor is ready to start a comedy to start a comedy revolution. Again.

CD / Digital Track List:

Disc 1:

1. Super Nigger
2. Girls
3. Farting
4. Prison Play
5. T.V. Panel Show
6. Smells
7. Army Life
8. Frankenstein

Disc 2 – Bonus Tracks:

1. Peoria
2. Improv, Pt. 1
3. Heart & Brain
4. Taxi Cabs & Subways
5. Playboy Club
6. Rumpelstiltskin
7. Slippin’ In Poo Poo
8. Birth Control
9. Nigger Babies
10. Faith Healer
11. Black Power
12. I Feel
13. Jail
14. Directions
15. Movie Stars In The Bathroom
16. War Movies
17. The Army
18. Hippy Dippys
19. Hank’s Place
20. Improv, Pt. 2
21. Mankind