Comedy King Brian is taking on the work of Richard Pryor now, I used to be something of a fan back in my teens, basicially I remember "Bicentennial Nigger" and "That Nigger's Crazy', not much else, I'm sure there will a mountian of this stuff eventually, I'll let the much more knowledgeable Brian comment on these, as always, they can be found on his blog as well as mine, just an easy jump from here.....
http://howdthehellyougethere.blogspot.com/
matters not to either of us where you get them from, just so you know they are out there for ya.
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Are You Serious? DOWNLOAD
Some of his best stories about growing up are on these last two. I can't separate this in my head from "Wizard", so I ain't dissecting these two. They're both as good as "Craps", though. Download them!
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Wizard of Comedy DOWNLOAD
The After Hours routine from "Craps" is repeated here, but it's just as hilarious this time out. Other good stuff - "Cold Blood", "The Healer", "Army".
http://howdthehellyougethere.blogspot.com/
matters not to either of us where you get them from, just so you know they are out there for ya.
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Richard Pryor Discography Part 1 - the Laff Records Years
Richard Pryor was the other pillar of standup comedy next to George Carlin. The one edge Rich had over George was his knack for making comedy from the most tragic, intensely personal details of his life. Without him, the entire comic scene - black and white - would be very different. Pryor's story was sad, though: that childhood, the divorces, the drug problems, the burns, the disease that incapacitated him for the last 15 years of his life....I hope he has peace now.
I was gonna do all the Carlin before I put any Richard Pryor up, but all this stuff uploaded easy so here it is!
There are two areas of Pryor's discography, and the differences between them should be addressed. You have the six late 70's/early 80's albums he released on Reprise - those are in the Warner Brothers box set, and those are coming in another post.
Then you have the stuff he released on Laff Records.
Laff was an indie label that released Pryor's breakout "Craps" album. After Pryor jumped to Stax, then Reprise where he achieved stardom, Laff started releasing albums of Pryor's that they'd recorded between 1969 and 1973. I mean, a lot of them! Several are of questionable quality. As I've dig through vinyl over the years, I've managed to score all of them; including strange stuff like "L.A. Jail", the bad hodgepodge "Insane", and the straight repackaging of "Craps" under the title "Blackjack". What's funny is: Pryor would be in The Wiz, Laff released "Wizard of Comedy". He starred in Superman III, they released "Supernigger"....and now the stuff is all out on iTunes!
One can't ignore the Laff records years though, so I've included here the best releases from the Laff end of things. If I had my way, "Black Ben the Blacksmith" would be here, but since "Richard Pryor" covers the same stuff, it's OK. That's also why "Supernigger" isn't here. Everything else is good. There's some material overlap between "Craps", "Wizard of Comedy", and "Are You Serious?", but since it's great material, no worries.
NOTE: one issue about "Wizard" and "Craps"....they were ripped from CDs I'd made a long time ago, so they are in m4a and don't have much track info. I did put the titles on them, though, and they should come out in order. "Richard Pryor" and "Rev. Du Rite" were both folded into iZip from my iTunes, so hopefully there shouldn't be any problem with those two.
Richard Pryor DOWNLOAD
Pryor's 1968 debut was already a boundary-pusher. I mean, it contains a bit called "Supernigger"! Rich seems a little keyed up and anxious - he hasn't quite obtained the ease of his classic material - but this is a funny album.
Rev. du Rite (first link)
I put this one in with "Richard Pryor" because they were both small, and also because this sounds like early material. This is one of the Laff ones I warned about, and also one of the last released (in 1982), so it's leftovers of leftovers, BUT I put it here cuz it has material that isn't on the other stuff. The title track has a tape speed problem (probably why it sat in a vault so long), but it is one of his funnier preacher bits.
Craps DOWNLOAD
This was the first album of Richard's I ever bought, and is still probably my favorite. He's completely locked in here: great bits just fly off the top of his head. This is the perfect version of the bit "After Hours". The only problem with this album is that it is indexed into too many tracks, often with a second or two audio dropout. Maybe I'm biased, but I think this is one of the best comedy albums ever.
Some of his best stories about growing up are on these last two. I can't separate this in my head from "Wizard", so I ain't dissecting these two. They're both as good as "Craps", though. Download them!
Wizard of Comedy DOWNLOAD
The After Hours routine from "Craps" is repeated here, but it's just as hilarious this time out. Other good stuff - "Cold Blood", "The Healer", "Army".
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Thanks for your work, Brian, I and the rest of the folks here DO appreciated your time and effort