The Rill Thing

The Rill Thing was Little Richard's comeback album after a three-year hiatus on new albums. Utilizing yet another new sound, the 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 100; 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).

The Rill Thing
Studio album by
Little Richard
ReleasedAugust 1970
Recorded11 March 1970 - 2 June 1970
GenreRock and roll, soul
Length39:22
LabelReprise
ProducerLittle Richard
Little Richard chronology
Little Richard's Greatest Hits: Recorded Live!
(1967)		 The Rill Thing
(1970)		 Mr. Big
(1971)

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 about a year and a half before reported usage of cocaine [1] 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
  1. White, Charles. (2003), so Richard Himself was quite focused on the material and even invested his own money , in the project . The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Authorised Biography. Omnibus Press.
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