After his incredible run on Specialty Records in the late 1950s, Little Richard released records sporadically throughout the 1960s for a number of established, and not so established, labels.

His signing to Warner Bros. in 1970 proved a comeback with three stellar releases for the label: The Rill Thing (1970), The King Of Rock And Roll (1971), and The Second Coming (1972).

Those three releases, along with 1986’s Lifetime Friend were expanded and reissued by Omnivore Recordings in 2021. in 1973, he returned with a new single, “In The Name,” on Kent Records. Then, an album appeared on a Kent subsidiary, United Records: Right Now!

Right Now!, its genesis, and recording are relatively mysterious. Per Richard’s autobiography, the set was cut in one night with Robert “Bumps” Blackwell in order to secure funds for an upcoming tour.

Other than “In The Name” carrying a recording date of January, 1973, that’s all of the information we have. No songwriters are listed on the artwork, and while “Dock Of The Bay” and “Chains Of Love” looked (and are) familiar, the track “Chain Chain Chain” was in fact the Aretha Franklin classic “Chain Of Fools.”

While Richard calls out musicians’ names in the recordings, who they actually are is speculation.

1. In The Name
2. Mississippi
3. Don’t You Know I
4. Chain, Chain, Chain (Chain Of Fools)
5. Gerald Jones
6. (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay
7. Chains Of Love
8. Hot Nuts

This dutifully sculpted slice of musical wonderment, opens on the rambunctious In The Name and the free wheeling Mississippi, before we are brought forth the aching balladry of Don’t You Know I and the Motown foot-tapper Chain, Chain, Chain (Chain Of Fools).

In this storming attempt by the legendary rocker to recapture the excitement of his 50’s Specialty Records years, along next is yet another boisterous, funky foot-tapper Gerald Jones which is in turn backed by a simply marvelous rendition of (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay, the recording rounding out on the languishing ballad Chains Of Love, closing on the drum led, solidly-grooved Hot Nuts.

And so, what is clearly shown is that this album is a total scorcher! Richard’s barrelhouse keyboards set the tracks jumping—running in length from under three to over eight minutes.

There are soul ballads (“Don’t You Know I”), stompers (“Gerald Jones”), and slow blues. Had Richard and Blackwell known that the release would come out as unadorned and poorly distributed as it did, they might have had reservations. But, out it came on a budget label, and was relegated to the cutout bins and never reissued until now.

Restored and Remastered, Right Now! returns after 50 years—for the first time on CD and Digital, plus a sunflare colored vinyl release for Record Store Day. With updated artwork and a new essay from Bill Dahl, the time for Right Now! is right now!

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