Richard entitled his classic self-produced 14-song LP "Living Room!!" in honor of the studio where it was recorded -- in engineer Nick DiFabbio's living room.

Richard opened the album with dialogue from the movie "The Trip" starring Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern. (Bruce Dern asks Peter Fonda: "You want to go over the bridge, back into the living room?" to which Fonda responds, "Yeah, the living room...the living ROOM!") Dialogue from "Born Yesterday" leads into "Union County Line" wherein Broderick Crawford's character talks about his hometown of Plainfield, New Jersey -- also Richard's hometown. (All segues were deleted for the re-release.)

In 1989, Rolling Stone gave "Living Room!!" a glowing review, describing Richard as "an undiscovered treasure", leading to Richard's signing with Cypress/A&M Records, who re-released the album in 1990.