that his official web site is D-E-A-D.

muleFunk said:

Well, yea. He's Jesus. Don't you think the son of God could do a bit better than a glass of ice water? If he came all the way to Hell, least he could do is get you out of there.

i don't understand how this track can get anyone as passionately polarized as what i'm seeing on this thread. it's not great and it's not horrible. the fact that he remade the song in the first place has great novelty value to me - i think it's fun that he did it at all. when i saw the news, i didn't expect the new version to be earth-shattering, but i knew i'd find it interesting. and i was right on all counts.

i don't think it's the most horrible thing prince has ever done. far, FAR from it. and for those who think it's just the most amazing thing ever, well, good for you, i guess. if you like it that much, then making the track wasn't a wasted effort on prince's part.

the only "passionate" opinion i can agree with on here is that it should have been made available on LF.com, or at the very least he should have sent out a message about it on the LF.com mailing list. the fact that he didn't sends a message loud and clear that his official web site is D-E-A-D.

quite disappointing.
a friend of mind said it very well,

it sounds like something that should be played @ a JW picnic populated exclusively by folks taken from their literature, viz



‘TRA-LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA, SHA LA LA LA LA, SHA-LA-LA!’

and musically he replaced most everything i liked about the original! (sheila, eric, that little keyboard burst every other line that sounds like a power-up from a videogame or something, the line about little MFers talking big stuff in your face, and the HUGE production)…and why does he pronounce it 'pinny' now???

i wonder how long he spent on this…sounds like it was probably knocked out in an afternoon. compare to:

It was May of 1986 and Prince was going thru a period of renewal and change. Parade, his latest album was just released to good reviews and the first single, KISS, was #1 on the charts. At #2 was The Bangles MANIC MONDAY, which was also written by Prince, so he his professional life was going well. The second single, MOUNTAINS, was about to be released, and the world was waiting for his 2nd movie, “Under The Cherry Moon”. Not one to ever rest on his laurels, Prince had already begun creating his next project. The previous weeks had him holed up in Minneapolis, where he was recording a great deal and trying not to focus on the demise of his relationship with Susannah Melvoin. She had recently moved out of his home in Minneapolis and he decided to fly to Los Angeles and bury himself in his recording.

Saturday, May 3, 1986
Studio 3, Sunset Sound, Los Angeles

Prince asked his engineer Coke Johnson to set up the studio for a new batch of recordings. Because the Revolution was rehearsing and touring together during much of this period, they were invited into the studio.

Coke arrived at the studio at 11:30 and began the set up for a band recording, but it wasn’t until 4 that people started showing up. During group jams, it wasn't uncommon for Prince and whoever was invited in the studio to just groove and record the entire session. Sometimes Prince would be inspired, sometimes he would hear something amazing and that would dictate the direction of the session. It was not an exact science and sometimes people got left off of credits, depending on Prince's mood and generosity. On other occasions, a familiar song would come up in the groove and everyone would start focusing on recording a cover of that song. On this day, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Sheila E., Levi Seacer Jr., Eric Leeds, and Matt Blistan joined Prince to work on the classic song “Get On Up” by The Esquires (from their 1967 release on Bunky Records). After laying down the familiar jam, Prince led them into recording a new jazz-fusion song called “In A Large Room With No Light” (sometimes inaccurately referred to as “Welcome 2 The Ratrace”). The song was based on a jam by Wendy and Lisa.

Eric Leeds remembered this session:
“We also did … another song that Wendy and Lisa...we recorded live with Wendy and Lisa. I cannot remember whether Levi was there, I want to believe he was. Sheila played drums, the vocals, the background vocals were done by Sheila and Wendy and Lisa. Susannah might have been there but I don't remember. The horns were myself, Matt Blisston, and Norbert Stachel, who was Sheila's saxophone player by now, Eddie M having left. He was there for that session, playing alto sax, for a song called "Have you ever felt that love was like looking for a penny in a large room with no light”. It is like....Prince does Fifth Dimension. It was one of my favorite songs we ever did. It was an absolutely wonderful performance live, Sheila just absolutely kicked butt on it, it was just a great song, and unlike anything Prince has ever done. Very unique song, and a great song. It was another one of those cases where I thought, just really felt that we were part of something special on that one. And that's a song that I really hope sees the light of day some time, personally."

The recordings took place until midnight.

Sunday, May 4, 1986
Studio 3, Sunset Sound

Prince asked various members of the Revolution to show up for overdubs for yesterday’s session. Prince also included Sheila’s band member, Norbert Stachel to record various saxophone overdubs. From 3pm to midnight, additional layers were added to GET ON UP and to IN A LARGE ROOM WITH NO LIGHT. Prince and Coke spent the next 5 hours mixing the tracks.

At 5 in the morning, Prince realized the mixes were missing some additional vocals so he spent the next 7 hours adding his vocals as well as other background vocals to the tracks. If you listen closely to LARGE ROOM, you can hear the layered vocals behind the busy track.

Monday, May 5, 1986
Studio 3, Sunset Sound

The session didn’t stop. It was not uncommon for Prince to continue for hours at a time if he felt like he had a mission. This was one of those instances. From noon to 2:30 pm, Prince spent the time mixing the new vocals into the song and copying them on to cassette (2 TDK C-60 tapes).

Prince left the studio for a short time but soon afterwards, asked to be set up for some additional mixing. Apparently he wasn’t completely happy with the songs once he played them in the car and wanted to continue working on them. Although Coke set up for the next session, Susan Rogers was called in to take over for Coke now that he had been in the studio for over 24 hours straight.

Prince showed back up just after 8pm and he and Susan spent the next 5 hours working on crossfades and edits in the tracks.

Prince would continue to tweak the track over the next few days, eventually adding it to the collection he was compiling called “Dream Factory” but that is another story for another day.

- this information is from an early draft of PRINCE: The Studio Sessions.

SomeFoolDramaQueen said:

thank you for the info, agree 100%..

Some people would criticize Jesus if he gave them a glass of ice water in Hell.

muleFunk said:

Now THIS gets the award 4 making me...




2 true, I'm afraid.

skywalker said:

I'm not really sure what your point is. I'd call this the official version and the old one the original version.

Doesn't seem that confusing to me, really.

so let me get this straight, if wendy and lisa were not on the version from 1985-1986 and let's just say boni boyer was on it instead, people would bitch about this new version cause boni wouldn't b on it? damn

I can see this now.. He will release the remade tracks on the Lotus site.. there is no doubt in my mind.


but honestly, i'd rather have some fully functional site if i'm gonna pay for it.. not some bullshit "gift" at the end sayin "I told you so"

I'd like 2 ask everyone something...

Isn't it possible 2 view this and original as 2 renditions, each 2 be appreciated 4 it's interpretation?

I like both renditions.

Ya know... there used 2 be such a thing as Standards, where it was all about an artist's interpretation, along with the arranger... especially in Jazz.

Giovanni777 said:

Its very possible. I am down with both.

It *IS* possible to not like this track and NOT be longing for W&L/Parade Prince... it is possible to love this track and still hate the new stuff... and it is possible to neither hate nor love it, but find it pleasant but unremarkable, without staking a position either way on any of the other cosmic debate battles that have taken place in Prince fandom.

errant said:

it confused the shit out of me!

is it the call sign of some new splinter group or cult ?

NuPwrSoul said:

You've changed Nu

Only joking!

L4OATheOriginal said:

um, except Boni isn't on the original and W&L are

I don't think it has anything to do with who's playing on it, except for the fact that the people who played on it originally made it one hell of a kick ass track compared to what this new version is.

I think it's just the original had more depth to it, more history more connection

I like the remix
I miss the sax/trumpet sound (Jazz) on this one,
the background vocals were perfect

But again I like this as a jazzy remix,
Yet the original was a bit of jazz fusion as well
another piece originated by Lisa Coleman

I wish he would have had Sheila play the drums on this one too and gave her voice for back up, I love their vocal interactions

I think Prince might of done this one by himself

L4OATheOriginal said:

sounds terrible.

dumbass said:

Et tu, dumbass?