Anxiety said:

yikes. he took a classic and stripped it of it's urgency, color, and ultimitely it's majesty. stop messin with the classics! and those vocals!

You know what? (Although most of you won't care and probably not agree)
I am so fucking sick of having to jump through hoops and webpages and fucking files and whatnot to hear a fucking song!!!!

I mean how fucking hard is it? Yo Prince do you want my fucking money?
If Wendy and Lisa can deliver music in a variety of ways to cater to everyone (mp3s, flac, physically through the post) then why the fuck can't you? I mean seriously, you shit gold compared to me. I have to pay $77 dollars for shit quality videos or be a fucking web-hound on some festival website?

I don't want someone to have to tell me how to change the url of a file so I can then use some fucking program to record a shitty low quality version of a song and then lose it when a computer crashes!!!!

Print it on a disc in a properly mastered version (which obviously exists) and I will give you money for it! No hoops....no fucking "web exclusive" bullshit. Hey, I'll even pay you to ship it to me? What a fucking novel idea!!!!!

ok you can all tell me to now

Edit - what's next? I gotta stick my USB in prince's arse?
[Edited 7/16/09 4:53am]

connorhawke said:

Best post since forever!!!

Plus, this really is turd when you listen back to back with the 'real' version.

Don't understand the haters on here, He's decided to revist an old track and we now have two different but brilliant versions of this song.

Good on yer!!

Hoping to expect more similar stuff in the future?

PicassoFace said:

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.

"
is missing:Eric Leeds, Wendy, Sheila E, Lisa, Atlanta and a few others... "

So according to you if others are playing on this track they can't be friends of Prince?

Some of you need to get out of the past that you are living in

Frankly I'm amazed that he dusted off the vault at all, but when he does how the hell are people supposed to NOT compare that the past - especially given that we've all wanted him to release this stuff in proper for so long.

jasontate said:

I have to co-co sign to his post as well

You can listen to a new recording of "In a large room with no light" by prince on the official website of the Montreux Jazzfest website.

http://www.montreuxjazz.c...ws&page=79

http://www.montreuxjazz.c...50__310__0
[Edited 7/14/09 21:45pm]

Anxiety said:

Agreed, on all points.

It's unfortunate that Prince fandom has degenerated into binaries:

old Prince vs new Prince
W&L + Prince vs Prince solo
rock Prince vs r&b Prince
explicit lyrics label Prince vs swear jar Prince
and so on.

And if you happen to fall in (or out) one of those sides, you're automatically assigned the characteristics of every other thing in the binary that has nothing to do with your praise or criticism.

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.

jasontate said:

I have to co-co sign to his post as well

toots said:

NO! This post is no good. When I didn't have the money for one cd...I traded in ten to get one. It's people like U that have killed the record stores because U don't want to support musicians and their art! Just because the computer makes your world easier to consume things... Go out and buy the inspired.

I believe in Hard Copies...If U can't afford something right now then wait, or have a garage sale.

I was responding 2 connorhawke.

toots said:

NO! This post is no good. When I didn't have the money for one cd...I traded in ten to get one. It's people like U that have killed the record stores because U don't want to support musicians and their art! Just because the computer makes your world easier to consume things... Go out and buy the inspired.

I believe in Hard Copies...If U can't afford something right now then wait, or have a garage sale.

tragic

Tame said:

Yes I know. I just don't agree with what you said.

xlr8r said:

The new version or the posts on this thread?