|
Post by Deepfriar on Jun 18, 2018 19:51:51 GMT -6
I've been revisiting some Petra lately (was some of the earliest Christian rock I was exposed to as a kid) and I'm curious if anyone else likes them. If so, what's your favorite era? Favorite album(s)?
|
|
|
Post by Bartimaeus on Jun 19, 2018 9:13:28 GMT -6
I love Petra! My dad and I used to listen to them all the time. I credit them for stoking my love of guitar driven rock and roll, eventually leading me to METAL! I always liked them a little better than Stryper, thought I'm not entirely sure why. I didn't really dig the Greg X Volz (sp?) era of the band, but love the direction that John Schlitt took them. Beyond belief has been and is still my favorite album. I like some of the heavier stuff they did later, but BB has stood the test of time. Jekell and Hyde was an entertaining album, too. I love listening to the compilations (Petrafied, Petra Means Rock) as it's easy stuff for my whole family to enjoy. I think Bob Hartman was/is one of the best rock guitarists I've ever heard live. I remember liking Petra Praise, but listening to it again... Meh.
|
|
|
Post by Deepfriar on Jun 20, 2018 22:06:10 GMT -6
I love Petra! My dad and I used to listen to them all the time. I credit them for stoking my love of guitar driven rock and roll, eventually leading me to METAL! I always liked them a little better than Stryper, thought I'm not entirely sure why. I didn't really dig the Greg X Volz (sp?) era of the band, but love the direction that John Schlitt took them. Beyond belief has been and is still my favorite album. I like some of the heavier stuff they did later, but BB has stood the test of time. Jekell and Hyde was an entertaining album, too. I love listening to the compilations (Petrafied, Petra Means Rock) as it's easy stuff for my whole family to enjoy. I think Bob Hartman was/is one of the best rock guitarists I've ever heard live. I remember liking Petra Praise, but listening to it again... Meh. Nice story, sir! Mine is similar. Petra was definitely my first experience with Christian rock, which led to Stryper being my first experience with Christian metal, and the rest is history. (Side note/funny story: when I was a kid, my parents rented the Stryper live in Japan VHS for me and when they saw how inappropriately tight M. Sweet's pants were, I got my Stryper taken away LOL!!! I blame it on the 80's!... but honestly, it was probably a good thing because I think it created a psychological complex that now inspires me to collect all the most evil sounding Christian metal I can get my hands on haha!... I may owe my black metal obsession/tendencies to those early experiences ) Anyway, back to Petra... Some of the Greg Volz stuff is good! It Is Finished, Beat The System, etc. Not my favorite though... I'm a SCHLITT-HEAD TOO! Nothing compares to early Schlitt! On Fire! through Wake Up Call are all excellent! I lost interest after that though, but I'll go back and check out Jekyll & Hyde based on your comment. My CD collection did not survive my 20's so I am trying to regain some of my older stuff. I'm getting the aforementioned On Fire!-Wake Up Call, and the Petra Ultimate Collection+Petra Means Rock (these two compilations contain most of the best songs), a combo set of the first two albums (I really dug the 1974 album!), and Petra Praise: The Rock Cries Out (lots of memories for me, my dad and I listened to that cassette on the way to go fishing all the time). I've got most of the ones I've mentioned, but I am still missing a few. I still need to pick up a copy of Unseen Power, I really dig that album! Great stuff! What a killer opening track!
|
|
|
Post by frozenfire on Jun 28, 2018 6:59:49 GMT -6
Petra I believe was my second run into Christian music. I grew up in a Christian home but my parents weren't into music at all. They didn't know about anything and we grew up watching Mtv, which we weren't supposed to watch. My brother was coming home with Def Leppard, Poison, Europe albums and secular music was all we had. Stryper was all I know of and Micahel Sweet's high, smoothe vocals were a huge turn off and the cheesy lyrics (I came around on Stryper later).
I saw a video for Petra "Beyond Belief" on tv at some point and loved what I heard. I bought it at a local Christian book store and to this day I still love that album. John's voice was gritty, the choruses were super catchy and the production was right there with all the hair band stuff I was into. Never bought another Petra album beyond that though until maybe a decade later. Christian music was foreign to me. The little I'd heard was terrible in my opinion and I was far more concerned with the secular scene. By that time I was in high school and my tastes grew heavier and heavier, from hair metal, to traditional, to thrash, death and black metal within about 5-6 years time.
That said, at some point I bought Petra "On Fire," "This Means War," and "Unseen Power" based on No Life Til Metal's reviews. I was disappointed. I was used to many hair metal bands getting harder as you went backward. Despite their more metal looking covers were way too soft for me at that time and Unseen Power had too much polish. They seemed like lame attempts at being cool. It wasn't for me. I sold them off and forgot about them.
Flash forward, I was born again in 2010 and tossed my secular collection over a year's time. I went back to the Schlitt material, rebought On Fire and This Means War and enjoyed them much more. Now the words meant a lot more to me and I'd started branching out in my music tastes. I wasn't too cool for soft stuff anymore. Somewhere in there I heard "Grave Robber" and loved it. I wondered if I could enjoy the even more wimpy Volz era.
Well, I bought Not of This World and was amazed. Back when I was younger I liked things like Journey, Starship, Foreigner, until the metal bug bit. This was just as good only with WAY better lyrics, powerful words. I bought everything from that period back to Come Join Us. I love all the Volz stuff. It's my favorite era. Most of my favorite songs are there and the lyrics are absolutely fantastic.
To this day I never rebought Unseen Power nor anything after that. The golden era seems to be Never Say Die to Beyond Belief for me. Maybe I'll grab Unseen Power and Wake Up Call, maybe even Jekyll and Hyde used from Amazon? I'd probably like those more now.
|
|
|
Post by avjr on Jun 28, 2018 9:23:20 GMT -6
My dad used to listened to Petra. My dad lost track of them. Now I know why I love Christian Rock. Hehe. He told me he used to play their music when I was kid, but I don’t remember. Bummer. My dad also played Marcos Witt, Paul Wilbur, Tom Inglis, and those musicians made authentic music. They sounded organically great. They have their own sound. Contemporary Christian music nowadays does not have an authentic sound. Every Christian artist is trying to sound like Hillsong United, Jesus Culture band, Phill Wickman, Casting Crowns, Third Day, Chris Tomlin, Jeremy Camp, U2, MercyMe, Michael W. Smith, Newsboys, or Coldplay. You can blame the digital era for killing the local sound. If not, that’s okay. You can disagree. I digress. My apology. Back to Petra. If it wasn’t for Petra and the other pioneers, Christian Rock wouldn’t exist. Well, Rock n’ Roll wouldn’t exists if it wasn’t for Christianity. Which it makes more sense. 😌
|
|
|
Post by SLAVE_HEART on Jun 30, 2018 19:39:16 GMT -6
Nice story, sir! Mine is similar. Petra was definitely my first experience with Christian rock, I heard a Christian Metal collector (Mostly power, 80's, etc.) say unto me, and I quote; "Petra is the Rolling Stones of Christian Metal in the fact they can say, nobody came before them, they've been around the longest." He also said the music is okay, but their lyrics are the most heavenly, spot on, lyrics you don't get anywhere else...
|
|