Classic Petra - The Upcoming New Album.

[Mountain Man]

What I'm trying to say and I think Rex is trying to say the same is the production quality and sound Petra was doing from 81-83 the secular artists that Petra was mostly compared too were doing the same in the mid to late 70's and these artists and market had already moved on from it.

Can you be more specific? Because, frankly, I'm not hearing it.

I remember as an early teen trying get a couple of friends who had not heard of Petra to listen to it and they had comments like "old" & "dated".

My experiences were exactly opposite. I remember in the early-80s the first time one of my Van Halen loving friends heard Petra (a cut from Never Say Die, incidentally; I think it was "Angel of Light"). His eyes popped out of his head as he exclaimed, "This is awesome! Who is it?" When I told him it was a Christian rock band, he just stood there with his jaw hanging open.

[adpetrafan]

My experiences were exactly opposite. I remember in the early-80s the first time one of my Van Halen loving friends heard Petra (a cut from Never Say Die, incidentally; I think it was "Angel of Light"). His eyes popped out of his head as he exclaimed, "This is awesome! Who is it?" When I told him it was a Christian rock band, he just stood there with his jaw hanging open.

I had this same experience over and over and over. I gave away a LOT of Petra cassettes back at that time, and was able to get a lot of non-Christian friends to come to their concerts.

[rexreed]

It has been said, and I believe it, that the early Petra albums ha nowhere near the budget that secular artists like Journey, Styx and Foreigner had in the late 70's /early 80's. So it really is no surprise to me that the Petra sound doesn't stack up. One thing that I have noticed is that Petra is not the only band to re record hits with a reconfigured band. Journey packages a dozen hits with an album of new material a few years ago. New lead singer this time for Journey. Original Lead singer for Petra. Now, My take on both is this- The re recorded Petra material sounded much better on most of the songs. On the Journey side NONE of the songs sounded better than the originals. So yeah- I still think the early Petra recordings are lacking certain things. The early guitar sound is kinda weak, the drums- don't sound great, the overall mix- seems off. Even This means war sounds "tinny" I have to really mess with the EQ for that album to have low end. If youwant to compare Petra vs. Petra listen to Petra Means Rock- there is a large gap in sound between songs like hit youwhere yo live and Stand Up. I'm not a recording eng- I just listen. I can tell you that the guitars on early Petra albums don't have the same sound as Boston, Styx, or Van Halen. Look, I'm a huge Petra fan so I really don't want to come across as a complainer. If you can not hear a difference in the record quality then so be it. I look forward to new recoding because I think they sound better. I'm not talking aobut the style either- I like the synth from the early days. Kind of like the Whitecross re recorded album 1987, The originals had heart, but the recordings are subpar. The new stuff, while not perfect, does the early stuff justice.

[sickasadog]

I don't really like WUC but it doesn't sound cheap or second rate in the slightest. I listen to the early albums and it sounds kinda weak. I recently purchased some Rez from the same time (early 80's) and was surprised to hear what, IMO, sounded like a much better produced album.

If you say so. I don't think early Petra sounds "cheap" at all.

Compared to Rez in the same era it does.

Again, I disagree. There are stylistic differences, but I don't feel that one is inferior to the other. Maybe it's because I grew up on Petra, so to me, that's what good music sounds like.

I'm not saying Rez music is better, because overall Petra is my favorite what I am saying is the production quality is a lot better coming from Rez than Petra.

I will weigh in here and agree with Rex. Starting with the 1980 Colours album, Rez had several albums with great production, for the most part. Just listen to the first cut from that album, Autograph, and hear how much it kicks turned up loud. All instruments and vocals are clear and out front. Compare that with Stand Up (one of my favourite songs ever) which sounds like you're trying to listen through cheap foam earplugs.

[brent]

Resurrection Band and Petra are incomparable. They are two different styles/genres. They did not play the same instruments, have the same arrangements, etc. Compare apples to apples. One band is organic (Petra) one is not so organic. Petra was more of a rootsy B-3/rock band back then. Rez band, not so much. Petra's mix is very linear, un-hyped, and sounds like it is. Rez band is completely different.

You guys are bickering over interpretations of two different stories from two different books.

[executioner]

Resurrection Band and Petra are incomparable. They are two different styles/genres. They did not play the same instruments, have the same arrangements, etc. Compare apples to apples. One band is organic (Petra) one is not so organic.

I'm not talking about styles just production quality and hands down Rez has a higher quality of production sound over Petra(this includes Dream Team era) WUC, PP2, and JAH are probably the only ones I would put in league with Rez in terms of production quality. Too be honest Rez is not always my cup of tea when it comes to style, but when quality of production is such I can't pass it up. The same goes for WUC & PP2; None of the songs on these two albums are in my favorites catagory but both albums as a whole are in my top 5 when it comes to favorite Petra albums.

[Boray]

I simply don't get it. Petra albums (From Washes Whiter than to Jekyll&Hyde) are just as well produced as ANY other album out there.

[Dan]

Never Say Die to Not of this World sound superb, I remember thing... Never say die is amazing for 1981

[Boray]

Just listen to the first cut from that album, Autograph, and hear how much it kicks turned up loud. All instruments and vocals are clear and out front. Compare that with Stand Up (one of my favourite songs ever) which sounds like you're trying to listen through cheap foam earplugs.

Autograph:
http://grooveshark.com/s/Autograph/1YXz3k?src=5

Stand up:
http://grooveshark.com/s/Stand+Up+More+ ... 0O0a?src=5

You got to be kidding? To my ears, Stand up sounds like the more expensive production. Autograph sounds like... 1976

[brent]

Oh my. Autograph....crap guitar tone. Cheesy 8 bit snare sound. The sound is thin, bright and lacks dimension.

If you have to turn up a mix to hear it kick, then you have yourself a bad mix. You can listen to a JDB mix, and it sounds as it should, well balanced, at all volumes. If a mix sounds better loud, then it means they mixed it at a dB level waaaaay hotter than they should have.

[rexreed]

I do think it is possible to compare production quality of two bands with different styles. When you are listening to the vocals, the mix, the arrangement it is definitely possible. If you compare the early stuff to The Eagles or Crosby Stills and Nash there is a difference! Heck- compare TMW to Fired Up- they sound different and that was with the same producers.. Even though I like the songs better on TMW- the FU songs sound better to me. Does that make sense? Anyhow I still love Petra more than the rest of you so it is OK

[Preacherman777]

Ok, did the comparison between Autograph and Stand Up. Even did it with headphones on. They are very different songs, obviously, but as far as production quality is concerned, I really don't hear much difference. They both sound old and in need of improvement. The first time that I ever really noticed a difference in the sound of Petra, was with the On Fire album and I don't know, that may have just been a higher recording levels thing. Sounded like they turned the amps up to 11 on that one.

[Mountain Man]

I'm not talking about styles just production quality and hands down Rez has a higher quality of production sound over Petra(this includes Dream Team era) WUC, PP2, and JAH are probably the only ones I would put in league with Rez in terms of production quality.

I suspect what you're doing here is saying, "I prefer this style of production," and mistaking that for higher quality.

Listening to the two samples linked above, I thought "Autograph" sounded dry, hard-edged, and two-dimensional while "Stand Up" has a richer, more organic sound with a wider and deeper sound stage. If the former is your idea of what quality production is supposed to sound like then I don't think we're ever going to reconcile our differences.

[executioner]

I'm not talking about styles just production quality and hands down Rez has a higher quality of production sound over Petra(this includes Dream Team era) WUC, PP2, and JAH are probably the only ones I would put in league with Rez in terms of production quality.

I suspect what you're doing here is saying, "I prefer this style of production," and mistaking that for higher quality.

Listening to the two samples linked above, I thought "Autograph" sounded dry, hard-edged, and two-dimensional while "Stand Up" has a richer, more organic sound with a wider and deeper sound stage. If the former is your idea of what quality production is supposed to sound like then I don't think we're ever going to reconcile our differences.

No my ears hear low production value on JDB records compared to what Rez was doing at the time. Bass, cymbals, and bass drum are really only background noise on the JDB albums.

[rexreed]

Another thing lacking in the earlier recordings is dynamics.