The Petra Zone

Now to John Schlitt's first album...



Didja know... the song that helped Schlitt nail his audition was "Altar Ego"?

Easily Bottom 3 album for me, maybe even the weakest. I consider it to be extremely forgettable and bland. To vote properly, I will probably have to give it a spin tonight cause I've never familiarized entirely with the songs and I always get them mixed up.

For me, it's "Whole World".

I voted for "Altar Ego". I have always loved that song. I also like "Fools Gold" and "Back To The Street". In my opinion "Back To The Street" is a very underrated album.

I also agree that this album was greatly underrated. I voted for Altar Ego as well. Used to listen to this in the car back in the early 90's and just was in awe with almost every song. Fools Gold also makes me sing along.

Was probably a good one for John as it was the first one that was "his" so to speak. Its tough for a band to change a lead singer (and style at the same time) and keep everyone happy, but John is one of the best singers out there in my opinion.

This album was a good lead (or transition) into This Means War!. Can you imagine if there was no Back to the Street, and they jumped straight into TMW? I bet there would have been a lot of people that would have had a hard time with such a big change so fast, not to mention a new singer.

I love this album, it's a great transitional album.

When it came out...hated it. I only like a couple of songs on it. I hated John's voice and the sound of the band. It was not until I met him later and experienced him live that I started appreciating John as a more manly rock singer...even when he was tucking his pants in his white boots and wearing tight pants with frilly Senifeld shirts.

brent wrote:When it came out...hated it. I only like a couple of songs on it. I hated John's voice and the sound of the band. It was not until I met him later and experienced him live that I started appreciating John as a more manly rock singer...even when he was tucking his pants in his white boots and wearing tight pants with frilly Senifeld shirts.

LOL, sad part was, he wasn't alone in his style choices.

This album has a special place for me. I was a "roadie" for a local band that got to open up for Petra at an all day festival. We were lucky to have dinner at the same time as them and met them briefly. I was shy and star struck, so never got a real chance to chat them up. That was too bad because it was quiet in that area and knowing what I know now, I'm sure they would have made some time to meet a fan. Also got to meet Bryan Duncan, but barely knew who he was at the time.

An album with great lyrics, ok music but very dated production. To that effect, I'm not sure even Bob liked it that much, as I don't recall them ever playing a song from that tour again. I'll assume they did on "This means War", but that may have been it.

Whole world was my pick, but BTTS and Fools Gold are also fav's of mine. Thankful Heart could use a rework, but I replay that song occasionally as a worship piece before my own devotion time.

I admit looking back its not the greatest album, but when I first heard John's voice on "Shakin' The House" it blew my mind and I could not put it down. I do like the rawness of it, but better things were to come.

Some fun filled facts that many or most may not know about this album.

1. This album was completely recorded without the vocals in August 1985 which was while Greg was still in the band and before CITAS was performed & recorded(November 1985) John added the vocals in early 1986.
2. This is the first album ever with Petra Louie had anytime in the studio all be it still on a limited basis.
3. There were only three people at John's audition(which he sang "Alter Ego") Bob, John Lawry, & John Elefante.

cvs2kids wrote:

brent wrote:When it came out...hated it. I only like a couple of songs on it. I hated John's voice and the sound of the band. It was not until I met him later and experienced him live that I started appreciating John as a more manly rock singer...even when he was tucking his pants in his white boots and wearing tight pants with frilly Senifeld shirts.

LOL, sad part was, he wasn't alone in his style choices.

This album has a special place for me. I was a "roadie" for a local band that got to open up for Petra at an all day festival. We were lucky to have dinner at the same time as them and met them briefly. I was shy and star struck, so never got a real chance to chat them up. That was too bad because it was quiet in that area and knowing what I know now, I'm sure they would have made some time to meet a fan. Also got to meet Bryan Duncan, but barely knew who he was at the time.

An album with great lyrics, ok music but very dated production. To that effect, I'm not sure even Bob liked it that much, as I don't recall them ever playing a song from that tour again. I'll assume they did on "This means War", but that may have been it.

Whole world was my pick, but BTTS and Fools Gold are also fav's of mine. Thankful Heart could use a rework, but I replay that song occasionally as a worship piece before my own devotion time.

They played "King's Ransom" as late as the final leg on the Beyond Belief Tour and "Whole World" was played as late as the Wake Up Call Tour. I also recall "You Are I Am" added into a praise medley done on the Josh McDowell Tour(Fall of 1990) with "I Love The Lord" with one other song that I do not remember.

I guess I jumped in too late to vote...I like this one a lot. I love Thankful Heart and Whole World. There are some great songs on Back to the Street.

I just heard the album and tried to pay more attention to it. I still think it's one of their weakest efforts, and probably still a Bottom 3 album for me... but I think I appreciated some of the songs a bit more than I did before. I ended up voting for "Whole World", which although a bit dated, is just too cheery, joyful, and fun. It reminds me of a church song. Other than that, I think that my favorite songs are "Shakin the House" and "Altar Ego", followed maybe by "You Are I Am".

Another thing, I was about to comment on how the album was written and recorded before Schlitt came on board, but someone beat me to it. Anyway, I think that's part of what contributes to the end result for me. This album just doesn't feel like a fit for John's style or voice. To listen to it and then to This Means War! (which I'm just doing now) one can notice the huge difference.

Shakin' The House is the first Petra song I ever heard. Great memories for me. I used to ride my bike to school listening to this tape on my walkman. I agree that this album is underrated.

"Shakin' the House" was also my first favorite Petra song. It's really the reason I love Petra today. I had "battled" with my mom for a couple of years over getting a Petra album, but one day I finally was able to talk her into letting me get CITAS, which is the only thing the Zondervan bookstore at the mall had in stock at the time. Plus, it had a really cool album cover. By then, though, CITAS was a couple of years old and BTTS had already been released. At the time, CITAS sounded really old and to be honest, I didn't really like it except for a couple of songs and solos for a multitude of reasons, but mostly my own fault. Now, I love CITAS. Anyway, one of my friends had BTTS and I told him that I had CITAS but didn't really like it that much and felt that it was an out of date record. He told me that Petra had a different singer now and to give "Shakin' the House" a listen. Boy, am I glad I did! Not long after that TMW was released and I was completely hooked. So, suffice it to say, I owe my love of all Petra today to "Shakin' the House".