The Petra Zone

Now to Bob Hartman's "last" album...



Didja know... one of the reasons why this album wasn't produced by the Elefante brothers was that most of the band members didn't want to constantly travel to California where they are headquartered

This was probably the 2nd Petra album I heard after BB. I really, really like it, even though nowadays I'm not that crazy about some of its songs (Believer in Deed, Strong Convictions, Good News), but what it does well, it does extremely well. "Midnight Oil" is one of the best rockers from the band, IMO; "Praying Man" has turned into one of their most iconic songs; "Just Reach Out" is one of their best ballads... but I'm gonna go a bit against the flow and vote for "Underneath the Blood". One of their heaviest songs, and one that I've found myself enjoying more and more with time.

Wait, I didn't vote in the last one yet. This one is actually easy. I love the sizzle of Good News, but it gets edged out by Praying Man, which is, as already stated, iconic. Midnight Oil and Sleeping Giant would be next, followed by Believer in Deed and Just Reach Out. The rest are on the bottom of the list, but still an awesome bottom of the list.
Had the "Brothers Elephants" not made their way to Nashville be the time this album was recorded? When did the Sound Kitchen open? I always thought that they went with Brown Bannister for this album because Bob wanted to get outside the box and try something different.

This is hard to say on this board but I went with "He's Been in My Shoes". I've always wanted to sing this song but have never seen a track out for it. I really like it, along with "Believer in Deed", "Midnight Oil" and "Good News", except for John's talking part, as well as "Marks of the Cross" and "Just Reach Out". It's saying something when I like the "softer rock" songs more than the "hard rock" ones. I refer to this as the "Background Album" because it is absolutely full of background noise, whether it be effects, vocals, or keyboard-like instruments. I'm really a critic of background vocals in a song and to me, this ages a song more than anything. I just never did and still don't care for the loud "group" background vocals on "Praying Man", "Underneath the Blood", and "Sleeping Giant", although I like the music overall. The whole album really suffers from this, IMO, and it sounds like they recorded it with a bunch of fans shouting the background vocals for the whole cd. It was okay on the first couple of songs but eventually I got tired of it. I absolutely hated "Strong Convictions" the first time I heard it. Now, I can listen to it but it still feels wrong. I guess I just never really cared for this album. I know that most people on the board here really like this album but I really feel that this was the first album of Petra's decline, not "No Doubt", although it was much better than "No Doubt". I mean, I ran out and bought this thing when it first hit the shelves. I was so excited and then I got it home and after listening to it was just so disappointed. It just didn't feel like a "cool" sounding album when I got it. I guess I really wanted "Jekyll and Hyde" back then, with some keyboards slightly mixed in. Of all the Schlitt albums, I probably rank this album in the bottom half. I mean, after the previous 5 or 6 records, it just seemed like a "Sleeping Giant" step back.

Ok, flame away

I liked Wake Up Call because it was real. It was actually Louie on the drums, and I thought it was a fantastic production. I love the huge production and sound of Unseen Power, but I saw the band live at festival, and they couldn't pull of that huge sound. I saw them again after WUC came out, and they could absolutely pull those songs off live.
I maintain that they could have done the album with Elefante production and a lot of disappointed fans would have liked it better, but that's just me. I can think of a few songs on UP that would absolutely fit on WUC. I think the Brown Bannister production was the right move at the time.

gman wrote:Had the "Brothers Elephants" not made their way to Nashville be the time this album was recorded? When did the Sound Kitchen open? I always thought that they went with Brown Bannister for this album because Bob wanted to get outside the box and try something different.

I got that "fact" out of Wikipedia, so take out of that what you may Either way, the Wikipedia page mentions both the trip to Los Angeles as well as a decision to seek a new "musical direction" as the reasons for going with Bannister.

I'm also not a huge fan of this CD. Maybe I connect it with Bob leaving, I'm not sure. I'm sorry but production values are generally not a deciding factor for me loving an album. I like great tunes, this one doesn't' have anything for me that touches Destiny or Dance, etc..

To me, this is the best Petra album of the John Schlitt era. It was VERY hard to choose just one favorite song because I like them all, but I voted for Praying Man.

I have been a Petra fan since 1983 and been reading posts in this forum for a while and generally enjoy the conversation about the band.
I like the heavier songs on this album but it is not my favorite album. There are parts of this album that remind me of the MPTY era in its rawness. I like the fact that the drums sound very real and raw.

It is certainly not a heavy album when compared to OF, BB, and others, but there is a rockiness to it. It sounds a little thin to me, but then I love the big productions. I may appear to contradict myself because MPTY is my favorite album and was not layered hardly at all when compared to BB or UP and OF. There is just something about MPTY that really speaks to me on a worship level.

I believe that this album was released around the time that music equipment companies were more outwardly endorsing the band, as well as the different members endorsing different products. Just read the liner notes and you will see. Maybe the commercial attempt in this manner made it a different feeling for me.

I am not sure how different album would be if the Elefantes had produced it. Would it have been another attempt to make another BB or UP? I am sure it would be different but would these song have stood up to that type of treatment. The songs are different than what they produced for Petra before...

Since we are voting for songs on the album, I would pick Wake Up Call and Underneath the Blood.

Grace,
Harry

Production wise this is Petra's Masterpiece and in my opinion a top 5 album for me. Just Reach Out was my choice and was an instant classic with all the songs for the exception of Believer Indeed being very strong. The sound of this album was just so spot on with its rawness and the drumming is at its highest peak for any Petra album; its a shame that Louie wasn't used more during his years with Petra because sonic wise his playing is great. One of my favorite songs is Praying Man and the funniest thing is I even like the version of the song off of Double Take even more which is the only bright spot that came out of that disaster. Someone in an earlier post said that this album sounds very dated, but I say its one of the 3 timeless Petra albums out there.

In my humble opinion this is the best Petra album of all time!! I have to agree that some of the songs needed to be rocked up a little bit more but over all it was a breath of fresh air. Compared to all of fake sounds of the previous albums this one sounded incredible. Just my thoughts on the album.

musicwithharry wrote:I have been a Petra fan since 1983 and been reading posts in this forum for a while and generally enjoy the conversation about the band.
I like the heavier songs on this album but it is not my favorite album. There are parts of this album that remind me of the MPTY era in its rawness. I like the fact that the drums sound very real and raw.

It is certainly not a heavy album when compared to OF, BB, and others, but there is a rockiness to it. It sounds a little thin to me, but then I love the big productions. I may appear to contradict myself because MPTY is my favorite album and was not layered hardly at all when compared to BB or UP and OF. There is just something about MPTY that really speaks to me on a worship level.

I believe that this album was released around the time that music equipment companies were more outwardly endorsing the band, as well as the different members endorsing different products. Just read the liner notes and you will see. Maybe the commercial attempt in this manner made it a different feeling for me.

I am not sure how different album would be if the Elefantes had produced it. Would it have been another attempt to make another BB or UP? I am sure it would be different but would these song have stood up to that type of treatment. The songs are different than what they produced for Petra before...

Since we are voting for songs on the album, I would pick Wake Up Call and Underneath the Blood.

Grace,
Harry

Welcome Harry! Glade you could Come join us!

This is one of my favorite albums and still it's hard to pick the best song. It's also my very first CD. I had to buy a CD player to be able to play it!

Another rocking CD that continued that successful hard sound that Petra became known for in the 90s. Awesome guitar rifts from "Midnight Oil" and "Underneath The Blood". But at the same time there were the powerful songs that seemed perfect for invitation. I really loved "Just Reach Out" and choose it as my favorite song from this album..