The Worst "Best Of" Album

p-freak · Post by **p-freak** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:53 pm

The good thing about the Word best-ofs is that most of them are remastered. The version of Onward Christian Soldiers on Still Means War is way better sounding than the version from Our Hymns.

I would guess that The Early Years is absolutely the worst. All these songs are also available on the Never Say Die / Washes Whiter Than CD. And the picture with Schlitt on an album that has Greg X. Volz and Rob Frazier on lead vocals is totally ridiculous.
Perhaps even worse than The Early Years is The Coloring Song from 1999. It has the same tracklist, but different artwork. Fortunately it's quite rare.

corolla1 · Post by **corolla1** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 9:21 pm

the ultimate collection i thought was good. at least it was remastered(at think in part).

greenchili · Post by **greenchili** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 9:34 am

p-freak wrote:The good thing about the Word best-ofs is that most of them are remastered. The version of Onward Christian Soldiers on Still Means War is way better sounding than the version from Our Hymns.

So does that mean they are better than the versions that are currently available on the full album released on CD?

Which GH's are the Word ones?

p-freak · Post by **p-freak** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 1:02 pm

I believe only Still Means War and The Power Of Praise were remastered.

This is a complete list of all compilation albums with the correct years.

Star Song Records
1989 Petra Means Rock
1990 War & Remembrance
1991 Petrafied: The Best Of Petra
1992 Petraphonics
1993 Power Praise
1995 Rock Block
1996 The Early Years
1999 The Coloring Song (same as The Early Years)
2006 The Ultimate Collection
2006 The Early Years (re-release w/ new artwork)

Word Records
2001 Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (Brazilian release)
2002 Still Means War
2003 The Power Of Praise
2006 The Praise Collection
2007 The Definitive Collection

BriGuyPEI · Post by **BriGuyPEI** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 6:15 pm

The funny thing is that Star Song has released more Petra compilations than Petra albums, even including CITAS. And yet they still haven't released the two "lost" songs from WWT on CD. If they want another cash grab, I don't know why they don't release WWT and NSD on separate CDs. Especially instead of re-releasing the Early Years in various packages over and over again.

jmatd · Post by **jmatd** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:15 pm

1989 Petra Means Rock .... very good... it was the first one
1990 War & Remembrance .... for me,... the best ... good presentation
1991 Petrafied: The Best Of Petra .... good
1992 Petraphonics .... goo idea....
1993 Power Praise .... goo idea too....
1995 Rock Block ...here no ideas.... it was similar than PMR
1996 The Early Years ...badly ...I dont kown how to say in english.. in spanish "rebuscado"
1999 The Coloring Song (same as The Early Years) ...bad.,,,,
2006 The Ultimate Collection ... good intension...
2006 The Early Years (re-release w/ new artwork) .... bad....

Word Records
2001 Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (Brazilian release)
2002 Still Means War
2003 The Power Of Praise ... a copy of Power Praise....
2006 The Praise Collection.... if you have PP1 PP2 y Revival... you dont need it... only if yu like colections....
2007 The Definitive Collection... the best and complete colection

pethead97 · Post by **pethead97** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:15 pm

Here is a letter from Billy Smiley concerning 'Greatest Hits' albums reprinted from the April 96 CCM Magazine

"As an artist, I want readers to know that 90 percent of the time theartist has no control over 'best of' compilations, and as in the case of
Whiteheart, frankly I am embarrassed every time another such project comes out. We recorded three albums with Home Sweet Home Records. Since that time they have put out four 'Best Of' albums plus a 'live mono album' (if you could call it that) with the only difference being a different song sequence and different album cover artwork. We recorded three more albums with Sparrow Records, and I felt they had good sensitivity and integrity as they waited a year and put out one 'Best Of' album compiled from those three albums. We recorded an additional three albums for Star Song Communications. When we left Star Song in 1994, together with them we put together a rockumentary 'Best Of' project called, Nothing But the Best--Radio & Rock, a two CD collection that had four additional new songs and showcased our best songs from 1986-1994. This was the very first time we were involved with a 'Best Of,' and I was excited because I felt our listeners and fans would finally receive a Whiteheart 'Best Of' that was a true representation of what God had taken us through during those years. But again to my dismay--only 10 months after Nothing but the Best, Star Song put out another 'Best Of' called Attack!! ,with an exact duplication of 10 of the same songs from Nothing But the Best. Now, I know it's hard to believe, but only six months after Attack!!, Star Song has released yet another compilation album called Whiteheart, The Early Years. Again eight out of the 10 songs are the same as on the Nothing But the Best compilation. I know we might be somewhat popular, but I wonder if even The Beatles have as many compilations as we do! All this to say, I personally don't support this kind of action. It feels exploitive, but there isn't anything that the artist can do in this situation except to let the record company know our feelings on the matter (which is what we did). The next step is to trust and pray that artists, managers, booking agents, sales representatives and record companies would continue the chain with Godly principles and honor as it deals with business practices so that you, the consumer, aren't being taken advantage of. For the most part, I believe this happens in our industry, but sometimes it doesn't. Thank you for your time and attention concerning this important area of music."

Billy Smiley
Whiteheart

from the official WhiteHeart website

Now that said, here is my top 4 of the best Petra compilations:
1. The Ultimate Collection (an awesome collection of Petra through the career...songs chosen by Bob Hartman)

2. War and Remembrance (an awesome collection of Petra during the pre-Word years)

3. Petra Means Rock (an awesome collection of Petra's rock hits from the Star Song Years...includes some Power Praises)

4. Still Means War! (an awesome collection of Petra's rock hits from the Dayspring/Word years...includes the Petrafied version of "Onward Christian Soldiers)

Now, here is my top 4 of the worst Petra Compilations
1. The Early Years (A mini-release of "Washes Whiter Than" and "Never Say Die" and released THREE times with different covers (the second time with The Coloring Song secular release)

2. The Rock Block (A re-hash of Petra Means Rock)

3. Petraphonics ("tastes" like a Star Song Petra sampler-1 rock hit and 1 radio hit from each of Petra's Star Song's albums...except for Beat The System)

4. The Definitive Collection (only 10 tracks???? Could have had a lot more to offer)

more of my opinion coming soon.

The Petra Zone

The Worst "Best Of" Album

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