Latest on Classic Petra?

[Dan]

Tuning down is a good idea. It's impossible for anyone to sound like they did when they were younger. Bob's guitar playing isn't as fast as it used to be, the best solos from Bob were in the late 80's early 90's, God Fixation had some sweet guitar too.. that was Bob playing on the recording right? If you wanted to get the best of sound.. you would have to get the youngest players back.

If you wanted to best rocking concert it would look something like:

Vocals: John S & Greg X
Guitar: David Litchens (come on he was a good guitar player)
Bass: Greg Bailey
Drums: Paul Simmons
Keyboards: John Lawry

A weird combo, but anyone who understands heavy rock would know what I am talking about.

[onyx]

Mark should always be on bass no matter who is singing.

[Boray]

Tuning down is a good idea. It's impossible for anyone to sound like they did when they were younger. Bob's guitar playing isn't as fast as it used to be, the best solos from Bob were in the late 80's early 90's, God Fixation had some sweet guitar too.. that was Bob playing on the recording right? If you wanted to get the best of sound.. you would have to get the youngest players back.

If you wanted to best rocking concert it would look something like:

Vocals: John S & Greg X
Guitar: David Litchens (come on he was a good guitar player)
Bass: Greg Bailey
Drums: Paul Simmons
Keyboards: John Lawry

A weird combo, but anyone who understands heavy rock would know what I am talking about.

Bob Hartman is a great guitar player. He never even misses a note. His only minus is that he hardly ever improvises while playing solos. He has a solo which he repeats every time he plays the song. But I think this has to do with that he composed the song - he also composed a solo perfect for the song. But the main point is that THERE IS NO PETRA WITHOUT BOB HARTMAN!

[Preacherman777]

Tuning down worked well for Greg since he's a straight up singer and I suppose to some extent it would work for John as well, but the only thing I'm not sure about is that John always had a bit more of screamer element factored into his vocal style and it's that factor that I think he has a hard time with now. He'd have to sing without that element of his vocal style in order to sound good and that just wouldn't be the same. John can still sing fine and I'm sure on his new album we'll get a good idea of just exactly what he can do now, which I'm sure will still be plenty good for what it is, but the edge he carried back in the day is what I'm getting at and I don't think he can do that anymore and so to re-record those old songs without that ability, just wouldn't work out well or sound right in my opinion.

[Dan]

John was and still is a screamer, but you just can keep that up at his age for an entire concert. I prefer his lower register more now. Same with Greg X he doesn't hit the higher notes he did in the the 80's, and no one can expect him too. The screamer sound for John was John Elephante's idea, and it did sound good. PDC and John's solo stuff is the perfect range for John atm.

[Mountain Man]

[John Schlitt] doesn't have the chops anymore to re-sing his old stuff and do it justice...

I don't know about that. They'd have to drop it an octave, but I think he could still rock it. Even the Classic Petra stuff is a lower pitch than the originals to account for Greg's seasoned pipes.

[zman7720000]

[John Schlitt] doesn't have the chops anymore to re-sing his old stuff and do it justice...

I don't know about that. They'd have to drop it an octave, but I think he could still rock it. Even the Classic Petra stuff is a lower pitch than the originals to account for Greg's seasoned pipes.

The crazy thing is even with them both lowering their respected material, They would still be on par with vocalist a third their age

[brent]

[John Schlitt] doesn't have the chops anymore to re-sing his old stuff and do it justice...

I don't know about that. They'd have to drop it an octave, but I think he could still rock it. Even the Classic
Petra stuff is a lower pitch than the originals to account for Greg's seasoned pipes.

Not an octave. John could not sing that low. Maybe a step or two here and there.

[executioner]

I actually love the sound John's voice has matured into in the last 10 or so years. I think his greatest vocal work came on PP2 & JAH.

[Mountain Man]

[John Schlitt] doesn't have the chops anymore to re-sing his old stuff and do it justice...

I don't know about that. They'd have to drop it an octave, but I think he could still rock it. Even the Classic
Petra stuff is a lower pitch than the originals to account for Greg's seasoned pipes.

Not an octave. John could not sing that low. Maybe a step or two here and there.

Yes, an octave is not what I meant.

[Mountain Man]

I actually love the sound John's voice has matured into in the last 10 or so years. I think his greatest vocal work came on PP2 & JAH.

On a somewhat related note, one of my favorite Journey albums is "Trial by Fire" where Steve Perry sounds like a mellow crooner as opposed to the high-pitched rocker he was in his younger days. His voice has so much soul to it.

[executioner]

I actually love the sound John's voice has matured into in the last 10 or so years. I think his greatest vocal work came on PP2 & JAH.

On a somewhat related note, one of my favorite Journey albums is "Trial by Fire" where Steve Perry sounds like a mellow crooner as opposed to the high-pitched rocker he was in his younger days. His voice has so much soul to it.

Yes that was Steve's finest album, too bad he couldn't or didn't want to tour.

[Tutor23]

Boray is right in that there is no Petra without Bob Hartman. And whatever else he could do (which was plenty), THE key thing he always brought to the table was his writing. Period.

Daniel is right about Paul Simmons. I love Louie as a key part of the 80's magic, but Simmons was spectacular when he helped finish out Petra's career. I saw him live with Petra in 2005 and had no idea who he was, but I was very impressed.

andy

[brent]

Paul is a hard rocker, Louie is a pop rocker. Two different cats. Paul overused the double kick though. Wish he could have had time to record for PDC. We tried.

Steve Perry....he didn't want to tour because his voice was falling apart. There was a BUNCH of tuning and over dubbing on Trial By Fire. I LOVE that album. They let the mix swim in reverb, most unfortunate. Some guys I know at the rehearsal stage said that Steve lost his range and they had to tune waaay down. He did not want to make a fool of himself on stage, and go out on top, so he quit. He owned the band pretty much, has had control over the reissues, and got paid when the band went on without him. I heard a number like 50% of whatever they sold went to him for a long time. So, he got the last laugh.

[rexreed]

Tuning down is the way to go. Journey is doing it with the new guy and they did it in the early 90's at the Jerry Garcia funeral. They weren't a band at the time but they got together for it. No reason Petra should not do it. Tuning down does NOT mean a whole octave Herbie Herbert got a bigger laugh than Steve Perry- he lives on hos own island now, having managed Santana, Journey, and Roxette. He is the reasson Steve joined the band, and HE sold a bunch of stage light equipment in the 80's!