Petra Producers

[fcollazo]

I really don't know why you guys bash No Doubt so much. To me it is a very refreshing album to hear and still sounds fresh today.
1. Enter In: Some of the nicest clean/Overdrive guitar sounds ever recorded by Bob. Very clean and clear.
2. Think Twice: Very nice heavy guitar power chords mixed with string-like key sounds, sounds massive.
3. Heart of A Hero: Great riff with a funky wah solo! Wow! And some of the best drum shuffle sounds out there, what more could we ask for?
4. Right Place: The perennial Live Stage Rocker we all love.
5. Think On These Things: Great current at the time Alternative Rock sounds, and great 12 string jangle guitar sounds. Sweet!!
6. Two are better than one: Another great Alrtenative Rock Anthem.
7. We Hold Out Our Hearts: One of my favorite album finishers, in the tradition of First Love and In the Likeness of You, with some nice Sitar like guitar work by Bob.
8. No Doubt: Of Course one of the most uplifting songs in the Petra catalog.

I just like the Groove on this CD, the drums sound way more natural than on OF, BB and UP. Ronny does some nice 5th string fills that are very clear. If anything, No Doubt has one of the most clear mixes of any Petra album with great instrument separation, so much that you can tell every note and beat apart, without so much of the fizziness of the other "Rocker" albums by the Elefantes. That's my take.

[Boray]

The thing I dislike the most about No Doubt is that Bob isn't on the cover picture. Other than that, it's not one of my top favorites but not very bad either. It seemed they wanted to do a pop record and have some new young faces to attract young people. I guess it didn't work. But there are some nice songs in there. At the time, I listened to it quite much, just as with any Petra release.

[brent]

I really don't know why you guys bash No Doubt so much. To me it is a very refreshing album to hear and still sounds fresh today.
1. Enter In: Some of the nicest clean/Overdrive guitar sounds ever recorded by Bob. Very clean and clear.
2. Think Twice: Very nice heavy guitar power chords mixed with string-like key sounds, sounds massive.
3. Heart of A Hero: Great riff with a funky wah solo! Wow! And some of the best drum shuffle sounds out there, what more could we ask for?
4. Right Place: The perennial Live Stage Rocker we all love.
5. Think On These Things: Great current at the time Alternative Rock sounds, and great 12 string jangle guitar sounds. Sweet!!
6. Two are better than one: Another great Alrtenative Rock Anthem.
7. We Hold Out Our Hearts: One of my favorite album finishers, in the tradition of First Love and In the Likeness of You, with some nice Sitar like guitar work by Bob.
8. No Doubt: Of Course one of the most uplifting songs in the Petra catalog.

I just like the Groove on this CD, the drums sound way more natural than on OF, BB and UP. Ronny does some nice 5th string fills that are very clear. If anything, No Doubt has one of the most clear mixes of any Petra album with great instrument separation, so much that you can tell every note and beat apart, without so much of the fizziness of the other "Rocker" albums by the Elefantes. That's my take.

I like most of the songs, just not the production. We are not talking about Bob and John's songs.

[Preacherman777]

I think it's the overall somewhat alternative vibe of the whole record that really rubs me the wrong way. That's just not Petra. There are some good songs on it. Enter In is pretty good. I really like More Than a Thousand Words and No Doubt for lighter songs and Heart of Hero is very much in the vain of a great Petra rocker. Right Place is ok, but I find it gets kind of annoying after a while, especially the way it ends. The rest of the album pretty much just didn't sound like Petra to me. Too pop, too alternative, just filler in my opinion. I had grown accustomed to Petra albums being at least 80% to 100% good stuff and this one just failed in that regard, in a big way, and after that they really didn't put out another all good album until Jekyll and Hyde. For a number of years there, Petra became very hit and miss with their quality.

[executioner]

I feel the lyrical content is really great and right along with other Petra albums, but the music is where the huge disappointment is for me; too me nothing on the album sounded like Petra. The production was also a disappointment but would have been made ok with a better music style that we had from the previous 10 or so years of Petra. I think for me also with me falling in love with the WUC sound/vibe it just made the disappointment of No Doubt even more magnified.

[gman]

I loved Wake Up Call. I know there was someone on here back in the day that vehemently disagreed, but the consensus lately seems to be that WUC is great album, for the all the reasons mentioned.
I like the songs on No Doubt. I think No Doubt itself is one of their best. It was a big deal to me to be able to sit down and work out the chords, and then go to the store and look at the book and verify that I was right on.
As far as the sound, when I first heard it, it sounded like they were in limbo. Like they wanted to continue with a new sound, but they were not sure of the BB sound and afraid they were losing their identity, so they ran back to the safety and familiarity of the Elefantes, and what they ended up with was an album trying to be fresh and relevant while hanging onto the Petra of the past.
That's not a technical, educated opinion, but just my impression. Some bands made the transition beyond the Elefante era better than others.

[Mountain Man]

I happen to think God Fixation is a very good album. It's just not a very good Petra album.

And Double Take is a criminally underrated classic. What really sunk it, I think, was the timing. When your popularity is quickly waning and fans are clamoring for a return to form is not the time to release an experimental acoustic album. Just imagine if they had released Jekyll & Hyde instead.

[shawnpfan2010]

God Fixation I do like for the most part. They went back to the more natural sound and less digital. However it did not rock like it should have, or could have.

Double Take is a good album as well. I do enjoy hearing old songs redone, but some of the songs they put on the album didn't need to be redone. They softened This Means War a little to much for me. The Longing is one of my all time favorite Petra songs.

[brent]

I happen to think God Fixation is a very good album. It's just not a very good Petra album.

Like BIGTIME

[Preacherman777]

I liked God Fixation better than No Doubt, probably because of it's more natural sound which was more reminiscent of WUC, but what it shared with No Doubt is the fact that there just weren't that many good songs on it and yes, it needed to rock harder. If I had to die for someone is a great song and even a great song for Petra as a mid tempo number, but not really the kind of song to open an album with. St. Augustine's Pears was simply the best Petra song since WUC and I wish the rest of the album could have sounded more like that. Double Take was, well, pretty much death warmed over in my mind. Revival was ok for worship album, but it was the wrong time to do another worship album and especially one that didn't contain any original songs.

[Boray]

There is no such thing as a natural sound from a distorted electric guitar! Natural sounding or not - it's just a matter of traditions really.

[adpetrafan]

I am one of those fans who just stopped when I realized "my" Petra was long gone somewhere areound This Means War. I was intrigued by the idea of Double Take years later and so I bought it. I think I may have made it through the whole thing twice. (Although it is probably time to dig it out again and try again.)

I found these forums due to seeing Greg talk about Classic Petra. I was very surprised when John's recent Kickstarter came up a while back and the Holy Spirit told me to get involved. I had no real idea what I was getting in to, but I am glad I listened becuase I see John's heart and understand the ministry side a little bit better now.

Why put those two things together, especially in this thread? Simply because I do not think the producers mattered as much as some. (I am NOT trying to say they didn't matter...) I think what God was doing in each person's (listener's) life, was assisted by various versions of Petra, and that is what mattered. There were different styles and sounds, but God used what they were all inspired to record for his purposes.

I do not have to like everything Petra or any other band has made to see that they did what they did for God and that it reached different people with different tastes. Looking back, I am glad Petra (in whatever form) is still able and willing to be used for God's glory today. I will continue to pray for everyone involved, and everyone they have the potential to affect.

[brent]

God can use what he wants, when he wants, for His good and can certainly speaks through truth when it is given. That said...I don't like adding the God element to producing records too much. Producers manage projects, budgets, etc. Producers absolutely make or break albums.

God allows us to have personal tastes, experiences and insights that are neither right or wrong biblically. They are what they are. Not liking what some producers have done does not make us unbiblical or against God. When Petra changed their means of communication, they lost people. They began communicating with new people. That's it.

Now, the last poster brings up something I have wanted to say in a while. It is easy to see who did what in the band. It is easy to listen to Petra songs and hear Greg and Johns influence. All of Greg and John's records have unique, re-occuring, stylistic elements, forms, etc. All of these things point to the fact that there should be more people cooking in the kitchen than just one. Their contributions are undeniable and essential to their time periods and genres.

[executioner]

I am one of those fans who just stopped when I realized "my" Petra was long gone somewhere areound This Means War. I was intrigued by the idea of Double Take years later and so I bought it. I think I may have made it through the whole thing twice. (Although it is probably time to dig it out again and try again.)

I found these forums due to seeing Greg talk about Classic Petra. I was very surprised when John's recent Kickstarter came up a while back and the Holy Spirit told me to get involved. I had no real idea what I was getting in to, but I am glad I listened becuase I see John's heart and understand the ministry side a little bit better now.

Why put those two things together, especially in this thread? Simply because I do not think the producers mattered as much as some. (I am NOT trying to say they didn't matter...) I think what God was doing in each person's (listener's) life, was assisted by various versions of Petra, and that is what mattered. There were different styles and sounds, but God used what they were all inspired to record for his purposes.

I do not have to like everything Petra or any other band has made to see that they did what they did for God and that it reached different people with different tastes. Looking back, I am glad Petra (in whatever form) is still able and willing to be used for God's glory today. I will continue to pray for everyone involved, and everyone they have the potential to affect.

Nicely said; we all have different tastes and no matter what all the Petra albums have served a purpose and hopefully reached someone who needed the message at that point and time in their lives. Petra rocks and that is one reason why I like them, but the main reason why I love this band and think they're the greatest of all time is because of the message. These songs are special for me and God has purposely used Petra to help support me and direct me in my walk.