The Petra Zone

Yeah, I get that. If you listen to pop music from the 70s and 80s, you'll find that Volz actually has a quintessential pop voice. It was the style back then for pop singers to have a smoother, more dextrous, more nuanced voice. Listen to Journey, Chicago, Queen, Boston, Bon Jovi, Rush, Styx, Paul McCartney, Kansas, REO Speedwagon, Toto, Europe, and I could name probably a dozen more. There were, of course, some "go ahead" rock singers like Sammy Hagar, Jimmy Page, and Steven Tyler, but Volz's vocal stylings were out of place. To say that Volz didn't have a rock voice might be true, but he was "too polished" is an observation of the prevailing styles of time.

Mountain Man wrote:Yeah, I don't get that. If you listen to rock music from the 70s and 80s, you'll find that Volz actually has a quintessential classic rock voice. It was the style back then for lead singers to have a smoother, more dextrous, more nuanced voice. Listen to Journey, Chicago, Queen, Boston, Bon Jovi, Rush, Styx, Paul McCartney, Kansas, REO Speedwagon, Toto, Europe, and I could name probably a dozen more. There were, of course, some "go ahead" rock singers like Sammy Hagar, Jimmy Page, and Steven Tyler, but Volz's vocal stylings weren't at all out of place. To say that Volz didn't have a rock voice, or that he was "too polished" is to ignore one of the prevailing styles of time.

This is pretty much my take on it. I think Volz was the right fit at the time, and I like his voice in those albums a lot. But when he left, I think Petra was lucky enough to find someone like Schlitt, who was the right fit for the style of rock that was shaping up in the 80's. They were both in the right place at the right time.

Dan wrote:It was the style back then for pop singers to have a smoother, more dextrous, more nuanced voice. Listen to Journey, Chicago, Queen, Boston, Bon Jovi, Rush, Styx, Paul McCartney, Kansas, REO Speedwagon, Toto, Europe, and I could name probably a dozen more.

Except those aren't "pop" bands.

I think Greg was a good Pop singer.

Mountain Man wrote:

superfly wrote:CITAS

Well duh.

So here's an off the wall question: Petra fans get up in arms debating the merits of Greg Volz versus John Schlitt, but why don't we ever have heated discussions comparing John Slick to John Lawry, or Mark Kelly to Ronny Cates?

I assume It's just too obvious; or because no-one cares Lawry is easily ahead of Slick, at least at first. Lawry gradually lost his importance in the music as they headed towards a harder sound. I personally am not that crazy about most of Slick's recorded works, with a few exceptions. Dunno if it was just the music or what, but NOTW keyboarding doesn't really resonate with me much.

As for the Volz debate (our favorite! ) I think it's interesting exactly how the #1 Album corresponds to ones opinion about what singers sounded like in the 80s. I would say he was what people expected in a rock singer back then; no-one was surprised by the fact he was in a rock band. These days, of course, no rock group would choose to sound like that, but that doesn't change the way it was in the 80s. I listen to almost exclusively 70s & 80s music, and can say for a fact that smooth voices were a rock thing. They were in pop, too, but Petra didn't sing pop, and neither did the host of secular rock bands that sounded essentially the same. You can't say that Volz was out of keeping with the times (he was in the #1 Christian Rock group, after all). You can say that he's out of keeping with your musical tastes, and apparently that is the current objective.

Mountain Man wrote:Yeah, I don't get that. If you listen to rock music from the 70s and 80s, you'll find that Volz actually has a quintessential classic rock voice. It was the style back then for lead singers to have a smoother, more dextrous, more nuanced voice. Listen to Journey, Chicago, Queen, Boston, Bon Jovi, Rush, Styx, Paul McCartney, Kansas, REO Speedwagon, Toto, Europe, and I could name probably a dozen more. There were, of course, some "go ahead" rock singers like Sammy Hagar, Jimmy Page, and Steven Tyler, but Volz's vocal stylings weren't at all out of place. To say that Volz didn't have a rock voice, or that he was "too polished" is to ignore one of the prevailing styles of time.

The weird thing about the bands you listed is that most of their lead singers are closer to the Schlitt style over the Volz style. I would say that Volz would have fit in nicely with the likes of Chicago, Queen, REO, & Toto but I feel the rest would be more suited for Schlitt. Like I said before it's just my opinion and no one is right/wrong in the matter just we feel different about the styles and where they fit into the mix of things.

Mountain Man wrote:

Dan wrote:It was the style back then for pop singers to have a smoother, more dextrous, more nuanced voice. Listen to Journey, Chicago, Queen, Boston, Bon Jovi, Rush, Styx, Paul McCartney, Kansas, REO Speedwagon, Toto, Europe, and I could name probably a dozen more.

Except those aren't "pop" bands.

Chicago(which they themselves will say they are totally pop) and most of Queens stuff is pop.

What have I done?

Mountain Man wrote:What have I done?

You asked a simple question and got some complex answers. All it is, is differing opinions on the subject and I feel that neither side of the debate should be discredited; I'm in the minority and I am perfectly fine with it. BTW I've always felt that the albums from 81-83 have always sounded like what was really popular in the secular and mainstream in the late 70's. Petra was 2-5 years behind the secular market, but seem to hit the CCM market just at the right time.

I'm all for CITAS.

Found this magazine cover, should settle the Pop issue.

CITAS IMO

executioner wrote:

Mountain Man wrote:What have I done?

You asked a simple question and got some complex answers. All it is, is differing opinions on the subject and I feel that neither side of the debate should be discredited; I'm in the minority and I am perfectly fine with it. BTW I've always felt that the albums from 81-83 have always sounded like what was really popular in the secular and mainstream in the late 70's. Petra was 2-5 years behind the secular market, but seem to hit the CCM market just at the right time.

It was more of a joke than a serious question. I didn't expect it to erupt into an actual debate.

Sorry, JS is a very different keyboardist than JL. In my book, Slick is the better musician. Slick is WAY more skilled and has a LOT more soul than you were allowed to hear on Petra records. JDB has even said this much. JS is a guy with super high intelligence. JL is a very smart guy too, but JS was involved creating some of the gear guys like JL played and has gone on to do some high tech work above any Petra band member's pay grade.

Slick here. I have a lot to say, all positive. Started to post it, but decided to save it to a text file and wait to see if anyone is interested.