Preacherman777 wrote:The problem comes in the fact that certain opinions are protected and defended, such as disrespecting Greg or talking down about Classic Petra, while those who would try to counter that or who would say let's encourage and promote Petra in whatever form it takes and lose the negativity are treated like trolls. For those of us who've been here for a very long time (of which I am one though I don't usually post a lot) we've seen the excitement, devotion and anticipation that has existed here surrounding past Petra projects and then we compare it to the downplaying, disinterest and nay saying that has surrounded this one, seemingly just because it's with Greg rather than John, and well, it's sad, very, very sad. John and Greg have both been very important to the history of Petra and I am thrilled to see and support any project done with either of them, or heck, even both of them. That would be awesome too.
Hmm. I've seen a lot of the downplaying of which you speak, and I think a portion of it is related to some people worried about how this will affect John, etc. But I think it's a small portion, and I don't think anyone is actually rooting for the Classic Petra project to fail. I think most people are doing like Jonathan is doing -- not allowing themselves to get too excited because: 1. we haven't actually heard anything concrete yet in terms of track listing, release date, tour dates, etc. I mean, would anyone be terribly surprised if they posted tomorrow and said, "Sorry folks, stuff came up and we had to put the project on hold, but rest assured, we'll be back in the studio as soon as we can!"? 2. As Jonathan said, whatever they do is not going to debut No. 1 on any chart, get much if any radio play or likely signal the return of PETRA! to anything but our own iTunes playlists. Which is awesome, don't get me wrong, but it's not quite the same as anticipating the next Beyond Belief or Unseen Power.
Are some people disappointed that the Petra doing the reuniting is the Petra from 1981-86 and not the Petra from 1986-93? Undoubtedly. I've detected those undercurrents as well as you have. I'm not one of those people because I was barely alive during the Volz years and certainly had no clue who Petra was. This is really exciting for me, even as someone whose favorite Petra albums have John as the lead singer. Perhaps it's less exciting for some others. But I think a lot of the skepticism and hesitation to just jump on the bandwagon is born from years of Petra-related disappointment in general, as opposed to any kind of animus to Greg Volz or this particular project.
Just my two cents.
