The Petra Zone

Jekyll & Hyde, and More Power To Ya

DO go and listen to Jannice & Rickard's (above & link below) version of ONLY MEN -- it's wonderful!

http://www.myspace.com/jannicerickard


separateunion, those are hilarious!

Yea, I like the cover of "Only Men!"

More power to ya, back to the street and this means war.

Oh yeah...I forgot that Back to the Street and ¡This Means War! were options...since Mark Kelly played bass...

So my favorite pre-/post- dream team album is actually ¿This Means War!

Ok, so I understand that "The Dream Team" era was when Petra was at their popularity pinnacle, but isn't the dream team supposed to be the best members? No knock on Ronnie, but I think he was one of the least talented bass players Petra ever had. Mark Kelley was better. Greg Bailey was better. Lonnie Chapin may have been the best bassist they ever had. So, shouldn't the dream team era really be "Back to the Street" and "This Means War"?

separateunion wrote:Ok, so I understand that "The Dream Team" era was when Petra was at their popularity pinnacle, but isn't the dream team supposed to be the best members? No knock on Ronnie, but I think he was one of the least talented bass players Petra ever had. Mark Kelley was better. Greg Bailey was better. Lonnie Chapin may have been the best bassist they ever had. So, shouldn't the dream team era really be "Back to the Street" and "This Means War"?

I hear ya on this, however, "Dream Team" has unofficially been given to the members during the BB years. When most people think of Petra, that's whom they think of.

cvs2kids wrote:

separateunion wrote:Ok, so I understand that "The Dream Team" era was when Petra was at their popularity pinnacle, but isn't the dream team supposed to be the best members? No knock on Ronnie, but I think he was one of the least talented bass players Petra ever had. Mark Kelley was better. Greg Bailey was better. Lonnie Chapin may have been the best bassist they ever had. So, shouldn't the dream team era really be "Back to the Street" and "This Means War"?

I hear ya on this, however, "Dream Team" has unofficially been given to the members during the BB years. When most people think of Petra, that's whom they think of.

I know. Just pointing out the fallacy in the terminology.

Schlitt, Hartman, Simmons, Bailey may has been the Dream Team of the reason that I think they were the best musicians Petra ever had. Unless... after thinking it over, II Guys from Petra could also classified as the Dream Team of Petra. Just a thought =)

sue d. wrote:DO go and listen to Jannice & Rickard's (above & link below) version of ONLY MEN -- it's wonderful!

http://www.myspace.com/jannicerickard

SkyCaptain wrote:Yea, I like the cover of "Only Men!"

Thank you!! We're currently recording and writing new stuff (own written material to), so please visit our MySpace at regular intervals... We have just recorded an acoustic cover of "Just Reach Out", we'll publish it tomorrow I think, for a little while.

separateunion wrote:Ok, so I understand that "The Dream Team" era was when Petra was at their popularity pinnacle, but isn't the dream team supposed to be the best members? No knock on Ronnie, but I think he was one of the least talented bass players Petra ever had. Mark Kelley was better. Greg Bailey was better. Lonnie Chapin may have been the best bassist they ever had. So, shouldn't the dream team era really be "Back to the Street" and "This Means War"?

I very much agree. I haven't had the privilege of listening to Petra live, but from the video and the albums that I've listened to, Lonnie sounds best to me.

Apart from his techniques, I prefer his head-swelling deep bass sound. Was he behind the bass solo in the track God Fixation? That's one unforgettable piece though the song doesn't seem to be a favourite here at the zone (regrettably).

Vic wrote:

separateunion wrote:Ok, so I understand that "The Dream Team" era was when Petra was at their popularity pinnacle, but isn't the dream team supposed to be the best members? No knock on Ronnie, but I think he was one of the least talented bass players Petra ever had. Mark Kelley was better. Greg Bailey was better. Lonnie Chapin may have been the best bassist they ever had. So, shouldn't the dream team era really be "Back to the Street" and "This Means War"?

I very much agree. I haven't had the privilege of listening to Petra live, but from the video and the albums that I've listened to, Lonnie sounds best to me.

Apart from his techniques, I prefer his head-swelling deep bass sound. Was he behind the bass solo in the track God Fixation? That's one unforgettable piece though the song doesn't seem to be a favourite here at the zone (regrettably).

Lonnie's style didn't really fit well with the straight forward sound Petra was known for, but he was still the most talented bassist they had, in my opinion.

Sorry guys.........IMHO, Ronny was definitely the best by far!

But, back to the subject, my favorite non-dream team album is More Power To Ya......the album that had just come out the first time I saw Petra.

I hear ya on this, however, "Dream Team" has unofficially been given to the members during the BB years. When most people think of Petra, that's whom they think of.

I would say that depends on how old you are. When I think of Petra I think of the first dream team which was GXV, Bob, Louie, Mark and John Slick. IMO Petra was at the peak of their career from the time they released More Power to Ya through the time they released Beyond Belief. Everything outside of that was either on the way up or on the way down.

The best albums outside of that target zone were probably Never Say Die with Greg and Wake Up Call with John.

The weakest albums would have to be Double Take and Revival.

I agree. Unless you have heard them all live, and have heard everything that they can do, it is hard to say who was best technically. All we can do is prefer who was best in the era of preference.

I maintain that Mark Kelly was the best well-rounded bass player and Slick the best all round keys player. He was borderline genious.

brent wrote:I agree. Unless you have heard them all live, and have heard everything that they can do, it is hard to say who was best technically. All we can do is prefer who was best in the era of preference.

I maintain that Mark Kelly was the best well-rounded bass player and Slick the best all round keys player. He was borderline genious.

I'm one of the few that have seen all the incarnations of Petra since 1981. I didn't miss a tour from the Never Say Die tour in Orange, Tx to the Farewell Tour in Irving, Tx. My dream Team is:

Bob Hartman
John Schlitt
John Lawry
Paul Simmons
Mark Kelly

These is my mind are the best five(in position) that Petra had. One note on your comment about John Slick is I really liked his style, but I was very young and really wasn't into the keys area so much at that time; Those first couple of tours I was really just watching Bob and Louie.
BTW the one true weak link IMO with these incarnations was Greg Volz. I don't care what anyone says about this; His vocal style was NOT made for the rock style Petra was playing much less that of any rock style. Greg is a GREAT vocalist, but his voice is suited for Pop to AC.