What would have been if.......

[executioner]

Petra had quit or retired after Wake Up Call? Do you think that they could be doing what Stryper is doing now and coming back for a second go around? Personally I would have liked that alot better because from No Doubt to Revival the style was really weak and I could have done without those albums. I feel the strongest album from that era(1995-2001) was God Fixation. If it would have happen we could have the five guys Bob, John, Johnnie, Louie, and Ronnie back together. Sorry I was just dreaming a little bit.

[Jonathan]

I'm not alone in my thinking that No Doubt is one of Petra's better albums. To me, I like it because it's not mindless trucker mullet rock.

That's not saying I don't like the On Fire-Wake Up Call albums, but Petra gained some new fans who appreciated the updated sound on No Doubt. I'm not saying anything about production values or any of that. I'm not an engineer. I'm a listener.

One of my favorite songs Petra has ever recorded was the medley, and their treatment of "You Are Holy" on We Need Jesus. And I love God Fixation. My fiancee's first taste of Petra was Double Take, and she's hooked now.

You like what you like, and no amount of someone arguing with you is going to change your mind. You can take that "But the drums were fake, and the writing is cliched..." argument and cram it where the sun always shines.

I guess in response to your question...the disbanding after Wake-Up Call probably would have been a death knell, outside of God's working. Beyond Belief was the zenith. UP and WUC were to some degree lesser than BB, which is the general idea I get from being a part of the group here at the zone for about 6 years now. Didn't Lawry bail in the middle of the WUC tour, or at least before it was finished?

[executioner]

I actually saw WUC tour twice and John Lawry was at the first one, and Jim Cooper was at the second one. I really feel that Petra lost alot of its soul once Bob and Johnnie decided to quit. After WUC there was something always missing in recording process and the band on tour until JAH came out. No Doubt sounded to electronic for me, and PP2 was very mellow compared to the previous effort. I won't even bring up Double Take we all know it was a mistake.

[Michael]

I think Double Take contains some of the most artistic, beautiful music Petra ever recorded. Everybody hates it because they changed the melodies, pure and simple.

[charl]

I always thought Double Take was quite daring, but I do think they would've done better to have dusted off some lesser-known gems rather than re-vamping the standards that everyone loved so much already.

I disliked the fact that they did too much praise music in that period-but I am biased as I think praise music tends to be really dull at it's core (sorry to everyone who likes it but that's just the way I feel) and even Petra couldn't keep it from sounding so.

[callbeyond]

I liked DT, it had some cool arrangements...But Petra NEVER went wrong...when they had John & Dino Elefante producing. I even asked John about WUC, and he said they just wanted a change....notice they went back with the Elefante's on the next album.
Wonder what it would have sounded like IF John & Dino would have produced it?.....Hmmmmm

[charl]

I don't think it would have sounded as good. The thing I loved about that album was the clarity of it. It was...pristine. It made evident a comparative 'muddiness' in the previous albums.
The older I get (which is to say the 193845 more times I have listened to those albums), the more I think that many of those classic albums were good not because of the Elephantes, but in spite of them.

[WR1U]

I think No Doubt is a great album. There are some real powerful lyrics and I think it's one of my favorites and I've been a Petra fan since Never Say Die. I also liked DT. I have the DT track of Creed which I sang at my father's funeral. I love the original but lets face it, It can't be sung during Sunday morning worship in most churches but the DT one can.

[beak]

I hated No Doubt and when I realized Bob left I quit listening to Petra. I was really tired of the Kansas sound and felt they should have gotten harder as the times were. That truck mullet comment was not exactly funny since it was a popular hair style not a "mullet" which actually came out during the dress like a dirtbag look came out during the so called grundge era that came and died right away. Too bad, I hated grudge, it killed alot of great bands that by the way ARE BACK! I completely quite buying Petra albums after the No Doubt album. God fixation I did like after I listened to it a few times at least there was a band that attempted to make a change in music. I saw Petra during PP2 in a huge auditorium and there was only like 200 people there, it was erie with the room completely empty. Petra waited way to long to get a hard sound and change, instead they tried to get softer and it wasn't working with most of us during the time and I didn't want to listen to any of the albums. I still have not bought Revival since it wasn't really an album and put me to sleep anyway.

[callbeyond]

You know we pick at the smallest, dumbest things...to my knowledge Bob still played on all the Petra CD's, even though somebody else played live in concert. Petra did go through a rough time there for a while, with member changes and sound...but over all...they hung in there and stayed the course. Hats off to them!

[BriGuyPEI]

to my knowledge Bob still played on all the Petra CD's, even though somebody else played live in concert.

If the liner notes are accurate, Bob played guitars on all of Petra's albums except for Double Take. He is even still credited as a band member on PP2. We know that he played all of the guitars on No Doubt, since it was finished before David Lichens was hired. I've always wondered how much of the guitar we hear on PP2 and GF are actually Bob.

It's an interesting thought about Petra having retired after WUC though, since that's the point that many consider, well, I don't want to say "jump the shark", but you get the idea. Now I know there's many here that love the late 90s era. I'm not looking to start a flame war. But if Petra had un-retired with J&H, holy crap! They would have blown away the scene.

Here's another interesting thought. This thread has been sort of a 'what if the late 90s never happened'. Let me change the spin a little. Maybe it's 1987-1991 that's the anomaly. WUC and the albums that followed are not all that different from BTTS. Could you view it that Petra's hard rock phase was temporary and then they 'returned' to their early to mid 80s style?

Something to think about, anyway.

[brent]

I think Double Take contains some of the most artistic, beautiful music Petra ever recorded. Everybody hates it because they changed the melodies, pure and simple.

Sure. It was like changing the melody to the Star Bangled Banner, Chop Sticks, or the Flintstones. You can't jack with what people know, and expect them to like it. But then again, that record was not for the existing fan base. That record was to get them on SoccerMom 100.9FM. You get that one Michael. I had to work that in since you worked in the Walmart in BA.

[executioner]

MJ you worked at a Walmart?

[brent]

No, he "worked in" the location of the Walmart into the conversation, back on the thread that dealt with Wally World's CD prices. Sorry for the bad writting.

[Michael]

That record was to get them on SoccerMom 100.9FM. You get that one Michael. I had to work that in since you worked in the Walmart in BA.

Hehe... the big CCM station here in Tulsa, a few years ago noticed that they were #1 in the Soccer Mom demographic, so they decided to start pandering... I mean MARKETING... almost exclusively to that demographic. They even lost one of their main morning show hosts because of it (he told me himself that that was the beginning of the end there for him... he wasn't going to brown-nose the mommies all morning every day). It's almost disgusting to listen to some of their fluff... the commercials, the morning show talk topics. It's awful. BLEAH!!!!

The same folks started a Christian Rock station in addition a few years ago, and it is similarly ultra-focused on their market. Basically, if you are a potential listener and are not in high school, they'll tell you which part of your body to move out of the way when you're on the way out the door. Remember, they finally agreed to play "Jekyll & Hyde" on the station, but only on their "smash or trash"-type segment, and then when it won the first day they pitted it against the new single by a regional favorite band to ensure that it would get beat the second day.

MJ you worked at a Walmart?

Nope... but I did work at Mervyn's for the Christmas season a few years ago. I helped people find the shoe size they needed. Computer programmer by day, shoe flunky by night!