The Petra Zone

Well due to the poll limit of 10 options I had to come up with something. This is what I decided. I picked the songs most likely to be voted for. The ones I left out are..

Speak To The Sky
John's Solo (Jesus Loves You/The Race)
Bob's Solo
Louie's Solo
God Gave Rock And Roll To You

If for some reason you wish to vote for one of the above mentioned just post a reply in this thread and I will add it in when the poll closes.

Now... moving on.

With the recent ending of Petra's music ministry I thought it'd be kind of interesting to start a series of polls on favorite songs. Starting with their first album and working to the last. I figured I'd do an album each week.

So for those interested, get out your petra CD's and start listening. Do it now!!

Voting for last weeks album "Beat The System" is completed Seems we lost a few voters. Here are the results from the previous poll.


It Is Finished [14]
Adonai [8]
Beat The System (#1 Single) [4]
Speak To The Sky [2]
Hollow Eyes [1]
Computer Brains [0]
Clean [0]
Voice In The Wind [0]
God Gave Rock And Roll To You [0]
Witch Hunt [0]

The winner.. "It Is Finished" with "Adonai" closing in for second. The results of this poll were a little more lopsided than the last, but there you have it.

Next Up is "Captured In Time And Space" the live version of "Beat The System" with a little older petra hits mixed in. Released in 1986. Notes:

1. Cool guitar cover is back. Ok, well maybe not. But this one was computer generated.

2. Last petra album (with the exception of "Farewell") to feature Greg X. Volz.

3. The tape version had more songs on it than the LP release. Making it the first cassette album I ever purchased. It was also the first I wore out so I purchased it twice. Luckily this was released on CD.

4. Bob uses the acoustic part of "God Gave Rock -n- Roll To You" at the end of the mellow melody. Something I never realized till several years later.

5. The synth-guitar Bob used for the BTS album and for this tour is now in the Rock -n- Roll Hall Of Fame.

6. This album was also recorded and released on video. The video includes an extended version of "The Praise Melody" and also has a never before released song that was made up live, right there on the spot ("The Great I Am")

7. Did I mention that I absolutely love the Praise Melody?

8. I know many people felt this concert did not reflect petra at it's best (compared to previous concerts apparently). But I've always considered it to be one of the best "Live" christian albums released next to M.W.Smith's "Big Picture" and "Change Your World" tours.

9. From what I've heard after this Bob decided never to do a live recording again, of course until the farewell tour. Anyone know why? Here is an interesting comment from the liner notes by Jonathan David Brown himself.

My excitement about this "In-Concert" PETRA album stems from the fact we had so few studio corrections to make to the performance; therefore, leaving a truly wonderful live performance mostly intact. Glory to God. It's my favorite PETRA album."

I don't have much of an ear when it comes to this kinda thing but it does make one wonder which sections have been modified.

10. The video of this needs to be released badly!! Anybody else with me on this? They should just plunk it down on the same DVD as farewell. Oh and while they're at it do a Petra Video's DVD (like the Amy Grant one) with commentaries and maybe a biography/history/interviews (like the SCC one). Comeon guys! Petra deserves this, they literally paved the way for many other christian artists.

Whenever I watch louie's drum solo on the video I just cant help but think of gonzo from the muppet show.

Whoops looks like the length of the song names made it lopsided! Oh well, live and learn.

I voted for It Is Finished for this one. I thought it was a great way to "finish" the concert. John's Solo is a close second.

I voted for "It Is Finished" The live version of this was so much better than the original; Its almost like a totally different song; Somewhat like "Amazing Grace".

Yes this needs to be released on DVD as well as all their other videos; what is holding it up is very childish on someone's part.

I agree, It is Finished is way better than the studio version.

I voted for the praise medley. Again, songs better live than on the original LP's. I wore out drum heads playing along with this one. Even today, I use this medley to get in the mood to worship & pray.

I think I really got hooked to Petra with this album. I didn' t receive Christ until 1988. A freind of mine had a few Petra cassettes, and let me listen to them. I really liked them. Then we rented a video that had CIT&S and a WhiteHeart concert from their Don't Wait for the Movie tour. This is when I really fell in love with these two bands, their music, and their ministry.

This would have been a fun concert to have been able to see as well as any concerts from that era. I voted for the Praise Medley on this one as I love the Hallelujah Chorus at the end. I must admit though that It is Finished is a very close second for me. I agree with the others on the post so far, it sounds better live than the studio recording.

oops, I think I accidentally voted for Rock Medley instead. I guess it's time to get a new prescription for my contacts. I like the Rock Medley, but I really wanted to vote for the Praise Medley.

The Praise Medley actually rocks more than the Rock Medley (in my opinion). I'm kinda surprised that Not By Sight was chosen for the Rock Medley as opposed to some other better rocking hits they'd had.

js3971 wrote:oops, I think I accidentally voted for Rock Medley instead. I guess it's time to get a new prescription for my contacts. I like the Rock Medley, but I really wanted to vote for the Praise Medley.

Looks like you accidently voted for the "Mellow Meledy". Don't worry. I'll just subtract that and add 1 to the Priase Meledy for the final count.

This album was bought for me by my brothers one year for Christmas, when they happened to find it in the two dollar bin at Tramps. They each payed a dollar. They were so excited they almost crapped themselves and gave it to me the same day they bought it.

Ah memories.

I've ruined the tape with play since then and am disappointed that the CD doesn't have all the material the cassette did. Oh well. It's been many years since I saw the video; I don't remember it all that well anymore. I was never much for live albums or for videos (though this was a very good one and I enjoyed that the intros and other spoken sections were left in) anyway, this album's greatest value to me is the above mentioned story of how I obtained it.

I voted for the mellow medley (no mistake). I often wished that they had've played all of Road to Zion, as I prefered it to the studio version. That easily qualifies as my favorite part of the album.

CITAS as one of the first live Christian records I owned. If I remember correctly, it was one of my first exposures to the singing of Greg X Voltz. I became a fan around Unseen Power time so I only knew John Schlitt. I really like this record because it is a recording of the whole show, not just an edited version. It also includes the full alter call which is such a part of Petra shows.
My vote for favourite song is close. It would be for It is Finished. I think this is the best song from the Voltz era and I really like that they saved the best for last in this concert. I was so glad they included this in the Rock Medley for the Farewell tour. I actually prefer John singing this song. The other nominee would be Grave Robber. I think Voltz puts forth a great vocal effort in this song.
I also agree with the others that CITAS should be put on DVD with a commentary by Bob and Greg, released with the Farewell DVD.

I too like Road To Zion and wish they would have at least extended it another verse in the meledy. In fact it is this version that changed my mind about the original which at the time I did not care for too much.

I forgot to ask in the original msg, a bit there as it is. But CITAS marked the first time I've ever heard any Bob Hartman Medleys. After listening to Farewell, and some radio live stuff they did during Jeckyl & Hide. My question is. Was it typical for Bob to do medleys during Petra concerts?

Just curious. The ones I've heard I like and certainly are much better than live medley's by other christian artists that I've heard over the years.

Looks like "It Is Finished" is gonna run away with this one.

I vote for "Hollow Eyes," although I could have voted for any of the other songs listed on the poll with ease. However, I voted for "It Is Finished" last time, and even though the CITAS version is MUCH better in my opinion than the BTS version, I enjoy the live version of "Hollow Eyes" very much also.

Too bad I can't vote for the whole album.

I liked Hollow Eyes from the beginning, but everytime I hear the song now, it really means something. Our adopted son is from Nigeria, and we're still waiting for the embassy to grant his visa for him to come home. The first four words of the song are "Another day in Nigeria..." Yeah, there's what we're saying...

Right now, I have the CITAS cd in my car's player...usually, I skip over the tracks where they talk...but today on my way to work I let it run...on the speech right before "Hollow Eyes," John Lawry says that he was "an abandoned orphan in Japan" - at least, I think that's what he says. Can someone else verify this and explain to me why I have been a Petra fan for 14 years without knowing that?
Assuming that I heard correctly, it would add even more to Petra's story...

TAT

You know I saw that information recently and for the life of me just cannot remember where I read it.

If I remember I'll let you know, but yes it is true he was adopted. Actually maybe like you I heard it while listening to CITAS.

Actually that is where I heard about it. One of their songbooks it mentions how John Lawry has an adopted son and how he was adopted as well but doesn't go much further into it.