Missteps

[executioner]

I agree for the most part with what Brent is saying, and Louie had always been my favorite band up until 2001-2002, but some things happened that changed my opinion and if I was in John's shoes I would have done the same thing. These issues had been going on since Ronny was in the band.
BTW in Bob's statement when this went down was that he was 100% behind in John's decision to fire Louie. You got to also know this was a decision that was made with a lot of prayer involved and also consulting with Bob about on a number of occasions. This was not a spur of the moment decision.

[rexreed]

J&H does not sound like anything else that Petra did, so I hardly consider it a return to their roots. As much as I enjoy the album it really should have some guitar solos.

Jekyll & Hyde is so full of gutsy, crunchy grooves that a guitar solo in each song would almost be redundant.

That doesn't even make sense. Sacred trust is OK without a solo but songs like J&H or Test of Time would be masterpieces with the right solo. "Oh Peter Furler, why did you tell Bob that no solos is current? Just because the Newsboys don't play real rock and roll doesn't mean every other band shouldn't. " Seriously, the best NB record was TMTYL and it was a real rock and roll album with a solo or two. Since then they sing nursery rhymes. BTW All about who you know sounds like a NB song and I've never been a fan for that reason.

[Mountain Man]

Sacred trust is OK without a solo but songs like J&H or Test of Time would be masterpieces with the right solo. "Oh Peter Furler, why did you tell Bob that no solos is current? Just because the Newsboys don't play real rock and roll doesn't mean every other band shouldn't. "

Show me a Newsboys album that has the guitar virtuoso of Jekyll & Hyde and you'd have a point. Jekyll & Hyde is a real treat for guitar fans, perhaps more so than any other Petra album.

[rexreed]

Yeah it's a real treat, but a few good solos would have been icing on the cake. Leaving them off is a misstep.

[fcollazo]

J&H was a complete departure for Petra, not a return to their prior glory days' sound. It actually tried to copy the new metal style of the day, with heavy downtuned guitars, no solos, and no keyboards. Nothing wrong with that, just another attempt at keeping up with the styles of the time.

[fcollazo]

so what we're here saying is; that if louie would have agreed to make a rock album, petra would not have had to retire?

[Dan]

I don't think it was that simple, Inpop had seemed to be telling them what to do behind the scenes.. something like, we we will record another album if you do this .... blah blah

Who knows really?

I remember reading something along these lines on the Petra section of the inpop forum

[Muleya]

I think their biggest mistake was trying to change with the times and adopting a more contemporary, "grungy" sound instead of sticking with the straight-ahead rock they were known for. Their fans would have stuck with them even if they were no longer considered the top Christian act in the industry. The problem with albums like "No Doubt" and "God Fixation" is they really didn't appeal to anybody, old or new fans, and that's when Petra's popularity and viability took a nosedive.

Yes! I always felt that Petra spent more time trying to "keep up" with the current style than just being themselves. I understand why they did it...Bob's mission was to tell youth about Jesus, and music was his vehicle, so he adapted his music over time in an attempt to keep relevant. However, in doing so, he alienated the some of the fans he already had. And has already been mentioned, there's a point at which Petra is an "old band" regardless of how they try to keep up with trends!

And I realize there is a marketing side to this, too...the younger crowds spend more! The faithful among the old guard may not be enough to pay the bills!

But I think they would have sold more albums to me had they not tried so hard to "keep up" with current music trends.

[CatNamedManny]

Let's face it: If Petra had been on top of the world with a third wave of popularity in 2001-02, firing Louie would not be considered a misstep. Firing Louie did not lead to a worse product, either on album or on stage — in fact, it was followed by a better one (correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation, but there you go). Firing Louie was merely the culmination of the series of missteps that began when the band did not accurately read the writing on the wall following No Doubt.

In my previous post, I gave the band some benefit of the doubt: In retrospect, obviously they should have called it quits if Bob wasn't going to be a significant part of the band. But at the time Wake Up Call was a big hit, so there's no reason to think they really should have. No Doubt, on the other hand, was a disappointment; it was panned by critics and fans and experienced a serious decline in sales. The band could have hung it up then. Instead, we got a decent but not exactly awe-inspiring Petra Praise 2, a critically praised but disappointing God Fixation that took a decade for fans to appreciate, the horrible get-us-out-of-our-contract-anyway-we-can Double Take and the regrettable Revival, all of them seemingly accompanied by at least two new band members each. I think it's fair to argue that making each of those albums was a separate misstep, as each fresh decline in sales and groan from their fanbase was an opportunity for Petra to recognize their time was over.

By the time Revival came out, Inpop was including Bob in the marketing for a CD filled with songs he didn't write. The only true band members left were John and Louie, so firing one of them certainly made a big splash. But was it really a misstep in light of all the rest of the turmoil facing the band — and in light of the product the band released without him? I don't think so.

[brent]

Louie and Petra retiring are not related. Petra was being told for a while to plan a way out...to go out with a bang, wait a five or ten years and then sell the reunion stuff. Petra did not want to hear that, so they went on. Louie got a head start with the rest of his life. I could consider that a blessing in disguise. I don't know if he does.

[wiley16350]

I don't get why people are so down on WUC. I thought it was one of their best albums. It was tough, crunchy and all the songs had a feel of their own. I also love No Doubt, but It does sound more like a John Schlitt album than a Petra album. Also, the only reason the earlier albums sound dated is cause of the keyboards. Keyboards were an 80's thing and today very few (if any) bands use keyboards. If Petra re-recorded those albums without keyboards and everything else was the same, the albums would sell today just as well as they did back then. I love all the albums from back then, but the keyboards do take away some of the edge those songs had in respect to guitar and drums. Thats my opinion anyways.

[Dan]

WUC could very well be one of their best albums, it is timeless.. and could be released today.

[Mountain Man]

Petra was being told for a while to plan a way out...to go out with a bang, wait a five or ten years and then sell the reunion stuff. Petra did not want to hear that, so they went on.

Well then I guess that was their biggest misstep right there. Imagine if they had ended with "Wake-Up Call" and then several years later made a big come back with "Jekyll & Hyde".

[p-freak]

Don't underestimate the influence of No Doubt and We Need Jesus. Even though the style might not have been what we would have expected from Petra, these albums were quite influential in different ways. Every time I hear Bob or John talk about the lyrical impact of No Doubt, it makes me happy that they wrote and recorded the song. And Petra Praise 2 was sort of the start of the modern worship hype. I mean, influential stuff like Third Day's Offerings and SonicFlood were all recorded after Petra Praise 2.

And if by misstep we mean a step that took them out of the general public's eye, then GF is a misstep, but I think it's a very strong album, both lyrically and musically. It is not as much rock and I would've expected at the time. I remember buying when it first came out and listening to it for the first time. I'd heard some tracks on the radio already and that sounded good, but I was initially disappointed by the lack or real rockers. Only Matter Of Time, GF and maybe St. Augustine's Pears were real rockers to my mind. For retaining their fan base is wasn't the best choice, so you might want to call that a misstep, but it then is a misstep I wouldn't have wanted to miss.

I think in the end Revival is the album they could have done without. I even like DT better.

[BriGuyPEI]

Another misstep would be not using this picture as the basis for the No Doubt album cover.