GOD FIXATION...forgotten album?

[crossways]

Petrapraise wrote:
Someone asked John at the Murphy concert why Petra didn't play anything from "Back To The Street". He just said the music was "too old".

Two of my all time favorite Petra songs are off that album. "Whole World", and "Thankful Heart". And there are two other that I highly like.

Some bands are re-recording older music and really freshening it up. This has already been seen to a degree with Farewell. It would be cool for Petra to re-record some tracks off of the old albums and give them a fresh sound. I too really like Back to the Street. Some of the songs really rock, and they all are well written. Same with TMW, I wouldn't mind hearing some of those songs with Bob's new guitar sound.

[BriGuyPEI]

It would be cool for Petra to re-record some tracks off of the old albums and give them a fresh sound.

You mean Double Take? Actually, Double Take was the opposite of that. They re-recorded tracks off of the old albums and gave them a fresh sound, but that was with their mellower late 90s sound.

[crossways]

crossways wrote:
It would be cool for Petra to re-record some tracks off of the old albums and give them a fresh sound.

You mean Double Take? Actually, Double Take was the opposite of that. They re-recorded tracks off of the old albums and gave them a fresh sound, but that was with their mellower late 90s sound.

No, not like Double Take

Like Whitecross did recently. Take some of the older stuff and beef up the guitars - like they did on J&H.

[js3971]

I always thought No Doubt and God Fixation both were underraated and underappreciated. For some reason, people began to tune Petra out around these albums, and I never understood why.

There are some great songs on both of them. Maybe my only "complaint" would be that there were more harder rock songs.

[greenchili]

Although I did kinda start tuning petra out around "No Doubt". I still liked it lyrically cause the lyrics had that "freshness" of a newly born christian style. Something I found "refreshing" given the normal bible verse driven petra lyrics.

But bottom line is it has too many pop songs on it.

[charl]

Interesting that the major complaint I had with No Doubt was not so much the music but that the messages were more subjective, more human oriented and I felt actually moved straight into twee territory (Enter In really redeemed it though).

But then the thing I always loved about Petra was that they were an inherently theological band. Even people who railed against CCM for being 'worldly' would often come up short with Petra because of that.
One could say, "well see here where they teach imputation.
Look at this song in which they teach hamartiology (sin),
This song admonishes us using the scriptures.
This is quoting the fathers..."
And so on.

So I was thankful that they kept that junky stuff to a minimum-certainly compared to others at the time. I stopped listening to CCM when it went there. I still think that had alot to do with Petra's decline in popularity though.

[charl]

As for Double Take, I have always thought of that one as an incredibly risk taking album. Sometimes such daring moves don't work, that's what makes them risks. Though as I've said before, I think it could have worked if they hadn't used their really classic songs, but rather lesser known ones.

Anyway, DT was a truly unique album, as all other acoustic re-hash albums were the exact same thing as had already been done, just slower. Petra actually made an album of new songs with old lyrics recycled overtop. Very odd and different, even if it did turn out to be a bad move.

So I don't think I would want to hear an old-hat album that was 'the same' as everyone else's-Petra never really did that anyway-even when following trends, they did it their own way.

[greenchili]

Interesting that the major complaint I had with No Doubt was not so much the music but that the messages were more subjective, more human oriented and I felt actually moved straight into twee territory (Enter In really redeemed it though).

Sure... I know the album lyrically may be simple. But it was not the simpleness, so much as the "from the viewpoint of a newborn believer". Alot of times deeper theological stuff really does "fly over the head" of a newborn believer.

For what it is worth I actually stopped listening to petra after TMW for a very long time (still a new christian uncertain about "rock") until I realized (as you did) that Petra was one of the few groups that did not "water down" their lyrics like alot of groups seemed to be doing at the time.

Hence I actually started listening to them again (around the time of "unseen power") as well as White Heart (who I dropped around RTBDWFTM).

[winterlens]

Interesting that the major complaint I had with No Doubt was not so much the music but that the messages were more subjective, more human oriented and I felt actually moved straight into twee territory (Enter In really redeemed it though).

I felt the same way about God Fixation. As a musical offering, it was fine; maybe not superb, but I like the sound. But I simply haven't been able to get over the hump about the theology in it.

No Doubt, while less sonically pleasing, is one of the few Petra records I can listen to all the way through. It's a more man-centered album, but the theology in it is better. Unfit for Swine is almost entirely man-centered (in a sense), but contains one of the best presentations of the gospel I've ever seen in CCM.

[Mountain Man]

...even if it [Double Take] did turn out to be a bad move.

Well, it did win a (in my opinion well-deserved) Grammy, so it can't have been all that bad.

At any rate, I can honestly say that I like every single album Petra ever put out. Sure, there might be a song or two I don't much care for, but overall, there's no one album that I don't like listening to. I personally chalk it up to having a diverse taste in music.

[charl]

By "bad move" I simply meant that most people don't like it. In fact many fans seem to vehemently HATE it!
BTW, I actually don't dislike it as much as I thought I would.

[executioner]

...even if it [Double Take] did turn out to be a bad move.

Well, it did win a (in my opinion well-deserved) Grammy, so it can't have been all that bad.

At any rate, I can honestly say that I like every single album Petra ever put out. Sure, there might be a song or two I don't much care for, but overall, there's no one album that I don't like listening to. I personally chalk it up to having a diverse taste in music.

The only album that I hate and can't listen too is No Doubt. I hate the album with a passion. I am apalled that Bob decided to put Think Twice in the rock medley on Farewell; It is so out of place. I think one reason that I am so disgusted by No Doubt is that it is what started Petra's downward spiral to nothing. It was a HUGE mistake in my eyes.

[calicowriter]

I personally really like the "No Doubt" CD. And I don't think that "Think Twice" was out of place in the rock medley. It helped show the variety of rock Petra has done over the years. Of the rock singles released from "No Doubt", I prefer "Enter In," but I don't think it would have flowed as smoothly in the rock medley as "Think Twice."

As far as the fact that it started their downhill slide, I think the biggest mistake that was made was in not putting Bob on the CD cover. Immediately, people thought Bob was gone from Petra and wrote off the CD and/or the band, when in fact, he was as much a part of that CD as all the others previous. It alerted people immediately to the fact that Bob was not touring. I would have let them find out when they got to the concert. Some people would have still been put off and dismissed the band, but many others might have enjoyed themselves and rolled with the changes without having a chip on their shoulder going in.

[js3971]

I really disliked Petra's version of "I Where My Sunglasses at Night" off of their "Songs You Really Don't Want to Hear By Us" album. SYRDWHBU to be official.

[js3971]

I must admit though, I liked "La Bamba" off of the same album.