Petra.

One of the oldest Christian rockbands ever.
They released so many CDs in all those years.
Petra is a band with a high quality lyrics all those years.
From 1972 till 1986 was Greg X. Volz the lead singer from Petra.
After Greg X. Volz left the band John Schlitt took his place as lead singer of Petra.
What are the best Petra albums with Greg X. Volz as lead singer or those with John Schlitt?
What are your favorite Petra CDs?
"More Power" 1983 and "Not Of This World" 1983 were very cool rockin' CDs.
I wonder if there's a chance to order some where these albums.
Or are there better CDs than those?

Some weeks ago I bought my first Petra CD's
Beyond Believe and Jekyll and Hyde.
I have to say that Beyond Believe is a great CD.
Only you guys are much better in how to decribe a CD than I.
It's so difficult for me to describe a CD for me like most of you do.

I think "Beyond Belief" is probably the best Petra album I have ever heard. I must confess that I have not heard much of the Greg Volz era music, but I have never been much more than a half-hearted fan of this band. I have owned a 3 or 4 albums from this band that I have traded.

These are the only ones I have kept:

This Means War! - 1987
On Fire! - 1988
Beyond Belief - 1990
Wake Up Call - 1993
No Doubt - 1995 (looking to trade this one)
Jeykll & Hyde - 2003

Not much of anything else from this group seems to interest me. Which is a little strange becaue I am a huge White Heart fan.

I think "More power to ya", "Never say die", "Not of this world", "Beat the system" and "Captured in time and space"(live) are the best ones with G.X. Volz. I think most of them are available through Greg's site.

I agree with "Beyond belief". i also got the movie they brought out with this album. The Petra albums after "Beyond belief" are very weak in my opinion. Great stuff is the farewell-cd.

Thanks 777rocker, I have to check Greg's site.
Hope I can listen to samples first.
Is the farewell CD a Live CD too?
I am not really a fan of live CDs.

Greg X Volz wasn't the singer until The Never Say Die album.

later...Cliffy

"Not Of This World" would be my favorite Greg X. Volz era disc. "This Means War!" for the John Schlitt era, although I am yet to hear "Beyond Belief". "Fire It Up!" has some great hard rocking moments but is a bit inconsistent.

Also, if you like Petra then be sure to check out Volz's first solo album - recorded after departing Petra - "The River Is Rising".

I've got quite a few of their albums but the only one's I really still play are:

Captured In Time & Space (Recorded live right here)
Petrafied! The Very Best Of Petra
On Fire!
Beyond Belief
God Fixation
Jekyll & Hyde
Farewell (Live)

I have all of Petra's albums except for the Spanish language one. I like all of them from time to time, but the sound is so varied that I can't get into all of the styles at any one time.

I saw Petra several times in the early 80's and they were a fantastic show everytime.

My friends were really into them and I liked them, but I only have "Petraphonics", which is some of their radio-friendly greatest hits.

IMO "Not Of This World" and "More Power To Ya" were GREAT lps, but, I think that I would like their newer stuff if I gave it a try.

Even though I don't own very much of their stuff anymore, I have as much respect for them as any artist/group in Christian music.

Cliffy wrote:

Greg X Volz wasn't the singer until The Never Say Die album.

later...Cliffy

Actually, while not the official singer, Greg did sing many of the songs from the first few Petra albums. He became the official singer on Never Say Die.

I like Petra a great deal. I like their Volz and Schlitt eras. My ranking of the albums I have would be as follows:

1. This Means War
2. Wake Up Call
3. On Fire
4. Beat The System
5. Unseen Power
6. No Doubt
7. More Power To Ya
8. Not Of This World
9. Petra Praise: The Rock Cries Out
10. Jekyll and Hyde

I love those first five. The rest are decent, and have some brilliant moments. The late 90's Petra (God Fixation, Praise II, Double Take, etc.) was pure junk to me.

One of the first christian arena rock bands I got into. I own evertyhing in the John Schlitt era and prefer "This Means War" and "Back to the Street". "Beyond Belief" was good to and was probably thier most rocking album after the eighties until "jekyl & hyde". My dad and me always got into the "whos better" discussion between Schlitt and Volz. I always thought that John Schlitt was and is the better singer. Much like the great Roth/Hagar (hagar better) debate in the mainstream area. I am considering gettting "beat the system" however. They always put on a great show and saw them numerous times. I am with Alldat in the fact that they need to stop realeasing albums under the moniker of "2 Guys from petra" and just call themselves "Petra". I would love to hear them return to the old school sound of TMW or BTTS. "You are My rock" is probably one of my favorite songs.

I do think that the "2 Guys From Petra" name needs to be done away with. On "Jeckyll & Hyde", you pretty much just had Bob & John and a couple of guest musicians. What would be so different now? They are already using "Petra" IN the new band name. Just shorten the name, write & record some new music, and release the songs independantly. It's working for Saint--Petra could live on for a long time and their fan base could still get new music from them. They wouldn't have to do a lot of touring this way, either.

I have all of the studio projects with John Schlitt on them. I loved the man's voice! When I first got into Christian music, "Beyond Belief" was the first thing that I heard from them. I knew that this band was special and was definitely as good (if not better) than their secular counterparts. I went back and got all the tapes I could find back then with John on it. It was all great stuff!

Then, I learned that they had a different singer. I bought a couple of tapes with Greg on it. I didn't care for the musical direction, and I didn't really like his voice, either. So, now in the CD era, I don't own anything with Volz on it, and probably won't.

I know TT will flog me if he reads this ( ), but to me John Schlitt is THE voice of Petra.

ChosenOne wrote:

"You are My rock" is probably one of my favorite songs.

Yes, absolutely yes! "It Is Finished" is probably my favorite Petra song ever, but "You Are My Rock" is a VERY, VERY close second. I love this song! Easily my favorite song of the Schlitt era.

So most of us think that Petra was at it's best when they were full of Schlitt?

Yes, I would agree with that. To me Schlitt is THE voice of Petra. I just think he fit that style of music way better then Greg. I did like "grave robber" from the farewell cd but still to me petra is John Schlitt,Louie Weaver and Bob Hartman.

alldatndensum wrote:

So most of us think that Petra was at it's best when they were full of Schlitt?

Oh boy there's a groaner!

The only Petra CDs I have are with John Schlitt.
I think they sound great.

I try to find or listen to samples with Greg X. Volz how they sound.

I like both singers equally.

To me, IMO, Bob Hartman is the heart and soul of Petra.

I must be the odd man out, 1986's Back To The Street is my favorite but I think Greg X era rocked harder.

I prefer John's vocals as they have more of a hard rock vibe to them, but Greg's were great aswell. Most of my favourite songs from Petra were sung by John (J&H, This Means War, Just Reach Out, You Are My Rock, Minefield etc) but Greg also has some excellent songs too (It Is Finished, Graverobber etc)

Fundy

Petra was one of my favorite bands as a youngster. More Power To Ya was my first album from them, and is still my favorite. I saw them on the tour for Beat the System and let me tell, you, they packed the house and put on one heck of a show

When Greg left, the band ended, IMO. Back To The Street was a pale imitation, and nothing I've heard from them since has moved me in the slightest.

I have The River Is Rising. Pretty good, but still not Petra. I listen to that one much more often than Back To The Street, which has not graced my cassette player in 18 years.

I have been a fan of Petra since the mid 80's.
Interesting debate going here on who Petra is better behind, either Greg or John. I am truelly on the fence with this one. I like em' both. One of the CD's I have is a compilation disc called "Petra means Rock", and has a number of songs from the Greg era and a number from the John era up to the time prior to Beyond belief, or thereabouts. You can hear a very distinct difference in style of music, not just voice.

My favorites. I shall break out in two catagories.
First, favorite albums
1. Not of this world
- The best lyrically. The whole album is great.
2. Beyond Belief
- The best musically, yet the lyrics are bang on
3. Petra Praise The rock cries out
- Great traditional worship sing along songs with edge

Second, Favorite songs
1. It is Finished (The best written song by Petra but wasn't wowed by the album. Too much keyboard maybe)
2. Grave Robber (very well written)
3. Creed (I agree with everything written in the song)
4. Wake Up Call
5. Angel of Light
6. God Pleaser (I could list every song from this album)
7. Beyond Belief
8. Underneath the Blood
etc, etc, etc

.......... #9 The Coloring Song


Classic folk from da boyz

Since first posting in this thread I have picked up the classic Petra reunion rerecorded "Back to the Rock" album and I have to say I really dig it.
So I might be more inclined to say I am "on the fence" as well.

But I never listened to this band until probably about 5 years ago, so I don't have the "nostalgia factor" that many of you have.

Staybrite wrote:

... so I don't have the "nostalgia factor" that many of you have.

I think you are on to something with that statement, because I remember when I became a Christian, it was at a time when friends of mine were playing music by Petra, and DeGarmo & Key, and Whiteheart, and as I listened to the lyrics behind this great sounding music they played, it got its hook in me, so the music of that era has a very high nostalgia factor.
That and the style suits my tastes...