Washes Whiter Than is the third studio album by Petra and would mark the beginning of the chaos that became membership in the band. First, Greg Hough and John DeGroff left the band during the previous tour for “Come and Join Us” so Bob Hartman brought in Rob Frazier as a guitarist and vocalist. Then as they were starting to record this album drummer Bill Glover also left. Bob now invited Greg X. Volz who had been entertaining an offer from REO Speedwagon but decided Petra was for him. So the root of the band for this album was Bob Hartman, Rob Frazier, and Greg X. Volz while studio musicians rounded out the band for this recording. During all this chaos the band had taken a 9 month sabbatical to ponder their future. The band actually started recording this album while not even having a record deal in place. While recording and touring they were able to secure a record deal from Star Song Records. Now we’re not really too sure if it was Star Song or the band but the album took a mellow turn. It wasn’t an entirely mellow album but much more mellow than their previous 2 albums. I’ll be honest here that this is probably my least liked Petra album because of this turn. Even though this album had some great tracks it generally sat on the shelf in our listening room. The album did have 2 successful singles. “Why Should the Father Bother” made it to #3 on the CCM AC charts and stayed on the charts for 25 weeks while “Yahweh Love” made it to #20 on the CCM AC charts and stayed on the charts for 4 weeks. As usual for the CCM charts these were probably my 2 most disliked tracks. While Greg and Rob were sharing the lead vocal duties there is little doubt that Greg had the better tracks. That said I kind of like Rob’s vocals and it would have been interesting to see what direction he would have taken the band in. But anyway, Greg ended up with the vocalist job and Petra history would have him at the forefront until John Schlitt would take over in 1986. So that’s the interesting story behind this album making it historically one of the great story behind the album stories in CCM music.
Tracklist
1 – I’m Thankful – 2:41
2 – Why Should The Father Bother? – 3:46
3 – Morning Star – 4:47
4 – Magic Mirror – 3:27
5 – Mary’s Song – 4:00
6 – Yahweh Love – 5:38
7 – (Couldn’t Find Love) Without You – 4:19
8 – Taste And See – 3:23
9 – Magic Words – 3:31
10 – Deep Love – 3:57
Credits
Arranged By – George Atwell, Bob Hartman, Robert Frazier
Bass – Chip Meyers
Design, Artwork – George Werth
Drums, Percussion – Randy Nichols
Engineer – Andy deGanahl
Guitar – Gerald “Jit” Byron, Joel Balin
Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals – Robert Frazier
Keyboards – George Atwell
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Vocals – Bob Hartman
Lead Vocals – Greg X. Volz (tracks: 1, 4, 6, 8), Rob Frazier (tracks: 1 to 3, 5 to 7, 9, 10)
Management, Booking – Dan Brock Associates
Mastered By – Allen Zentz Recording
Musician [“The Crown Of Sound”] – Bob Prince
Producer – George Atwell, Dan R. Brock
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) Star Song Records
Copyright (c) Star Song Records
Manufactured By Word, Inc.
Distributed By Word, Inc.
Published By Dawn Treader Music
Recorded At Bee Jay Recording Studio
Mastered At Future Disc
