Tag: Petra

Various – Jubilation! – 1975

This 1975 Myrrh Records sampler had some of the early 70’s best Jesus Music. Strangely, it had the exact same name (Including the exclamation mark) of an album released the same time from The Kingsmen. The album only had one unreleased track, Larry Norman – Dear Malcolm, Dear Alwyn. Larry did finally release the track in 1993 on the So Long Ago The Garden re-release as a bonus track.

Include below is the info on which album the songs were released on

Tracklist
1 – Barry McGuire – Enter In – 5:35 – Seeds
2 – Lamb – The Sacrifice Lamb – 5:09 – Lamb
3 – The Sonlight Orchestra – Easter Song – 2:45 – Love Songs And Other Greats
4 – Randy Matthews – Johnny – 3:30 – All I Am Is What You See…
5 – Petra – Back Sliding Blues – 4:31 – Petra
6 – Walt Mills – You Got The Power – 2:55 – Sincerely, Walt Mills
7 – Ron Salsbury And J.C. Power Outlet – I Choose To Follow You – 5:15 – Forgiven…
8 – Evie – Clean Before My Lord – 3:05 – Evie Again
9 – Parchment – Light Of The World – 4:00 – Light Up The Fire
10 – The Pat Terry Group – I Can’t Wait – 3:42 – The Pat Terry Group
11 – 2nd Chapter Of Acts – I Fall In Love/Change – 4:22 – With Footnotes
12 – Ray Hildebrand – Didn’t He – 5:08 – Special Kind Of Man
13 – Honeytree – Heaven’s Gonna Be A Blast – 2:22 – The Way I Feel
14 – Aleksander John – Days Go By – 3:15 – Days Go By
15 – Love Song – A Love Song – 1:46 – Love Song
16 – Larry Norman – Dear Malcolm, Dear Alwyn – 2:36 – Unreleased until 1993
17 – Malcolm & Alwyn – Tomorrow’s News – 3:30 – Fool’s Wisdom
18 – Ken Medema – Come Let Us Reason Together – 3:35 – Fork In The Road
19 – Chuck Girard & Love Song – Think About What Jesus Said – 4:54 – Final Touch
20 – Marijohn – Where I’m Going – 3:58 – Where I’m Going

Various – The Rock of Gospel – 1987

This is a fascinating sampler album (CD). It came out on Arrival Records, which is a Sublabel of K-Tel International. I had no idea until I found this album that K-Tel had distributed Christian albums. Even more of a surprise for me is that there were several of these albums. The quality of the CD is horrible, but I’ve cleaned up the recordings as best I could. K-Tel’s vinyl releases were well known for their horrible quality which was a result of cheap vinyl and cheap pressing. This album was released on CD so there was no need for the poor quality. I’ve always suspected that the licensing agreements for these songs included a stipulation that the quality be horrible in hopes people would buy the original album.

Include below is the info on which album the songs were released on

Tracklist
1 – Michael W. Smith – You’re Alright – 4:39 – The Big Picture
2 – Petra – Back To The Street – 4:17 – Back To The Street
3 – Leslie Phillips – Love Is Not Lost – 4:03 – Black And White In A Grey World
4 – White Heart – The Beat Of A Different Drum – 4:17 – Don’t Wait For The Movie
5 – David Meece – All Is God’s Creation – 3:48 – Candle In The Rain
6 – Kim Boyce – Love Resurrection – 4:11 – Kim Boyce
7 – Randy Stonehill – Defender – 3:02 – The Wild Frontier
8 – Mylon LeFevre & Broken Heart – Crack The Sky – 3:59 – Crack The Sky
9 – Rick Cua – This Raging Fire – 3:53 – Wear Your Colors
10 – Steve Camp – Cheap Grace – 5:11 – One On One
11 – David & The Giants – Cold Lonely Nights – 3:37 – Magnificat
12 – Margaret Becker – Fight For God – 4:06 – Never For Nothing

Companies, etc.
Copyright (c) – K-Tel International (USA), Inc.
Distributed By – K-Tel International (USA), Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – K-Tel International (USA), Inc.

Petra – Beat The System – 1984

Petra’s Beat The System was released in 1984 into a musical age that was dealing with the first generation of electronic sounds, video games, and mainstream home computers.

Petra continues to build on their sing-along arena rock style with even more synthesizer and electronic drum sounds. Their updated version of “God Gave Rock’n’Roll To You” brings that forward but without the acoustical drama of the original. Its inclusion on this album helped maintain the song as a CCM anthem for yet another generation.

This is the last of Greg X. Volz’s albums with the band before Jon Schlitt took over as lead vocalist. Greg joined Petra for their third album, Washes Whiter Than in 1979, then billed as the “New Improved Petra.”

Beat The System had several tracks that stayed with the band as classics, including “Clean” and “Adonai.”

Track Listing:
1 – Beat The System – 4:22
2 – Computer Brains – 4:01
3 – Clean – 3:01
4 – It Is Finished – 3:52
5 – Voice In The Wind – 4:30
6 – God Gave Rock And Roll To You – 3:54
7 – Witch Hunt – 4:34
8 – Hollow Eyes – 4:03
9 – Speak To The Sky – 4:16
10 – Adonai – 4:42

Credits:
Bass Guitar, Synthesizer [Synthesizer Bass], Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Mark Kelly
Drums, Percussion – Louie Weaver
Keyboards, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – John Lawry
Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Bob Hartman
Lead Vocals – Greg X. Volz
Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Jonathan David Brown

Real80sCCM Podcast #3 – Petra, Geri Baird

Episode #3 Featuring

To view this episode with its original live video, see it here on Youtube:

Listen to just the audio below, or Right Click Here To Download

 

Petra – (self titled) – 1974

This is the first album from Petra. It was released in 1974 and has a sound typical of the time.

It’s a mix of Jesus music, Rock & Roll, and the common one bluegrass tune and one blues tune. This was very common on albums from this period as bands tried to transition from Jesus music to Rock & Roll.

The production is very poor, but in defense Of the band it was recorded and mixed on a $1000 budget.

Track Listing:
1 – Walkin’ In The Light – 3:16
2 – Mountains And Valleys – 2:48
3 – Lucas McGraw – 2:57
4 – Wake Up – 3:38
5 – Back Sliding Blues – 4:31
6 – Get Back To The Bible – 2:17
7 – Gonna’ Fly Away – 4:57
8 – I’m Not Ashamed – 3:00
9 – Storm Comin’ – 4:25
10 – Parting Thought – 1:30

Credits:
Bass – John DeGroff
Drums, Percussion – Bill Glover
Engineer – Terry Jamison, Thom Byler*
Producer – Billy Ray Hearn
Vocals, Banjo, Guitar – Bob Hartman
Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin – Greg Hough
Written-By – Hartman* (tracks: A1 to A3, A5 to B5), Hough* (tracks: A4, B3)

Petra – More Power To Ya – 1982

This album was the fifth offering from Petra.

It was one of the heaviest rock albums of the time, Ressurection band still held that title at the time.

Judas kiss features some supposed backmasking but in reality it was just a backwards sound track that said “What are you lookin’ for the devil for when you oughta be lookin’ for the Lord?”. It was a cute gimmick, but didn’t suit the song or make any sense attached to it. All in all a darn good Rock and Roll album that was very edgy for the time.

Track Listing:
1 – Stand Up – 3:33
2 – Second Wind – 4:32
3 – More Power To Ya – 3:37
4 – Judas Kiss – 4:43
5 – Rose Colored Stained Glass Windows – 4:16
6 – Run For The Prize – 4:31
7 – All Over Me – 5:51
8 – Let Everything That Hath Breath – 4:21
9 – Road To Zion – 3:58
10 – Disciple – 3:29

Credits:
Arranged By – Jonathan, Petra (9)
Bass, Vocals – Mark Kelly (8)
Drums – Louie Weaver
Guitar – Bob Hartman
Keyboards, Vocals, Synthesizer [Programs & Arrangements] – John Slick
Lead Vocals – Greg X. Volz
Mastered By – Steve Hall
Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Jonathan David Brown
Technician [Technical Assistance] – Brian Tankersley
Written-By – Bob Hartman (tracks: A1 – B2, B5), Greg X. Volz (tracks: B3), Mike Hudson (2) (tracks: B4)

Classic Petra – Back To The Rock Live – 2011

Petra recorded this album (using the name Classic Petra) on November 20th, 2010 at Trinity City Music Hall in Hendersonville TN.

Picking 12 songs to perform and record out of a catalog as large as theirs must have been a difficult process however I think they did a great job. The choices are a wide variety of their material and I believe they left out some of their biggest hits quite intentionally. Because of that, this retro release is just about perfect.

Track Listing:
1 – Bema Seat – 4:38
2 – Clean – 3:32
3 – Angel Of Light – 4:45
4 – Rose Colored Stained Glass Windows – 4:43
5 – Godpleaser – 5:07
6 – Second Wind – 4:55
7 – More Power To Ya – 3:37
8 – Let Everything That Hath Breath – 4:29
9 – Grave Robber – 5:24
10 – Adonai / Back To The Rock – 9:21
11 – Too Big To Fail – 4:50

Credits:
Art Direction, Coordinator [Project Coordinator] – Mark Kelly
Bass Guitar, Vocals – Mark Kelly
Booking – H2O Artist Agency
Design [Art Design / Creation] – Julie Sturgeon
Drums – Louie Weaver
Engineer [2nd Engineer] – Jon Blass
Engineer [Live Tracking Engineer] – Greg Malenovsky
Engineer [Mix Engineer] – John Jaszcz
Guitar, Vocals – Bob Hartman
Keyboards, Vocals, Producer, Edited By [Studio Editing], Engineer [Tracking Engineer], Engineer [2nd Engineer] – John Lawry
Lead Vocals – Greg Volz
Legal [Legal Counsel] – Lannie J. Cates
Management [Band] – Bob Bender Productions
Management [Business] – Kim Hartman
Photography By – Jon LeMay

Petra – Come And Join Us – 1977

This album from 1977 supplied us with the Christian equivalent of a Rock Anthem.

God Gave Rock And Roll To You was on every Christian mixed tape I remember. That said, the album has other gems that have been forgotten over time.

My personal favourite is Woman Don’t You Know.

Little known fact is that God Gave Rock And Roll To You was actually a cover of a Russ Ballard song originally recorded by his band Argent in 1973.

Track Listing:
1 – God Gave Rock And Roll To You – 5:37
2 – Holy Ghost Power – 2:27
3 – Woman Don’t You Know – 3:41
4 – Sally – 4:26
5 – Come And Join Us – 4:39
6 – Where Can I Go – 3:52
7 – Without You – 4:27
8 – Ask Him In – 3:31
9 – God Gave Rock And Roll To You (Reprise) – 2:50

Credits:
Arranged By – Petra (9)
Artwork – Dennis Bellile
Bass Guitar – John DeGroff
Drums, Percussion – Bill Glover
Engineer – Terry Jamison
Guitar – Bob Hartman, Greg Hough
Keyboards – Steve McElyea
Percussion – Steve Mergen
Producer – Austin Roberts