Any one remember Petra?

[Mr Peabody]

I was messing around on Amazon today and stumbled across a brand new Petra album, Back to the Rock. The samples sounded pretty good to me and became an impulse purchase. I liked some of the earlier Petra stuff but not enough to buy an album but I can't really say I had a lot of exposure to it either. I'm wondering if Livgren had a hand in this new album? Any Petra fans have a rec on a stand out earlier album?

I have Proto-Kaw, Before Became After and it was just so so at first but the more I listened the more I really grew to like it.

[3LB]

Petra? the contemporary christian rock band? I used to listen to CCR bands about a decade or so ago. There's still a few I enjoy, but Petra never grabbed me. CCR was just as bad a cookie-cutter operation as mainstream pop/rock back in the day. The players involved were usually competent, even very talented in some cases, but ultimately they paled artistically compared to their secular counterparts. Petra was one of CCR's first christian-alt/rock acts. Comparitively speaking, they were upper-tier in their genre, which is not saying much.

A few CCR alt-rock acts that I still enjoy; PFR and Newsboys, both which were original and practicioners great songcraft (and prolly leaned more towards power pop than rock).

[Mr Peabody]

CCR is so bad today they all pretty much sound the same. That's based on a radio station we have hear that has the CCR format. I have very little in my collection that would be under this genre. One band I have and like is Fireflight.

Petra, from what I understand in the beginning was more of a Prog Christian band. In the early beginning of CCR some of the bands were original and pretty good but as you say it didn't take long for things to commercialize and eventually begin to all sound the same. Sort of like what has become known as "Smooth Jazz" today. Leave the room and come back may be a different song but who can tell.

I received the new album today and gave it a spin. Not bad but not as good as I thought from the samples. The songs for the most part were catchy but no Prog, all the songs were a short tight little package, keyboard was minimal and guitar was mostly rhythm, I think they were trying for a piece of the CCR pie that's happening now. The sound was more of a Power Pop bringing to mind Survivor. The lyrics were blatantly Christian. Livgren was not on this album.