Rank the Petra Albums, Part the Second: The John Schlitt Years

I’m back!

I will not be ranking the Spanish albums, live albums, or II Guys from Petra:

1. This Means War!

Awesome. I’m not real big on Petra’s ballads from the late 80s but the rockers are SO GOOD that this one is my favorite. Plus, You Are My Rock is my favorite Petra song.

2. Beyond Belief

Flawless.

3. On Fire!

The second half is not quite as awesome as the first, but it’s still excellent.

4. Back to the Street

With a better guitar sound, this might rank higher. Great tunes.

5. Unseen Power

A couple of weaker tracks, but some great tunes and a great sound.

6. Wake Up Call

A little ballad heavy, but the ballads are good. And some of their best rockers are here.

7. Petra Praise 1

I’m not big on every song, but most of this is excellent. I especially love the originals.

8. Jekyll and Hyde

A great comeback. The lack of guitar solos doesn’t bother me since I’ve never viewed Petra as a solo-heavy band anyway. 

9. Petra Praise 2

Super underrated, with some great originals and good renditions of others.

10. No Doubt

A good album. Nothing else to say!

11. God Fixation

There is good stuff here, it just lacks a certain “Petra-ness” overall.

12. Double Take

Inferior renditions of classic songs. I never play this one.

13. Revival

Mostly dull and I want some Petra originals, not just covers. 



I never spin 12–13, but I love the others to varying degrees. Petra RULES.

1. Beyond Belief.  One of my top three albums of all time.
2. Unseen Power.
3. This Means War.
4. On Fire.
5. Wake Up Call.
6. Back to the Street.
7. Jekyll and Hyde.
8. No Doubt.
9. Petra Praise I
10. Petra Praise II
11. Double Take.
12. God Fixation.
13. Revival.

I agree with Pethead's comments in all regards.  I only disagree with relative importance of pluses and minuses.

Top 4 are War, On Fire, Praise 1, and Beyond Belief. Everything else succeeds those.

Praise 1 is still one of my favorites to this day. King of Kings and When the Spirit of the Lord are sings I worship to frequently.

It's hard for me to single out one song as an all time favorite from the Schlitt era. (Judas Kiss is my all time from GXV). Hit You Where You Live, I am on the Rock, Just Reach Out, and The Invitation are some of my top picks from this era.

If I were to rank the Petra albums, I would only include the original studio albums and exclude any rerecords (Double Take, Classic Petra) and Praise projects where these are covers. I would rank these separately. 

Their best John Schlit Period was between 1988 to 1993 and released a good series of albums:
1. On Fire
2. Unseen Power
3. Beyond Belief (2 and 3 are interchangable)
4. Wake Up Call

These albums are good and went back to the rock roots prior to Beat the System:
5. This Means War
6. Back to the Street

This was a transitional period for Petra where Bob decided to manage the band from home:

7. No Doubt (too many ballads, 2 or 3 too many)

This started the decline of Petra. I don't find their albums as good from the late 90s to then they retired around 2005 or at least weren't as active:
8. God Fixation
9. Jekyll and Hyde
10. Double Take (if I were to include this one this would be last. Word records didn't care about Petra at this point and this was theior last contractual obligation with the label. The artwork for this album was awful - a subway station pic with Double Take on the cover)

Petra Praise: 1 is good. Petra Praise 2 and Revival is ok not great. The 2 Guys Praise Project is Ok too. 

Rerecords: I'm enjoying the 2 Classic Petra albums, Back to the Rock 1 and 2. They are working on a third one. If I were to compare Double Take to these, that one would fall way behind.

Soldier777 wrote:If I were to rank the Petra albums, I would only include the original studio albums and exclude any rerecords (Double Take, Classic Petra) and Praise projects where these are covers. I would rank these separately. 

Their best John Schlit Period was between 1988 to 1993 and released a good series of albums:
1. On Fire
2. Unseen Power
3. Beyond Belief (2 and 3 are interchangable)
4. Wake Up Call

These albums are good and went back to the rock roots prior to Beat the System:
5. This Means War
6. Back to the Street

This was a transitional period for Petra where Bob decided to manage the band from home:

7. No Doubt (too many ballads, 2 or 3 too many)

This started the decline of Petra. I donlt fint their albums as good from the late 90s to then they retired around 2005 or at least weren't as active:
8. God Fixation
9. Jekyll and Hyde
10. Double Take (if I were to include this one this would be last. Word records didn't care about Petra at this point and this was theior last contractual obligation with the label. The artwork for this album was awful - a subway station pic with Double Take on the cover)

Petra Praise: 1 is good. Petra Praise 2 and Revival is ok not great. The 2 Guys Praise Project is Ok too. 

Rerecords: I'm enjoying the 2 Classic Petra albums, Back to the Rock 1 and 2. They are working on a third one. If I were to compare Double Take to these, that one would fall way behind.

I LOVE Back to the Rock I. I wasn’t as impressed with II, but I hope they continue.

Beyond Belief
On Fire
This Means War
Back to the Street
Petra Praise-The Rock Cries Out
Unseen Power
Wake Up Call

The rest are very hit and miss.

Black Rider wrote:Beyond Belief
On Fire
This Means War
Back to the Street
Petra Praise-The Rock Cries Out
Unseen Power
Wake Up Call

The rest are very hit and miss.

Subtract Wake Up Call and this is pretty much my list. 

Interesting facts: 

1) I prefer White Heart over Petra but Beyond Belief > any White Heart album.

2) Beyond Belief is so strong there is not a single skippable tune yet my personal # 1 John Schlitt era song is "Shakin the House".  Weird.

Not a ranking but This Means War and Beyond Belief are top notch in every respect.

Short list for me.

Beyond Belief
This Means War
On Fire
Jekyll & Hyde
Wake Up Call
Unseen Power

I'm missing  Back to the Street so I can't judge it.  But I've had one or two of the praise albums along with Double Take, Revival and God Fixation, but none of them could hold my interest and I let them go.

I'm surprised how many put This Means War above On Fire.  I thought I was in the minority on this.

Side by side comparison (This Means War! vs. On Fire!)

1. This Means War! vs. All Fired Up

All Fired Up. No contest. (0/1)

2. He Came, He Saw, He Conquered

HYWYL is excellent, but not as excellent as HCHSHC (1/1)

3. Get on Your Knees vs. Mine Field 

A lot of people seem to love Mine Field, and I get why, but I’m partial to Get on Your Knees (2/1)

4. I Am Available vs. First Love

Each are two of the weaker tracks on the albums, but I’ll take First Love by a hair, mainly because John sounds great on it. (2/2)

5. Keneniah vs. Defector 

Keneniah is solid, but Defector just shreds. (2/3)

6. You Are My Rock vs. Counsel of the Holy 

Both are great, but You Are My Rock is my favorite Petra song. The lyrics are awesome and the music fits them perfectly. (3/3)

7. The Water Is Alive vs. Somebody’s Gonna Praise His Name

Gotta go with The Water Is Alive here. (4/3)

8. Don’t Let Your Heart Be Hardened vs. Open Book

Open Book pretty easily. (4/4)

9. Dead Reckoning vs. Stand in the Gap

Both are awesome, but I’ve gotta go with Dead Reckoning for the awesome, Gospel-soaked lyrics. (5/4)

10. All the King’s Horses vs. Homeless Few 

I like Homeless Few, but All the Kings Horses wins this pretty easily. (6/4)

My List:

Beyond Belief - a perfect album for what it is. Front to back there is no weight to the album with the front and back ends equally balanced with outstanding tracks. One of my first Christian albums and one of the few albums I can truly sing every word to. Creed and Prayer are two of my absolute favorite tracks.

On Fire - a fantastic album, nearly perfect. I really like Open Book for the lyrics. I think about them often regarding my prayer life. First Love is also a fantastic ballad. The rockers are excellent and the best of their kind. Not big on Somebody's Gonna Praise His Name and Homeless Few, though meaningful, isn't a favorite song.

Back to the Street - Really love this album. I enjoy every song but the highs aren't as high. I'll say Fool's Gold is a top 5 Petra track for me though and I really like Thankful Heart for its simple message.

This Means War - Some amazing tracks. The Water Is Alive and You are My Rock are two big favorites for me. Not sure why this never measured up to the hype others have it. On my end it is a great album but of these four its the least played

Unseen Power - rarely listen to this and could not get into it for some reason. I actually don't know if I still own it as when I went back to listen to it upon seeing this thread it wasn't burned onto anything. I'll have to dig through my packed away CDs.

Petra Praise - my older brother got this album ages ago and I really disliked it. I bought it for myself at one point and it's just sitting around. I don't care for this at all.

Never owned anything else from the band but Wake Up Call sounded pretty good. I actually ordered it off Amazon a few days ago.

On another note, John has an amazing voice for hard rock/melodic metal. I've always thought if you replaced Tony Martin with John on the 80's Black Sabbath albums they'd be just as amazing. A perfect blend of smooth, melodic vocals and grit.

^Fools Gold is great. “I’d rather be a fool in the eyes of man, than a fool in the eyes of God.” Nuff said!

As someone who never got into Petra but likes harder music, which albums should I look at?

mothy wrote:As someone who never got into Petra but likes harder music, which albums should I look at?

On Fire! and Jekyll and Hyde are probably their “hardest” albums, but I still wouldn’t call them metal. I’d also check out Beyond Belief. 

https://youtu.be/RoiS4MObCO0

https://youtu.be/0Kfpeta4muQ

https://youtu.be/CsZroyRCQHA

https://youtu.be/Wema3CNqzvg

I would consider Petra rock/hard rock depending on the period. Some of the Classic Petra, Means War to Wake Up Call, No Doubt and Jekyll and Hyde material has a lot of hard rock material with 3 or 4 albums during this period leaning towards metal. They are occasionaly light rock/adult contemporary (parts of Washes Whiter, We need Jesus Revival and Double Take). The rest of their 10 albums or so are mostly rock.

Strange, had a listen to the John Schllitt era records and just can't dig them anymore like I used too, and yet, I went back and listened to all the Greg X Volz era and love those albums even more.  They were incredibly creative on all those albums, and I forgot about come and join us in the last thread, what an album.

Pethead wrote:Side by side comparison (This Means War! vs. On Fire!)

This is why I haven't done the side-by-side thing:

1. This Means War (1/0).
2. Hit You Where You Live (1/1).
3. Mine Field (1/2).
4. First Love (1/3).
5. Kenaniah (2/3).
6. Counsel of the Holy (2/4).
7. Somebody's Gonna Praise His Name (2/5).
8. Open Book (2/6).
9. Stand In the Gap (2/7).
10. All the Kings Horses (3/7).

I still like This Means War better.

Anti_Babylon wrote:

Black Rider wrote:Beyond Belief
On Fire
This Means War
Back to the Street
Petra Praise-The Rock Cries Out
Unseen Power
Wake Up Call

The rest are very hit and miss.

Subtract Wake Up Call and this is pretty much my list. 

Interesting facts: 

1) I prefer White Heart over Petra but Beyond Belief > any White Heart album.

2) Beyond Belief is so strong there is not a single skippable tune yet my personal # 1 John Schlitt era song is "Shakin the House".  Weird.

Petra is that rare band akin to Rush, Dream Theater, Freedom Call and Oasis that doesn't have any bad albums.

That said, I actually kinda have the opposite view of yours. I like Petra as a more, add more individual songs like "In The Likeness of You"/"Love"/"'Til Everything I Do"/"Beyond Belief"/"Hit You Where You Live!"/"Dance"/"Destiny" to more playlists than I do Whiteheart...yet I think Tales of Wonder and Highlands are better than any album Petra has released.

There's just an amazing magic in those two Whiteheart albums, and they have very crisp production and atmospheric layering.

As for my Schlitt Petra rankings...again, I even like God Fixation and Revival.

I'd rank them as 1. Unseen Power, 2. This Means War!, 3. On Fire!, 4. Beyond Belief, 5. Jekyll & Hyde, 6. No Doubt, the rest all tied yet I think "Just Reach Out" is maybe my 4th favorite Petra song of all time.

I listen to a lot of Schlitt's solo stuff, too. That recent album "Go!" was awesome, as was the Union of Sinners and Saints. Heard good things from folks who've met him as well.

BringItDown wrote:

Anti_Babylon wrote:

Black Rider wrote:Beyond Belief
On Fire
This Means War
Back to the Street
Petra Praise-The Rock Cries Out
Unseen Power
Wake Up Call

The rest are very hit and miss.

Subtract Wake Up Call and this is pretty much my list. 

Interesting facts: 

1) I prefer White Heart over Petra but Beyond Belief > any White Heart album.

2) Beyond Belief is so strong there is not a single skippable tune yet my personal # 1 John Schlitt era song is "Shakin the House".  Weird.

Petra is that rare band akin to Rush, Dream Theater, Freedom Call and Oasis that doesn't have any bad albums.

That said, I actually kinda have the opposite view of yours. I like Petra as a more, add more individual songs like "In The Likeness of You"/"Love"/"'Til Everything I Do"/"Beyond Belief"/"Hit You Where You Live!"/"Dance"/"Destiny" to more playlists than I do Whiteheart...yet I think Tales of Wonder and Highlands are better than any album Petra has released.

There's just an amazing magic in those two Whiteheart albums, and they have very crisp production and atmospheric layering.

As for my Schlitt Petra rankings...again, I even like God Fixation and Revival.

I'd rank them as 1. Unseen Power, 2. This Means War!, 3. On Fire!, 4. Beyond Belief, 5. Jekyll & Hyde, 6. No Doubt, the rest all tied yet I think "Just Reach Out" is maybe my 4th favorite Petra song of all time.

I listen to a lot of Schlitt's solo stuff, too. That recent album "Go!" was awesome, as was the Union of Sinners and Saints. Heard good things from folks who've met him as well.

I’ve met John twice. He’s super nice and genuine. Really cool guy.

I kind of agree with you in regards to WH and Petra, except I’d say Freedom and Tales of Wonder, rather than Highlands. (Although Highlands is also great).

This Means War is #1 and it’s not really close. I have so many memories with that album. Seeing them on that tour in summer of ‘88 was my first rock concert. You Are My Rock is either my favorite or second favorite Petra song, depending on the day. I love everything about this album.

The rest in the order I’d put them:
2. On Fire
3. Beyond Belief
4. Back to the Street
5. Unseen Power
6. Wake Up Call
7. Petra Praise
- gap -
8. No Doubt
9. Jekyll and Hyde
- huge gap -
10. Petra Praise 2
11. Revival
12. Double Take

Albums 1-7 are all good to great and I enjoy them all. I like No Doubt once in a great while. Albums 9-12 I will probably never listen to again.

I also met John after a Union of Sinners and Saints show.  He was genuinely honored at the compliments I paid him and Petra and wanted my honest opinion of one of the CDs I had him sign.  I think he would have talked with me longer if there weren't others in line.

Luckily I've never had a bad experience with a band member when I've asked for an autograph, but he stood out as more than just a friendly guy meeting a fan.

I'm surprised people prefer This Means War over On Fire. On Fire blows THis Means War away. Ok, over all, who do you all prefer as a singer, Greg Volz or John Schlitt?

Greg Volz joined part time in 1976 and left in 1985. Sang on these albums:
Come and Join Us (a few tracks)
Washes Whiter Than
Never Say Die
More Power to Ya
Not of This World
Beat the System
Captured In Time and Space (live album with a couple of unreleased tracks Hallujah Chorus and Great I Am and a few candid moments)
Both Classic Petra albums.

John Shlitt joined in early 1986 and still sings with Petra for the odd one off show. Sang on 9 original studio albums, 4 praise oriented albums (Rock Cries Out, We Need Jesus, Revival and 2 Guys From Petra) and 1 rerrecord Double Take. 

It's really hard to say for me. I got into Petra in 1985 during the Beat the System period and listened to that one, More Power to Ya and Not of THis World from the cassettes my friends had. I also liked John Schlitt, especially during the On Fire to Wake-Up Call period.

I might prefer Schlitt as a singer ever so slightly, but I love both eras equally, honestly. Both have some of my absolute favorites.

Studio Records
Beyond Belief. 
Unseen Power
Wake up Call
This Means War
On Fire
Back to the Street.
No Doubt.
God Fixation.
Jekyll and Hyde.


Praise Albums
Petra Praise I
Petra Praise II
Revival
 
CPR I and II are wonderful records, but separate from the rest