More Power To Ya - Petra (1982)
Quality or nostalgia: was younger me onto something, or just on something?
I’m not gonna make this entry a history of my early commitment to Christianity, my subsequent loss of faith, and a whole lifetime of conflicted feelings at the happy, well-adjusted Christians that surround me here in the midwest. This all happened, but it’s a book-length kind of story.
The point is that my first exposure to music of any kind was church music, with my parents both being involved our church’s music program. So when I discovered rock n roll, it was through that lens, and the easiest way in was to listen to Christian rock (Christian Contemporary Music, or CCM) that wouldn’t cause concern with family or peers (my pathological need to not piss anybody off is probably a different, longer book, but it would have the same table of contents as the faith thing)
Sigh. So now I have definitely made this entry about my history. This was, at any rate, the first cassette I ever bought with my own money, initially playing it on the household’s mono tape recorder before I got my first stereo.
For a kid who wanted to rock but didn’t have the slightest clue how, and who’d never heard of Journey or Rush, this record was like a mallet to the forehead.
So is it Quality or Nostalgia?
Petra were not bad musicians or songwriters. Greg X Volz had a great voice, and Bob Hartman was a damn good guitar player. The record is time-locked–both musically and culturally–into the kind of radio-ready pop rock sounds that councils of youth pastors thought would get kids to listen to the gospel, mixed with a few more ambitious things. It was fun to listen to again, and honestly there are a couple tracks I might put back into rotation. It’s kind of a museum piece, though.
Tracks I Liked
Judas’ Kiss - a for real banger. wicked guitar riff, great solo
All Over Me - a bluesy jam that does a pretty good Pink Floyd impression
Road To Zion - eerie, proggy power ballad for people into Stairway to Heaven, but only the first, non-rockin’ half
