Double Take

Petra have had to put up with so much stick for their varied tries at producing different sounding albums in their last few albums. i feel that a really talented band is one that can change styles and yet still remain strong and fresh. and how does one sound ever fresh? by changing sounds and styles! John Schlitt labelled this albums style as BIG and he was not lying in my opinion. I cant see what the problem has been with people on this album. people love great other groups like jars of clay and this album in places sounds quite alike to jars, and yet it gets stabbed in the back from so many people.so you could say i am here to give this album the real credit that it is due. well, for a start it did win a grammy didnt it?!!!

Many remake albums are too over the top, some remixes kill songs. at first when i heard the news about this album coming out i thought it was going to be a remix album, but i was pleasantly surprised that this is a total redoing of classic petra tunes. and this album is highly enjoyable. the acoustic flavour is great, as i am a great fan of acoustic music, and to hear petra do some old crowd favs in acoustic is great!

The string arrangements on songs like Judas Kiss and Beyond Belief definitely add a new dimension to these classics. John and Dino always produce great sounding albums packed with different sounds. The new version of Dance is even more dancey than the original, with a very raw guitar piece. this makes the song even better than the original in my opinion.

Beat The System is greatly presented here too, with a bold wise up rise up segment. You can tell with all these guys that they really mean what they say.

The new take of this means war is haunting and melancholy. whereas the first version rocks your socks off, this is a slow but moving new interpretation of the song, and i love the added lines in the riff, very neat stuff.

However, Breathe In is a real classic hit. Its really like Jars of clay, and Pete on lead vocals also brings a new sound to the band. he has quite a great voice actually. and this is a great song too.

But the real shiners on this album is Praying Man and Just Reach Out, both remade wonderfully. I was mega impressed by these two new versions of old classics. The new version are better than the originals yet again. Just Reach Out has some fantastic orchestration. And the guitar is flowing and melodic, great stuff!

Petra have never been able to produce a bad album in their life. They just find it impossible! and changing styles is a good thing in my book too, remember...