Customer Reviews

More Power to Ya

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Just as 1969 single handedly spawned the biggest Rock bands of all time (LED ZEPPELIN, BLACK SABBATH, the early incarnation of URIAH HEEP called SPICE, ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND, YES, SUPERTRAMP), 1982 saw one of the biggest and the last blitz of sorts for bands that came around from the advent, with releases from the likes of Toto, REO Speedwagon (their great hit album HI-INFIDELITY), 38 Special, Styx, The Who's final studio album ITS HARD; Kansas' most christian influenced album VINYL CONFESSIONS, with future Petra producer John Elefante -- along with my personal fave bands' releases from the likes of Paul McCartney's TUG OF WAR; and Supertramp releasing their last with Roger Hodgson, the gloomy album aptly titled FAMOUS LAST WORDS; Gerry Rafferty's most palatable album SLEEPWALKING; and YES' biggest commercial hit (with Trevor Rabin) the album 90125 - that along the lines, guitarist Steve Howe hooked up with others forming and unleashing their first self-titled album ASIA, that banner its thematic song for the post-disco crud era at the time called "The Heat of the Moment" -- christian rock group Petra came up with their fifth album release MORE POWER TO YA, which stands as the monumental Christian Rock album for all time.

Being as then-repented rockers who are talked away out of the dictum that rock music is satanic - and as brand new 'born-again' christian believers, I confess we are even shocked to find out back then that the album is packaged in a real heavy rock format from its very endearingly Christ-inspiring opening track "Stand Up", to its closer, "Disciple", which comes as a predecessor to the bigger closer "Godpleaser" found on the album that've followed NOT OF THIS WORLD, and yet on a higher notch to the previous one NEVER SAY DIE's closer "Praise Ye The Lord".
The song that followed, "Second Wind" just confirmed it so, upon the first listen, that indeed Petra is really hard and heavy... so much for the restrained church standards of those days.
Perhaps only its because of being justaxposed with a lot of what sound the christian market is trying to shove upon us during in those days, that we have been expecting something a little bit tamer, ('til a more current-conforming sound have become accepted in the circles, which changed nothing on this sorry aspect regarding the domineering crud of the religious circles).

However, it has been the major thing (and a little source of controversy) with certain churches in those days who are so against the use of the Rock music format for the Christian label - have regularly posed to be among the firsts to get an album of the band whenever they come out, just to check if they'd find any backwards messages within the songs, and hence all for the aim to propagate that Rock Music is indeed EVIL per-se -- which to their disappointment, they've found none - but rather, it seems to seep time and time again that lines which sounded like "Let Jesus Come In" would suffice to appear within certain songs (quite a similar case that i kind of found a bit from STRYPER's "backslidden" effort (albeit their best) AGAINST THE LAW LP). In pun to this - Hartman included a recorded line "whatinthedevilareyoulookinginthedevilfor?--whenyououghttabelookingforthelorrrd!-" heard backwards as an intro to the song "Judas Kiss", which speaks of the pain that Christ would feel whenever his flock would turn against him, that is followed by a song that laments church hypocrisy, giving an example of a song that contains some very powerful lyrics, while equalled along with its remarkable melodical delivery - the track "Rose Coloured Stained Glass Windows", which I believe to be as one of the best tracks which Hartman have ever came up with for the band. It packs an indispensable relevance to this day with its message.

"Out on your doorstep
lay the masses in decay,
Ignore them long enough
maybe they'll go away,
When you have so much you think
you have so much to lose,
you think you have no lack,
when you're really destitute."

The album also featured Volz' own written work, a rock'n'roller worship song called "Let Everything That Hath Breath" - and for a celtic mood-like tranquility to serve as a companion to the undisputed classic title track, there's M. Hudson's "Road To Zion", showcasing Volz' diverse vocal capabilities.
The second one to appear with the space-guitar ship on its cover, perhaps recuperating from the previous album, being re-energized and not only reconstructed good but better than new, as improvised with additional metal constructions before it takes its flight anew - the artwork seem to paint a metaphor for the band's sound in this album, wherein the original LP sleeve the band is pictured marching away going aboard into the ship complete with their instruments rocking away going into battle, for the crusade of heralding their Saviour's arsenal through Rock.

I always thought that Petra back then sounded a lot like Boston (which are among those to have a guitar ship on their record sleeve, along with southern rockers Outlaws (who's bassist Ric Cua is among those who've turned Christian in latter years, amidst suicides for some of its members) in its album the rollickin' GHOST RIDERS lp), but I've read sometime ago that Hartman's actually vying for a Journey-meets-Rush kind of a sound of sorts, whilst some say they're worth comparable with Nazareth.

Whatever, Petra in those early days with the classic absolute line-up of Greg X. Volz on vocals, John Slick on Keys, Bob Hartman on guitars, Mark Kelly on bass, and Louie Weaver on drums is a band which is competitively great on their own right... Christian, or no.

Petra's MORE POWER TO YA is indeed a monumental rock classic.

I've been selling a lot of old CDs recently, but not this one. This is just a great album, and you don't need to preface "great" with "Christian rock"

I really like every single song on the album, and think I agree with Jay Cook, I love "Let Everything That Hath Breath" which really jams, and "Judas Kiss" which sounds like it almost could have been recorded by Judas Priest (OK, if they only had one guitarist)

The sound is better than you would expect for 1980s, tape based, no doubt low budget recording. The sound is not muddy at all, unlike so many multitrack recordings. Praise to the recording engineers! The CD sound somewhat bright, but it is not grossly full of treble like so many early CDs which simply dumped master tapes equalizedfor making vinyl records straight onto digital.

by the way, I also really like Petra's live album "Captured In Time and Space" (note: it has some of the songs from this album, but I'm keeping this album because the versions and the flow are really good here).

All Petra albums are at least very good. Many of them are great. But a few of them are absolute classics. This one is among those few. This is an album that is not only a classic Christian album, but also a classic album period. The entire Greg X Volz era is sadly very under rated, even by many Petra fans themselves. But nothing they did before or since was any better than what they did here.

I enjoyed listening to Petra as a kid in the 80s, and I have to say, this is one album that I still enjoy as much as when it came out. In my opinion, this is musically and lyrically the strongest album Petra ever produced, and the songs flow together in a way that give the album a coherent concept with recurring themes and imagery (e.g. the race imagery in 2nd Wind / Run for the Prize). This album is probably their only early (or late) offering that does not suffer from feeling styistically dated.

Unlike some Petra albums that don't rock enough or others that contain track after track of relentless power chording, "More Power To Ya" has a broad scope and tremendous contrast. "Road to Zion" is an incredible ballad with haunting acoustic guitar work and ethereal synthesizer overlays. "All Over Me" is a heavy, brooding blues ballad- Greg X Volz really wails on this one. "Judas Kiss" is a hard-rocking, mean-riffing classic, complete with a backwards-masking message to tweak the noses of any anti-rock witch-hunters (The encrypted message? As best as I could tell, it's "What are you looking for in the Devil, when you oughtta be looking for the light!"). "Rose-Colored Stained Glass Windows" is an underappreciated masterpiece which nails Christians for ignoring the needy world around them. I could go on and on. . .

Suffice it to say if you like any kind of rock,this album is worth owning. If you like it, also check out this album's predecessor, "Never Say Die," which has some amazing guitar work and runs a close second to this one.

I own almost every single Petra album and have a vast collection of other christian albums, and this one still stands out for me. I got this on cassette first and literally wore it out. I was able to get it on CD and have enjoyed it immensely for many years. I gave my life to Christ at a Petra concert in Houston, Texas in 1985 (Astroworld concert). Am I biased? Oh, probably yes, but musically (I am a classicaly trained pianist who has released 11 solo albums myself), their music was ahead of their time in the Christian industry. I loved Petra and still do. In fact, I probably like the Pre-Schlitt era a little more, because I always felt that Greg' Volz's vocals vere more dynamic for ballads. Here is a song-by-song review:

1. Stand Up - this is a great anthem song calling us to Stand Up for Jesus. Sure, it has the almost corporate rock sound to it, but keep in mind the year this album was produced and the feeling of rock in general in the churches. Truly ahead of its time.

2. Second Wind - I loved this song. A little darker than the others on the album, it really does rock well. There is also a great keyboard solo in here as well.

3. More Power To Ya - great ballad. Greg can really sing and it shows in this song.

4. Judas Kiss - this was a song truly ahead of its time and it really made a statement. The baskward masking was great and the theme of the song was very powerful.

5. Rose Colored Stained-Glass Windows - this is my fav song on the entire disc. I like how it starts out with organ goes to acoustic guitar and then rocks out. A very well written song and the lyrics are very poignant.

6. Run for the Prize - to me, a good song, but it falls into the 'standard opener' for most b-sides on albums/cassettes in the day.

7. All Over Me - this song really showed Greg's vocal abilities and still gives me chills when I hear it.

8. Let Everything That Hath Breath - this is another almost praise type song. In fact, this song could be used these days as a bonafide praise song.....

9. Road to Zion - one of my favorite songs from Petra altogether. Great message and great music.

10. Disciple - this song is also good, but loses its identity because Greg is not singing all the way through the song. The bass player - Mark Kelly is singing duet with Greg and Mark sings first. This is like hearing a Journey song without Steve Perry or Babe from Styx without Dennis Deyoung. It sounds out of place. This is not to mean that Mark is a bad singer; he sings well. The issue is that Greg is such a commanding vocal presence and the voice of the band (so to speak) that when someone different sang, it was really different and almost did not sound like Petra.

Another note to this album, it is very cleanly recorded and is very well done. As a recording engineer there is a lot of space between the instruments and it is clean. The liner notes from the War and Rememberance album state the conditions when recording the album (something to do with killing scorpions in the studio and other things...) it was a challenging experience. Maybe it is just me, but when reading that and listening to the album, it heightens the effect of the message in each song.

This music is different than secular music, and they never wanted to cross over to the mainstream. Yes, it does sound different; the Lord has blessed this music and we, as christians, understand this. We also look past the image (at least I hope that we do) of the persons in the band, and listen to the message and the music.

In a world where bubble-gum pop and corporate-formed rock and metal wannabes ruled (and still do to a point), it was nice to see bands like this taking a stand for our faith and proclaiming the one who gave us the ability to rock anyway.

Other songs from Petra that are good:

Adonai - Beat the System album

Creed - Beyond Belief album

Godpleaser - Not of This World album

Praise Ye the Lord - Never Say Die album

In the Likeness of You - Unseen Power (this is my fav song from Petra)

This is another classic from Petra. It has some of the songs they were known for back in the early 80s. My favorite song on this record is Judas Kiss. The title track is one of the most spiritually encouraging song Bob wrote(besides No Doubt). This is a great album to start any Petra collection.

I have all pf Petra's albums except Double Take and I have a few concert bootlegs. This is one of my top five fovorite albums from Petra.

This is the best "early Petra " album, I love the two ballads "More Power To Ya" and "Road to Zion" along with the rest of the rockers espesially "Judas Kiss"(Best guitar solo ever),It rocks!!My favorite song is Let Everything That Hath Breath written by Greg x.Volz

This CD is very inspirational and motivating in my Christian walk. It takes me back to when I first got saved.

After making "Never Say Die", Petra continues making music with same style. This style is very near the artists like Yes and Pink Floyd. "More Power to Ya" may sound a little bit peaceful for those ones who have listened to albums like "On Fire!" and "Beyond Belief". At first I thought I could never like this kind of material bit then I heard the albums "Back to the Street" and "Beat the System" whose style is closer this album than those classic albums. That helped be to like this album too. I am sure if this would have been my first Petra album I've ever heard I would have never listened to band's music again. But eventually I have started to like Petra's peaceful albums. Still, there's great songs like "Let Everything That Hath Breath" and "Judas' Kiss" which can be opened for the newer Petra fans too in the first time. Greg X. Volz is a great vocalist, and this is one of the best Petra albums that he was in.
Stars: Road to Zion, Judas' Kiss, More Power to Ya

This was the very first cassette tape I ever owned (I may have had a Stryper or Whitecross tape before this but who really wants to admit that?). Basically, Petra was not only my first introduction to Christian music, but to music in general. It was a good start for me. While I loved this tape, later on in life, the musical elitism that inhabits me took over and kept me from enjoying this album. However, people always seem to come back to their first loves. This album does what every Petra album did. Bob Hartman wrote very sincere spiritual tunes that always had catchy hooks and ballad-esque melodies. The band used a lot of 70's influential sounds (Pink Floyd, Yes, etc) on this particular album to make what some consider an outdated effort. Yet, that is not the case. Part of the greatness of this record is its ability to only use non-modern sounds as an exterior and layer the tracks with very gritty, driving rock. The lyrics are passionate, but singable. I still enjoy most of the songs on this album.