THE GRAFTING lyrics, clips, info ONLINE NOW!

[sue d.]

Matthew, the manufacturer is working to get it out asap! I can't give you an EXACT date, but it should be by the end of Jan. or beginning of Feb. at the latest.

Exe, I can't see how you can call The Grafting a COUNTRY song? Because it has a little guitar twang to it? I'm with you - I can't stand country in any way, and I never even thought that this song was remotely country-ish.

[executioner]

Matthew, the manufacturer is working to get it out asap! I can't give you an EXACT date, but it should be by the end of Jan. or beginning of Feb. at the latest.

Exe, I can't see how you can call The Grafting a COUNTRY song? Because it has a little guitar twang to it? I'm with you - I can't stand country in any way, and I never even thought that this song was remotely country-ish.

Yeah it's country!!

[sue d.]

NO WAY.

I think you need to clean the wax outta your ears!

[St_Augustines_Pears]

Hey, I'm a huge fan of GOD FIXATION, which a lot of fans slam as one of Petra's "mellow" albums, so from what I've heard of THE GRAFTING, I definitely will enjoy it.

Be thankful that John is still making albums. He could have said, "That's it!", retired from the Christian music biz, and went into selling real estate full time.

[executioner]

BTW Sue is he still selling real estate? There is no wax in my ears I clean everyday, and I've been known to have ears like a hawk.

[Preacherman777]

I understand what you are all saying and I commend you for your loyalty to John, but even though it may be a new day for John and maybe for some of you, the bulk of Petra's old fans are not yet ready for the rocking chair. Rock and roll doesn't have to come to end just because we turn 40 and I don't think it does for most of us. If this is where John is at and he doesn't want to do rock anymore, then that's ok, but there is no question he will be needing to find (for the most part) a new audience and that is going to make the job of building a new solo career a bit harder. But I know John has a heart for ministry and I have no doubt that God will use him to reach somebody.

[petrafreak2009]

PERSONALLY, I think Sue, Ricky and John are doing the best they can. They're doing much better than hundreds of other solo artists. Greg X. Volz has a much harder time getting an album together(they're still good, don't get me wrong) and even Michael Sweet has some troubles. I love the new style and sauve John has taken on this new venture. I say this for most Petheads, if it has John(and some of us, Greg) we'll listen to it. Point blank. John can still rock, but I agree with Sue. If he's gonna be singing rock half-heartedly and slower contemporary full-heartedly, I'd rather him do that. He's doing what he feels like the Lord has put on his heart, just like the retirement of Petra. It's not about what the PEOPLE want, but what the PRINCE OF PEACE wants! I can't wait to get my hands on this new album!

[brent]

PERSONALLY, I think Sue, Ricky and John are doing the best they can. They're doing much better than hundreds of other solo artists. Greg X. Volz has a much harder time getting an album together(they're still good, don't get me wrong) and even Michael Sweet has some troubles. I love the new style and sauve John has taken on this new venture. I say this for most Petheads, if it has John(and some of us, Greg) we'll listen to it. Point blank. John can still rock, but I agree with Sue. If he's gonna be singing rock half-heartedly and slower contemporary full-heartedly, I'd rather him do that. He's doing what he feels like the Lord has put on his heart, just like the retirement of Petra. It's not about what the PEOPLE want, but what the PRINCE OF PEACE wants! I can't wait to get my hands on this new album!

With all do respect, I don't think that you know what you are talking about. Greg X Volz's motif is COMPLETELY different. He is not seeking to produce product for the industry at large. He is doing what he does, and using the church engagements as center stage. All of the times that I was talking to him about being on a PDC CD, his first words out of his mouth were "find a church for me to minister for a love offering and I will come and......" Completely different. Greg also arranges everything himself first (that's what he told me at the time) on Cubase, then has people play. Money is tighter with him.

Michael Sweet has had a wife with cancer, labels and support people that were not well connected and funded, had to work at the family camp grounds, etc. He has had some great records. The first solo record had better tunes than the second in my opinion, but the second had better production. Truth was killer IMO. It is about money. If he would have had more money, things could have been done faster and bigger, but the CDs were good.

The thing that everyone here has to know is that you can't turn on creativity with a switch. You are either inspired or you aren't. You either have something to say, or you don't. I would rather have my favorite artists do nothing for a few years, and come out swinging with something awesome, than put out crap. I would rather they catch the next musical wave that matches their message. It is easier to sell a record that way.

[lucianotaz]

I will buy it, of course.

It´s a good album! The production was nice and John voice´s is very powerful. The lyrics are great !!! The albums has some songs that I did not like yet (maybe I can change my impression after listening the whole songs). They are 05, 06,07 and 10. The other songs are very nice to me. In my opinion the album is better than the stuff that has been released today.

[SkyCaptain]

I noticed some country elements too. I think it's cool though! Country seems to be a natural fit for aging rockers. Take Bon Jovi, for example.

[gman]

What Bon Jovi has been able to do makes the point, at least to me, that anyone with half decent talent can be groomed in a star to ride the wave for a short while, while someone with really good talent will rise above and be successful long term.

Michael Sweet has had a wife with cancer, labels and support people that were not well connected and funded, had to work at the family camp grounds, etc. He has had some great records. The first solo record had better tunes than the second in my opinion, but the second had better production. Truth was killer IMO. It is about money. If he would have had more money, things could have been done faster and bigger, but the CDs were good.

While I liked the first album, I did think a few of the tunes took cheese to new heights. The second album is great. It ranks up there as one of my faves as far as production. I thought I read somewhere that Michael recorded with a friend, in the friends makeshift basement studio. That and my own recording experiences cemented in my head the idea that the quality of your project isn't always about where it was recorded or how much gear was used, but rather who did the recording. It seems Michael and company know a little something about making a great sounding album. You're right on that Truth was killer. The added songs on the second version, as well as the additional time to tweak the existing songs, made for one heck of a CD.

I recorded some stuff with a band. Our budget was low, so we only did a few songs. We went to a studio that had a godd reputation and lots of decent gear. I'm of the opinion that even if you only have the money to record a couple songs quickly, if you go a professional studio, the end result should be songs that sound as though they were done in a professional studio. I guess that is a question of how much time does it take to transform your tracks into a professional sound, assuming they were recorded properly, and is the studio only going to spend the time mxing that you can afford to pay for?
I had a friend that was running a studio for awhile, and courting local bands, worship teams, etc. We talked at length about the quality of the final product. He closed it down because he felt that even if he were to give clients free mixing time, he didn't have the needed time available to give them a top notch mix, and that it wasn't fair to charge them for a subpar product.

[Michael]

...the bulk of Petra's old fans are not yet ready for the rocking chair...

Ahem. If there was any "bulk" to "Petra's old fans," Petra would still be playing shows.

(Granted, I've seen some old Petra fans that were REALLY bulky, but you know what I mean!)

[cndfogie]

As for the song The Grafting being "country" I think that it has more of an AC feel to it there is no twan in the guitar there are also no signs of a lapsteel being played. So yeah you need to clean the wax out of the ears exe. As a former Music Buyer for a bookstore this CD would be set in the Contemporary section. Which I think John does very well. Most of Petra's songs that made it big on radio were the ones that were on AC radio. Let's remember everyone this is in no way and should not be compared to a Petra CD that it is not and is no way fair to John putting out a piece of work that shows us where his heart has been in the last few years. For what I have heard it is a fine piece of work exactly what I would have imagined for a man of Johns stature. I think he will win over some new fans. Thos that enjoy artists and groups like Steven Curtis Chapman and Casting Crowns, which I think that is the vein the Grafting song sounds to me.

Now on to Michael Sweet. He has his own studio in His house he doesn't need to go to a firends house to record.

[Preacherman777]

If there was any "bulk" to "Petra's old fans," Petra would still be playing shows.

I really disagree with that. I don't think the fans left Petra, I think Petra left the fans. They tried to change who they were to reach a younger audience and they just never recovered from that. The younger audience didn't really accept them and the older fans didn't care for the changes, so many of them moved on. I've spent a lot of time talking with people who were fans of Petra in 80's, but who didn't care for the musical direction they took in the 90's. The Christian Metal Realm is packed full of such people. I spend a lot of time there and I hear it all the time. It should be obvious, just consider what and when the height of their popularity was. Do you think those people stopped wanting to rock? Heck no, it's just that everybody was trying to be modern. Don't get me wrong, music can evolve to sound fresh and be relative to the times, but for most the 70's and 80's Petra meant ROCK and people knew it. By the mid 90's people were beginning to have their doubts.

The Christian Metal Realm is a very popular place because us old timers who still love our hard rock have found a home there and the resources to find the music we still love. These people are very loyal to the old great bands, if those old great bands are still willing to rock. Heck, that's really the only reason Stryper was able to make a comeback. If Petra had stayed true to those fans who propelled them to height of their popularity, they'd still be playing shows today.

[Michael]

If there was any "bulk" to "Petra's old fans," Petra would still be playing shows.

I really disagree with that. I don't think the fans left Petra, I think Petra left the fans.

Actually I never said what I think either way... all I intended to say was that the fanbase is not there for Petra. If the fans had been around for Petra when JAH was released like the fans clearly were for Stryper when Stryper made their own comeback bid, maybe Petra would have made a similar comeback. The fans weren't there. My statement was purely a comment on sheer number of people still interested, not any analysis on why they are or are not interested.

A big question here, though, is whether Petra would want to make a comeback for fans in their 30s, 40s, 50s. The "mission" as it were of Petra, as I understand it, has always been to reach out to young people. It could well be that Stryper doesn't particularly have that focus... not accusing them of anything negative, just speaking pretty much hypothetically... if Stryper's goal as a band is to rock out, bring a message of Christ to whoever will listen, and maybe do something approaching making a living at it, but then if Petra's goal as a band is to make a living reaching out to teenagers specifically instead of anyone that likes the music, then the measure of success would be different.