Petra Jekyll & Hyde
Released: August 19, 2003 Origination Year: 2003 Time: 31:01 Tracks: 10 Produced by: Peter Furler Style: Studio Format: CD Enhancement: None Label: Inpop Records Website: www.petraband.com
Track Listing Jekyll & Hyde All About Who You Know Stand Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Perfect World Test of Time I Will Seek You Life As We Know It Till Everything I Do Sacred Trust

This is actually the story of two bands, both coming up through the turbulent 1970s where traditional Christianity had to confront the rise of the youth culture. From one standpoint, old hymns didn’t speak to the new generation. Here was a throng of young people thrown into the pews and expected to relate to the music of their parents, perhaps even their grandparents. Back then, many denominations still considered anything with a beat inherently satanic. From another standpoint, the standard born-raised-and-died-in-the-church philosophy was foreign to teenagers stumbling in from the sixties and the rock and roll culture.

Two groups took on the challenge of making “Christian Rock” their ministry, each forging unique identities for themselves. The first, out of Chicago, was Resurrection Band whose street-wise, blues based sound, more Led Zeppelin than “The Old Rugged Cross”, also had a rough and tumble testimony behind them. The other band was Petra, a more conservative outfit seemingly more from inside the church than outside from “the real world”. Their sound could verge on the bluesy jam but often stayed in the realm of, say, late period America or even .38 Special in their lighter moments.

Years go by. Acceptance drifts in and out and as it is with any youth-based medium, tastes change and the struggle to remain relevant gets harder. Resurrection Band and Petra both became a little poppier in the synth-driven 80s and a little harder by the end of that decade. In the mid 90s, Rez (as they were occasionally known) released the finest recording of their career, the Ty Tabor produced “Lament”, then an acoustic version ‘best of’ package, then called it a day. Petra morphed into an entirely praise-and-worship outfit… More on that later.

Cut to this year. Petra returns to original compositions and a renewed interest in rock, but with exceptions. Gone is most of the band leaving founding member Bob Hartman and John Schlitt, who joined the band in their late 80's transition to a more guitar-driven sound. What remains is an attempt to find a place in the new world of Christian Rock, where the walls of musical segregation are starting to break down.

Is the attempt successful? To a degree, yes. Schlitt always had a powerful voice but often didn’t have anything meaty enough to work with. Hartman is a solid guitarist but, again, in the straightjacket of the industry’s former model, he never had a chance to really rip it up. He gets some now on “Jeckyll & Hyde”.

The title cut is a hard and heavy kick, aided by producer Peter Furler of the CCM band The Newsboys, letting the listener in on the big secret: this isn’t your mother’s Petra. Other outstanding cuts are “Perfect World” and “Life As We Know It”, both are perfect for crank-ability if God fearin’ folk were in to that sort of behavior. The stumbling block of the disc is, nonetheless, what has always tripped up the band. Even when they sing of their own faults and foibles, it comes down from a pulpit, not from an equal. They sing to save the world but are marketed at the Christian Music consumer, thereby trying to convert the choir. This is all well and good for kids coming up through said church, looking for some rock without Parental Advisory warnings, but it’s designed to reach a target its construction must always miss.

Rez Band’s “Lament”, however, was constructed as a concept album and kept the proselytizing to a minimum; so much so that when the praise moments came in, they were welcome, a bit of gospel flavor, not the whole meal. I could hand “Lament” to almost anyone I know without feeling strange about it. It’s still Jesus Music, but it is done with such art and skill that the hardest curmudgeon would have to concede the inherent qualities in spite of religious orientation. “Jeckyll And Hyde” is made, part and parcel, for the Christian audience. It wants to be a tool to win the mainstream over to Christ, but it’s so single-minded in it that music becomes merely a delivery system.

“Jeckyll And Hyde” is recommended for the band’s fans, waiting for their return to rock, and for the Contemporary Christian Music consumer, but I can’t really recommend it to anyone beyond that.