''Washes Whiter Than'' is the third studio album by the

Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus, typically performed by self-proclaimed Christian individuals. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly C ...

band

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Ja ...

. It was released in 1979 amidst major line-up changes that saw all but one of the founding band members leave. The album features a more mellow style when compared to the band's two previous efforts. Part of the reason for this is that the group wanted to get away from the controversy surrounding the hard rock style of their earlier releases. The softer material on this record achieved greater airplay on Christian radio stations than had their previous albums. This is also the first release to feature singer

Greg X. Volz Gregory Xavier Volz (born January 12, 1950) is a Christian rock singer. He is most noted for being the lead singer of Petra from 1979 to 1985. He has continued to sing, sporadically, for different iterations of Petra such as Classic Petra (201 ...

as an official band member. Musician

Rob Frazier Rob Frazier (born October 31, 1953) is an American Christian artist, musician, songwriter, record producer, and speaker. Frazier is the son of a pastor, W. Burwell Frazier, founder of Warrington Fellowship Church. Like his three siblings, his ...

, who later went on to have a solo career, is also featured as lead vocalist in several of the songs, as well as playing most of the instrumentation together with founder

Bob Hartman Robert "Bob" Hartman (born December 26, 1949) is a Christian artist, guitarist, writer and songwriter. He is the founder of Christian rock band Petra. Hartman was involved with the band from its foundation in 1972 to its end in 2005. He took ...

. The album was reissued by Star Song Records on a 2-on-1 CD package together with 1981's '' Never Say Die''. The songs "(Couldn't Find Love) Without You" and "Magic Words" were cut from this edition to save space.

Track listing

* Tracks 7 and 9 were excluded from the album's CD release

Personnel

Petra *

– lead guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals, track arrangements *

– lead vocals (1, 4, 6, 8), backing vocals *

– lead vocals (1–3, 5–7, 9–10), backing vocals, keyboards, guitars, track arrangements Additional musicians * George Atwell – keyboards, track arrangements, horn and string arrangements, conductor * Gerald Byron – guitars * Joel Balin – guitars * Chip Meyers – bass * Randy Nichols – drums, percussion * Bob Prince Production * George Atwell – producer * Dan R. Brock – album direction * Andy deGanahl –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

at Bee Jay Recording Studios,

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

* George Werth – album design, artwork * Allen Zentz – mastering at Allen Zentz Recording,

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

Notes

{{Authority control 1979 albums Petra (band) albums