Dokken (the band) and I go way back. They were the first band I
\nsaw in a concert setting, back in summer 1986, opening for
\nLoverboy. I’ve always held a special place for them in my heart. A
\nfew years ago, I trashed their
\nShadowlife<\/i> CD on this site – and to this day, that review
\n(and CD) make me cringe.<\/p>\n
But that’s ancient history, or so it would seem. Dokken’s last
\nstudio CD,
\nErase The Slate<\/i>, was a refreshing breath of air for a band
\nthat had replaced George Lynch with former Winger guitarist Reb
\nBeach. As an opening act for Def Leppard for a concert in Cedar
\nRapids, I felt the band had never sounded better. I was lucky
\nenough to interview Jeff Pilson in person prior to their set and
\nlife seemed to be on an upswing. There was a rekindled energy in
\nPilson and enthusiasm for the band. The live CD that followed,
\nLive From The Sun<\/i>, successfully captured the energy I saw
\nthat cold December night.<\/p>\n
Fast forward a bit and you arrive at 2002 and the release of the
\nband’s latest offering
\nLong Way Home<\/i>. In the presskit, the band talks about being
\nasked to release another
\nUnder Lock And Key<\/i> or
\nBack For The Attack<\/i>. That’s nothing new. Fans have been
\nasking Metallica for another
\nMaster Of Puppets<\/i> or …
\nAnd Justice For All<\/i> for years. What’s interesting is
\nDokken’s response, which is that great bands, like Led Zeppelin,
\nevolve and grow. So with that in mind, I can really see the value
\nof this release. Gone are the trademark Lynch\/Beach riffs and 80s
\nhair metal cliches. This is the 2002 version of Dokken which is
\nwithout Beach and longtime bassist Jeff Pilson. Replacing them are
\nguitarist John Norum (known for his work with Europe) and bassist
\nBarry Sparks. Drummer Mick Brown and vocalist Don Dokken round out
\nthe quartet.<\/p>\n
I’ve really had to let this release grow on me. I kept waiting
\nfor a riff in the “In My Dreams” vein to rip through my ears. Or a
\nscorching instrumental like “Mr. Scary.” Or a ballad I could sink
\nmy heart into like “Walk Away” or “Alone Again.”<\/p>\n
They deliver the ballad, but there’s not a real scorching riff
\nto be found on this release. Opener “Sunless Days” comes closest,
\nbut it just doesn’t measure up, not because it isn’t Lynch or Beach
\nplaying – – it just isn’t a strong riff. The following track,
\n“Little Girl,” has a Led Zeppelin-influenced groove during the
\nverse but delivers a strong mid-tempo push.<\/p>\n
Third track “Everbody Needs (To Be With Someone)” epitomizes a
\npet peeve my neighbor at work and I share. Why name a song and then
\nhave a subtitle in paranthesis? Just call the song “Everybody Needs
\nTo Be With Someone.” Guitarist Norum works hardest on the next
\ntrack, “You,” with one of the better riffs.He saves the strongest
\nriff for “Under the Gun” which captures the energy of the song
\n“Erase The Slate” and sounds closest to “Lightning Strikes Again”
\nor “Turn On The Action” (from
\nBreaking the Chains<\/i>). Drummer Brown creates a driving
\ndrumbeat upon which Dokken pulls off his best performance. “I’ve
\nFound” is another strong track, opening with an emotional lead from
\nNorum and strings. Dokken adds an equally emotional vocal
\ndelivery.<\/p>\n
There’s a lot, in the big picture, that a release like this does
\nfor Dokken. I can understand how this release will fit into the big
\npicture. Tracks “Sunless Days,” “You” and “Under The Gun” would be
\nmy vote to find their way into the band’s set list, espeically the
\nmid-tempo stomp of “You.” This release allows the band to have a
\nmore diverse repository of songs to choose from when constructing a
\nlive set and I appreciate that. For this release, by itself, I
\ndon’t think it stands on its own as Dokken’s greatest achievement.
\nI just pulled out
\nUnder Lock And Key<\/i> and
\nTooth And Nail<\/i> this week, to give me a bit of perspective
\nfor writing this review. I think that this CD will please Dokken
\nfans to the extent that they understand how this release will fit
\ninto a long and hopefully never-ending career.<\/p>\n
I’m giving this release a B, mainly because I understand the
\n“big picture” of this release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":26166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6328],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-37385","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-dokken","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37385"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37385"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}