I like Stryper. I never understood the crap they got because of their views on Christianity. Most interviews focused on that aspect and very rarely on the music.
“To Hell With The Devil” was released in 1986. It went platinum in the U.S, and it remained the best-selling Christian metal album until P.O.D.’s “Satellite” in 2001, which I also have.
To Hell With The Devil
The drum beat from Robert Sweet is simple but powerful. The chord structure is standard Am to F to G, but the guitar leads and harmonies make it unique.
How good are just the vocals and drums in the first verse?
And make sure you check out the leads from Oz Fox and Michael Sweet.
Calling On You
The lead break reminds me of “Sweet Child O Mine” but this was released before.
I’m always a sucker for melodic rock songs like this.
Free
It’s the same message as “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, “Stand Up And Shout” and the like.
The Intro lead break gets me playing air guitar and they end the song with it, just in a different key.
They even borrowed from “Reason For The Season” for the vocal melody.
Honestly
It just wasn’t my thing. The sound of the piano reminded me of the music in TV shows I didn’t like.
But it sold the album.
The Way
The Judas Priest and Iron Maiden influences of Oz Fox are shining through on the riffs here. A metal tour de force.
Sing-Along Song
It’s got that “Turbo Lover” feel in the Intro/verse.
Holding On
It’s “Hungry For Heaven” in the Intro and the Chorus harmonies are straight from the grooves on the Boston record.
Rockin’ The World
The Intro/Verse is familiar, but I can’t remember from where.
All Of Me
My least favorite track leads into my favorite track.
More Than A Man
If you like “Lights Out” from UFO, you will like this. The F#m groove is at the heart of both songs.
The lead break at the start also borrows from “Soldiers Under Command”.
“From Conception: Live 1981” was released in 2007. It’s not on Spotify but YouTube has it.
Like all things Dokken, there is a lack of transparency.
The album is advertised as 1981, but the band for the recording is Don Dokken on vocals and Rhythm Guitars, George Lynch on guitars, Mick Brown on drums and Jeff Pilson on bass. But Jeff Pilson didn’t join the group until 1982. Juan Croucier from Ratt is the bass player prior to that.
Regardless of the story behind it, it’s one of Dokken’s best live albums and it is virtually ignored. Maybe because it came out in 2007 or maybe because it’s early Dokken, pre “Tooth And Nail”. I
t’s early Dokken. Even Don Dokken is playing guitar on stage and apart from rhythms, Lynch and Dokken are doing harmonies together.
Paris
It kicks off the show. The energy drips from the speakers. I feel like I’m at the show. Acts today will not know this, but back then, acts would live or die based on their live show.
Listening to “Paris” and it’s easy to hear why they got signed to Elektra Records.
Goin Down
I like the AC/DC and UFO groove.
In The Middle
The groove from the bass and drums gives Lynch and Dokken a chance to decorate and decorate they do.
Finally after three sings Don addresses the crowd and tells em to “make some noise” as they have the mobile set up outside and they are recording the show.
Young Girls
The L.A Sunset Strip riff kicks off “Young Girls”. Listen to Motley Crue and Ratt and you’ll know what I mean.
Hit And Run
It’s got a similar groove to “In The Middle”, just a bit faster. And lyrically it feels like a Saxon song about a soldier fighting.
Nightrider
The best song on the album. A speed metal song. It’s played that fast, it feels like a NWOBHM cut.
All the critics that called em a “poor man Scorpions” needs to listen to this version.
Check out the harmony guitar playing between Dokken and Lynch. I keep repeating the song just to hear it. And you’ll be surprised by Dokken’s prowess on the guitar.
And there is a sing-a-long with the audience, think “Running Free“ from “Live After Death” but this was recorded before.
GTR Solo
Then we get a 3 minutes of George Lynch shredding away.
Live To Ride
It’s fast and it gets me playing air guitar. It also reminds me of “Ace Of Spades”.
Breaking The Chains
Don mentions that the song is doing the rounds on MTV so I don’t think it’s a 1981 recording because of that.
It sounds heavy compared to the recorded version.
There’s a “thank you, good night” and the crowd screams “more” for 2 minutes
Liar
Speed metal and the lead break is electrifying.
“Beast From The East” is the Dokken live album and then there is “From Conception”.
Crank it.
And in the CD there was some promo about the upcoming new album and release of a classic VHS tape on DVD.
It probably didn’t make a big impression on me, because I forgot I had purchased it, so I purchased it again and now I have two CD’s.
The most dangerous job in the world at that point in time was the Dokken guitar player spot. After George Lynch, the band went through Reb Beach and John Norum.
For “Hell To Pay”, released in 2004, there was another newbie, Jon Levin on guitars.
Production was once again handled by Don Dokken.
The Last Goodbye
The song is written by Don Dokken, Mick Brown and Jon Levin, who quickly announces himself with a bone crunching riff inspired by “Kashmir” over a rock steady groove by Brown.
Dokken has been dabbling with exotic sounds on previous albums and that spirit has carried through on this.
Make sure you check out the lead break from Levin.
Don’t Bring Me Down
Written by Dokken, Barry Sparks and Levin.
It’s fast.
This is Levin’s statement.
That lead break.
Wow. Just listen to it.
And he did something on that lead break, not heard on a Dokken album, a harmony solo.
Escape
Another Dokken, Brown and Levin cut.
This one is like a dark rock song, almost alternative but still delivered with hooks from the 80s, something they copped shit for, but to me that’s what’s special about the album. Sounding current and modern with a sense of pop melody in the vocals.
Haunted
Another Dokken, Brown and Levin cut and one of my favourite Dokken cuts from this version of the band.
Levin goes a bit high octane bluesy in the lead break and I like it.
Prozac Nation
It’s written by Kelly Keeling, Dokken and Levin.
A familiar riff and vocal melody rule this song.
Levin goes all chromatic for his brief solo spot light.
Care For You
Written by Dokken and Keeling.
Yeah I didn’t care much about this song and I was disappointed when the bonus track was this song in an “unplugged” setting.
Better Off Before
Another Dokken, Brown and Levin cut.
A groove metal riff kicks it off, very Disturbed like.
Dokken is bringing his sense of melody to it and the 2004 version of the band is definitely rocking.
Still I’m Sad
No relation to the Rainbow song.
It’s a cut penned by Don.
It’s got groove and I like it’s three distinct parts, the clean tone verses, the distorted melodic pre chorus and the anthemic Chorus.
I Surrender
Again, no relation to the Rainbow song.
This one is also a penned by Don. It percolates with a hooky riff as Don builds it vocally.
The Chorus riff reminds me of “Unchain The Night” and I like it.
Levin is also channeling Neal Schon on the lead break.
Letter From Home
Written by Keeling, Levin and Dokken.
The band is channeling The Beatles and Led Zeppelin on this one.
The lead break from Levin is excellent. Very Jimmy Page like.
Can You See
A Dokken and Levin cut. it’s got that Dokken 80s spirit from “The Hunter” but Don’s voice is low, almost monotone like which was slowly becoming his style.
And Levin brings it again for the lead break.
If this is your first Dokken experience, there is enough here to get you interested to hear more.
If you grew up with Dokken in the 80s then this is a good listen.
I was away for a football tournament during this period in Canberra, Australia’s capital so no posts happened.
8 Years Ago (2013)
I was showing my appreciation to Dee Snider and “You Can’t Stop Rock N Roll”.
We walk the streets In tattered armies We got the lion in our heart We’re not lookin’ for trouble Just for some fun But we’re all ready if you wanna’ start
Truth from “The Kids Are Back”.
We just wanted to have fun, and having fun got us into trouble sometimes, but, if someone wanted to fight with us, we didn’t take a backward step.
Who are you to look down At what I believe?
From “I Am (I’m Me)”.
I didn’t want to work in the steel mills. I wanted something different, but I didn’t know what. And my parents didn’t like that. While they supported me, they still expressed disappointment at my lack of motivation to be a steelworker.
it’s an angry steed, on a never ending course with grace and speed it’s an unrelenting force his head thrown back, defiantly proud under constant attack, it’s blasting, fast and loud
From “You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll”.
I love how Rock N Roll is referred to something which is unseen. Like the force, binding all living things. I lift up my hands in praise.
A sale of a record or whether people LISTEN to it.
Music is a service. People heard music by going to a live performance of it. Then music evolved into a product. I grew up in an era were I purchased a product to hear the music I liked.
If people want to know if an album or a song is a hit they need to look at more metrics.
It’s a combination of everything from YouTube views, steams, torrent downloads and sales.
Music obtained for free via illegal means can also be good for you. I remember watching the Iron Maiden 666 movie and Nicko McBrian was saying that they haven’t sold a single record in Costa Rica, however they have 40,000 kids coming to the show.
At the peak of making it from a B level act to an A level act in the late 80’s, they broke up. Then they realised that they are better together than apart, so in the mid 90’s they gave us one of their best records in “Dysfunctional” and one of their worst in “Shadowlife”. Lynch was subsequently booted or he left, depending on whose story you believe, and Reb Beach was hired to “Erase The Slate” and kick start a new era for Dokken in 1999.
But that version of the band didn’t last long. Beach was out and Pilson went to court against Don Dokken over his actual departure and the dissolution of the partnership band agreement. Dictator Don was finally in full control of his name.
In 2002, “Long Way Home” was released. It is the only Dokken album to feature Europe guitarist John Norum, who also worked with Don on his solo project “Up From The Ashes” and the first to feature bassist Barry Sparks who had done time with Michael Schenker, UFO and Yngwie Malmsteen. This album also started a “sort of” trend on using song titles from earlier albums as album titles on future releases.
Production duties on the album were handled by Don Dokken.
“Sunless Days”
Looking at the credits, its written by Don Dokken, John Norum and Kelly Keeling.
Keeling had previously done work with Norum on one of his albums and was enlisted here to help write the album and do some vocal production duties. Also if you are a fan of Blue Murder, Keeling spent over 2 years with John Sykes on the “Nothing But Trouble” album, only to leave the band or be fired, on the day of the shoot for the “We All Fall Down” video.
A foot stomping riff, similar to “Change The World” from the “Erase The Slate” album kicks off this song. It’s a riff that Norum would tweak and use in “Start From The Dark” from Europe.
And this is the first album, when Don decided to keep his voice in the bass/lower baritone range.
“Little Girl”
Written by Dokken, Keeling and Mick Brown. Dokken was fascinated by adding sounds which I call, “The Beatles” sounds or the “Led Zep” sounds. This song is evidence of that fascination.
“Everybody Needs (To Be with Someone)”
A cut written by Dokken and Brown.
It has a vocal melody that is inspired by “Action” from Sweet. Instead of singing “everybody needs a piece of the action”, you just sing, “everybody needs to be with someone”.
“You”
Written by Dokken, Norum and Keeling, the heavy groove gets me interested.
“Goodbye My Friend”
A cut written by Don. It’s just an acoustic guitar and an excellent piano riff which sticks around after the song is finished because it mimics the vocal melody on occasion’s.
If anything, Don sounds very Eric Clapton’ish, like the Unplugged Clapton.
“Magic Road”
A Dokken and Norum cut.
One of my favourites.
Musically, Norum brings his love of 70’s classic rock to the song with his bluesy riffs. Something which he would also do with Europe, especially on the “War Of Kings” album.
“There Was a Time”
Its written by Dokken and Keeling. Another song with a strummed acoustic guitar, a simple drum beat and an catchy vocal melody.
“Heart Full of Soul”
An excellent cover from The Yardbirds.
“Under the Gun”
Written by Dokken, Norum and Keeling it’s a classic Dokken cut, with a feel and tempo like “Lightning Strikes Again”. Another favorite.
“I’ve Found”
Written by Dokken and Keeling. It’s another great track, just acoustic guitars and Beatles like vocal melodies.
If there is a fault on this album, it is the lack of opportunities Norum has to fly, because like most albums in the early 2000’s it suffered from a lack of lead guitar.
But it’s still a good listen and tracks like “Sunless Days” and “Under The Gun” could be in a best of set list.
I was probably too young or too dumb to understand why the writers of the music mags kept trashing the sound of this album as “lite Rock”.
To me, it was and still is a hard rock album and my fandom with Judas Priest started with this album, “Ram It Down” and “Painkiller”. Then I went back into the catalogue.
If anything, the addition of synths to their sound, was no different to ZZ Top’s and my fandom with them also started with “Eliminator”.
From a production point of view, Tom Allom is still in the producer chair.
Turbo Lover
The simplicity of Ian Hill on bass and Dave Holland on drums just playing a stock standard beat, sets a canvas for creativity. And that’s exactly what Glen Tipton, KK Downing and Rob Halford do. They decorate each section so it sounds unique, while Hill and Holland stay the same.
Tipton’s lead break is also worthy. It’s got enough moments to sing a long with it and he shreds enough to show his prowess, all without overplaying. Which is a very subjective term these days. My view on overplaying is different to others.
Then after the solo, the verse riff and vocal melody remind me of “The Sentinel”. But back then it didn’t.
Locked In
Covering “Johnny B Goode” rubbed off on the songwriting.
Make sure you check out the arpeggio solo towards the end of the whole lead break from Tipton.
Private Property
“Turbo Lover” part two. Or a track from ZZ Top’s “Eliminator”.
The bass and drums set the foundation and the others do the creativity with riffs, melodic fills, leads and vocal melodies.
Parental Guidance
Tipton always kept his finger on what was happening in the guitar scene. Check out some of his leads on the albums which came after incorporating “sweep picking”.
On this one, it’s very major key and EVH had a knack for making major chord progressions sound heavy in the way EVH palm mutes the arpeggios. Tipton does the same here.
Rock You All Around The World
The Intro riff is excellent.
Lyrically these kind of themes of “heavy metal music cranked louder and voices showing power” started to became cliched, but living through the era, i lived it.
Check out Tipton’s solo on this.
Out In The Cold
A hidden gem.
The synth Intro makes it sound ancient, like “Gates of Babylon” ancient.
Then the band crashes in and I swear I’m listening to “Dream Warriors” in the verses. But “Dream Warriors” came after. Regardless, I’m all in.
Check out that Aerosmith “Kings And Queens” feel just before the solo.
Wild Nights, Hot And Crazy Days
They tried to rewrite “Living After Midnight” musically.
But the star of the song is the AC/DC vocal melody from Halford.
Hot For Love
The first 30 seconds.
How good are the riffs?
And the Pre Chorus is more anthemic than the Chorus.
Check out Downing’s lead break and they then go into an excellent harmony section.
Reckless
One of my favorite cuts. The whole melodic rock movement is here.
The Intro harmony leads remind me of “Rock You Like A Hurricane”.
The verse melodies from Halford are excellent.
Look out I’m blastin’ through the lines Alive and kickin’ Watch out I’m young and lethal I’m goin’ from here until eternity
It resonated with me. Growing up in a steel city, all that was expected of me and others, was to grow up and work in the steelworks.
And songs like these allowed us to dream.
Make sure you check out the lead breaks, especially the outro leads from KK Downing.
And based on the momentum the band built over the last six years, the album quickly went to Platinum in the U.S. and Halford showed all the singers who the Boss is when it comes to performing live.
A guitarist in a band I was in, worshipped Yngwie. And he sort of pissed me off, strutting around like he was elite, making fun of all others who didn’t like Yngwie and because of him, I hated Yngwie to start off. I wouldn’t give in and say anything positive about Yngwie to him.
It wasn’t until I left the band, that I gave Yngwie some time. And when I heard the albums “Marching Out” and “Trilogy” I was hooked. Good music is good music and good riffs are good riffs.
And “Trilogy” is full of good riffs and good leads and I still class “Marching Out” as one of “the” metal albums of the 80’s.
It would become a normal thing for each Yngwie release, but I was pretty bummed when the singer from the “Marching Out” record, Jeff Scott Soto was out, replaced by Mark Boals. Then I was bummed when Boals was replaced by Joe Lynn Turner and bummed again when Turner was replaced by an unknown Swede called Goran Edman.
I guess the singer problem is solved now, as Yngwie can’t really fire himself.
Malmsteen gets a lot of praise here, but let’s not forget Boals on vocals, a cross between Ronnie James Dio and Ian Gillian.
“You Don’t Remember, I’ll Never Forget”
A great opener.
The riff is simple and the keys give it a melodic rock tone.
For me the piece d resistance is the G# diminished arpeggio lead between the verse and the chorus. Its so fun to play and it connects the two sections.
And the lead break is one of Yngwie’s best. He shreds but it’s perfect for the song as he doesn’t overplay, full of melody, scalar runs and sweeps.
At 3.20, just after the solo, it goes into a slow breakdown and it builds up again into the Chorus.
And while the chorus melody keeps going, Malmsteen is wailing away in the background.
“Liar”
It’s a very Euro sounding riff. Early Europe had songs like this.
It’s more like Uli Jon Roth Scorpions merged with Blackmore’s “Speed King” and “Highway Star”.
In the verses and chorus, Malmsteen jams on a pedal point, embellishing it with scalar runs on the 4th or 8th bar of the riff, while the keys and bass outline a chord progression.
“Queen In Love”
The intro riff immediately got me to grab my guitar and attempt to learn it. It’s a great head banging riff in Em to jam to.
The sweep-picked diminished arpeggios before the main solo are excellent and fun (also frustrating) to learn. And the main solo is also one of his best.
“Crying”
An instrumental.
There is an acoustic guitar which outlines a sad rhythm, guitar track, while another acoustic guitar plays a classical like lead over it.
Eventually it morphs into an electric lead break but it wasn’t needed.
“Fury”
Who would have known that Malmsteen would utter these words many years later while intoxicated on an airplane?
This isn’t a favourite but it is fun to jam to.
“Fire”
The intro is great to play. It feels like it came from the fingers of EVH as its got this major key vibe, sort of like “Dance The Night Away” but don’t think the songs sound alike, they don’t.
Actually the way it moves from A to E, G to D and F to C, the hand placements are more “All Right Now” than anything else.
“Magic Mirror”
The intro.
Its head banging stuff. Malmsteen nailed the combo of metal riffs and keyboard embellishments in this song.
“Everyone is searching for the meaning of our life”.
We still are searching.
“Dark Ages”
Sweden’s Melodic Death Metallers would be proud of this.
Its doomy, heavy and ready to sink wooden ships, in a time when darkness ruled.
“Trilogy Suite Op:5”
I didn’t get why it needed to have Suite Op:5 added.
An instrumental.
While the first part is all shred like and fast classical arpeggios, it’s the middle section which hooked me.
From the 3 minute mark.
You need to hear that movement. Its classical music at its best and Malmsteen showcases his acoustic guitar skills.
Then when the distortion kicks in, it goes into a Uli Jon Roth style of groove, which is the foundation for more shred and a keyboard solo.
Finally, my Metallica and Slayer loving friends, couldn’t get past the album credits which state; “Produced and Conducted by Yngwie Malmsteen”.
Yes that one world, “conducted” was enough to make people not listen to Malmsteen. But if you want to hear some great melodic metal, very Rainbow like, then crank it.
In 1992, three years prior to the release of “Dysfunctional”, George Lynch was still appearing in the Guitar mags I purchased like Guitar World, Guitar One and Guitar School.
But in 1995, he was nowhere to be seen. The album came out and there was nothing.
That’s how quickly the mags replaced Mr Scary with the dudes from Counting Crows, Smashing Pumpkins, Korn, Dave Matthews Band, Oasis, Rage Against The Machine and others.
I have a motto in life. To take care of what brings in my bread and butter. Anything else that I would want to do after, will be a spin-off from that.
And it looks like the guys in Dokken had a similar motto. Let’s focus on what brings in our bread and butter first.
But before we get to the album, you need to understand these guys.
The “Dysfunctional” album was pretty much written before George Lynch joined the project. Even George Lynch stated the same in an interview on the Guitar International website.
“Most of this record, “Dysfunctional”, was finished by the time I got there. In fact, everything but the guitar parts were pretty much done.
Everybody in management and in the band kept feeding me these horror stories of who they would get to replace me if I didn’t come back – you can guess the names.
Well, when I listened to the tracks, I could tell that Jeff [Pilson, bass] and Don [Dokken, vocals] had written a lot of the songs with me in mind. I mean, there were parts in certain songs that I had done on other Dokken records – and even Lynch Mob records- years ago.”
“Dysfunctional was a great album. I mean they (Lynch and Pilson) had nothing to do with that album. I wrote that album by myself. There wasn’t a George, Jeff, Mick effort. They joined Dokken at the last minute. And I basically wrote it, produced it.”
“I felt guilty for bringing George back into the band for “Dysfunctional” & the money & the big record deal & I was just miserable & he was miserable, he made all of us miserable, it was just a very un-happy band”
In a separate interview on the Legendary Rock Interview website, Don Dokken further added the following;
“I remember when we got back together in 95, we were in Japan and I thought we were older, wiser and could get on with our careers but the same old shit was happening, he was playing behind his amps and just screwing around and the band was just not playing good in general.
I asked George flat-out “What can I do to make you happy? What is the problem that you just can’t seem to get on board no matter how well things are going?” and I will never forget it, he just looked at me and pointed his hand up to our backdrop, this 30 foot backdrop that said “Dokken” and he said, “That’s the problem””.
This is the way George Lynch described the “Dysfunctional” reunion;
“There is a huge market for the band, mostly overseas, and since things collapsed over at Elektra, I needed to keep my options open if I still want to have my solo career. That was one of the things that brought me back into the band. It was kind of like, ‘You do this deal with Dokken for two records, and you can still go out and do solo records at the same time.’ In fact, I was told that I’d be in a better position to do solo stuff. John Kalodner [Columbia’s A&R chief] is passionate about Dokken, but he also told me that he wants us on Columbia. That aspect of the relationship makes me pretty happy.”
Dokken in 1995 was not an arena act.
Whether they wanted to be together or not, it didn’t matter to me as they delivered a great rock album worthy of being called a classic Dokken record.
Inside Looking Out
There was no escaping the influence of the Metallica self titled album, Soundgarden and “A Vulgar Display Of Power” from Pantera.
Those grooves became the norm. And when they got merged with the riff from Mr Scary, well that’s “Inside Looking Out” in a nutshell.
Hole In My Head
It sounds exotic, almost 70s like with a verse riff that Zakk would use for Ozzy.
Check out the lead breaks from Lynch.
The Maze
It’s like ELO merged with The Beatles.
Too High To Fly
It’s like a blues jam session and someone decided to press record.
Then when it starts to build from the 38 second mark, it’s desk breaking, head banging time.
And how good are the verses?
The bass and drums play, while Don sings and Lynch comes in when Don stops. Brilliant.
It reminds me of “Lost Behind A Wall” which then reminds me of “Turbo Lover”.
Nothing Left To Say
This is a great song. A hit. Better than acoustic songs like “More Than Words” or “To Be With You”.
The acoustic guitar solo is not long enough.
Shadows Of Life
What a riff and drum groove to start the song?
This is classic Dokken, but down tuned and heavy and how good are those backing vocals in the Chorus.
Long Way Home
It’s the Mr Scary riff again.
Check out the lead break from Lynch.
But my favorite section is that bridge section after the Chrous. It’s very Queensryche like.
And that head banging riff from 3.55. Tool would build a career on riffs like this.
Sweet Chains
It’s like the “Dream Warriors” intro merged with “Tangled In The Web”.
“Wiseblood” came out in 1996. The band for the album was Pepper Keenan on lead vocals/rhythm guitar, Woody Weatherman on lead guitar, Mike Dean on bass guitar and Reed Mullin on drums.
It kicks off with the excellent titled “King Of The Rotten”.
The riffs are down-tuned, groovy and bluesy. The vocals on this one are very James Hetfield influenced with a Layne Staley/Jerry Cantrell style Chorus.
“Long Whip / Big America” reminds of ZZ Top “La Grange” era. It’s got that spirit.
Saw the news today, some D.C. suit trying to break away, said he lost another million just another old man trying to pass the buck with a dirty hand good thing he knows his bible
Man, does anything change when it comes to politics, corruption and money. The same shit happening in 1996 happened before and after.
And when it all goes to hell, they turn to God. How many criminals have said “I’m sorry your honor for stealing millions, but I have found God and I’m a good Christian now.”
“Wiseblood” and “Goodbye Windows” bring the Southern Rock vibe. It also sounds like Zakk Wylde was listening because I feel that Black Label Society took this sound.
I’ve seen them devils pound our bible You saints and sinners are both my rival
Can a person live a life without the influence of religion and pressure from society to conform?
How good is that harmony solo section in “Goodbye Windows” from the 3.46 minute mark, with the vocals over it?
Past regrets and future fears Turns a boy to a man sooner than planned All the same, the boy remains Even though he’s free, he can’t fly with these heavy chains
There is a lot of self-assessment happening on this album.
What does it mean to be free in democracy?
Its basic meaning is “not under the control or in the power of another; able to act or be done as one wishes”.
Do you live a life that meets the criteria in the definition?
And the bluesy Sabbath like tunes continue, along with the excellent song titles, like “Born Again For The Last Time”, “Drowning In A Daydream” and “The Snake Has No Head”.
When the bones that you own have long been dusted You realize who you’re not supposed to be
The above lyric is from “Born Again For The Last Time”. Its only when we get older, we realise how much time we wasted being someone else.
But the body fills with greed and we spill when in need And all the slaves are on probation growing fat in a comfortable nation
The above lyric of from “The Snake Has No Head”. They are referencing the same snake that’s on the cover of the Metallica self-titled “Black” album.
“The Door” and “Man Or Ash” are cuts that would not be out of place on a Metallica “Load” or “Reload” album. And if the vocalist sounds familiar on “Man Or Ash”, it should, it’s none other than James Hetfield.
Then there is the excellent titled “Redemption City”.
Simple words remind me Cluttered room haunts me
It’s never easy being alone, with your thoughts and your vices.
“Fuel” is a thrash-a-thon and I had to keep telling my friends at the time that it’s not a cover of the other “Fuel” that appeared on “Reload” even though this one came out before.
And after “Wiseblood”, the band got dropped from Columbia Records because it didn’t meet the commercial expectations. And it was strange to read that, because the band was still at a creative high.
Lucky for them, Sanctuary Records picked em up otherwise they couldn’t participate in the recording business unless they went the “self-release” route, which no artist did in 1996.
“The thing I will never understand about the management and that tour and the band was that in their insane thinking, the management called a meeting before the tour started and informed the band that Don was gonna be breaking the band up and trying to just hire us as musicians on the band.
Or else, if that didn’t work, we didn’t agree to that, he was just gonna leave, keep the name and kick us out. Before the tour started — literally days before it started.”
The band was unraveling. I was happy to be out there on that stadium tour, but I was totally depressed. I was just miserable. To see your guitar player on stage in front of 100,000 people walk behind his amplifier in the middle of the solo and snort coke, I mean, fuck, man. It drove me crazy. So, that just broke us up. That’s the way it goes. Shit happens.
And drugs or no drugs, this album known as the “Beast From The East” captures a band at the peak of their creativity and mastery of their instruments in 1988.
Unchain The Night
It was a weird choice to open with, especially when the album they were promoting, opened with “Kiss Of Death”.
But.
It was perfect.
After the taped (I think) Intro plays, the band kicks in and all hell is breaking loose. And my speakers are rumbling, because the guitar tone from Lynch is excellent.
Don is sounding good. And I’ve heard the vocals got juiced up later on by Michael Wagener, but hey it still sounds live and I’m all in.
And I still go nuts for the Chorus after the solo. Then there is another solo from Lynch and the Chorus comes back in again.
Tooth And Nail
They play it even faster and I didn’t think it was possible to chuck in fills during the verses at that speed, but Lynch delivers while Pilson and Brown keep it grounded and rocking.
Dream Warriors
The clean tone in the verses. Check it out.
Kiss Of Death
It’s faster than the studio and I like it.
And the solo break. I can listen to it all day long and play air guitar to it.
When Heaven Comes Down
I didn’t expect this to resonate as good as it did.
How heavy does that Intro/Chorus riff sound?
And I still go nuts over the mood they set, with the guitar riff and drum build up just before the solo.
Into The Fire
The clean tone sections sound wicked because Lynch puts bends and legato into his arpeggios.
And I like how the outro is loaded with guitar leads.
Mr Scary
Pilson and Brown need a special mention here for holding down the fort. Great playing. And of course, Lynch excels, coked up or not.
Heaven Sent
I love the bluesy swagger of this one.
The way it starts off with the crowd participation and just high hats, then the clean tone riff and then the beat.
It sounds great on the album and great live especially the improvised lead break. It’s fast and furious and scary.
It’s Not Love
They jam it, they get the crowd to sing along with em and I’m singing along with em as well.
Alone Again
I like how the little Intro flows, it throws a curve ball. Your thinking, is it “Alone Again” or not.
And then it begins.
By the end of it, everyone is singing “alone again without you”.
Just Got Lucky
It sounds full of energy.
Breaking The Chains
I’ve always liked the main riff and there’s no way you can’t enjoy it live.
In My Dreams
It’s powerful live. A great closer.
And I like how they jam out the ending.
Walk Away
The final studio cut.
A fitting title to signal the end of the 80s Dokken era. As the outro played, I didn’t want it to fade out.
By the end of it, the “Beast From The East” (the album, not the recent European snow storm) cemented itself as one of my top 5 live releases behind “Live After Death” and “Tribute”.
And of course, I got in on vinyl first. Then on CD. And then again on CD as part of a box set.
