One of the definitive 80s "puffy-hair-and-makeup" bands
turned into a 90s alterna-metal band. In both cases, their
creativity cannot be considered other than secondary, to Motley
Crue as well as to King's X, but I have to give them their due:
they are fairly decent at what they do. A sweet and
clean voice of Don Dokken was very popular among girls and boys of
the 80s (I am not his greatest fan for exact same reason -- too
polished for me), and George Lynch was and is a great guitarist by
all standards. Jeff Pilson (bass) and "Wild" Mick Brown (drums) were the other two
musicians. They debuted on a major label in 1982 with the
album "Breaking The Chains." Their sophomore attempt, "Tooth And
Nail" (1984) achieved great popularity, followed by "Under Lock
And Key" (1985), and "Back For The Attack" (1987). Due to the
constant clash of personalities, the band then tore itself apart,
with Lynch starting his own band, Lynch Mob. In 1995 they
suddenly reunited to record "Dysfunctional," a very different
(what I call "alterna-metal") album. But soon enough old tensions
resurfaced, and Lynch left yet again, taking Pilson with him.
Dokken replaced Lynch first with Reb Beech (Winger), then with John Norum
and the band still keeps recording albums and touring (latest installment being 2004 "Hell To
Pay"), although there hasn't really been any earth-shattering
from them lately.
TOOTH AND NAIL (1984)
RATING: ***1/2
BEST SONGS: title track, "Bullets To Spare," "Turn On The
Action"
Heavy and rocking glam metal album. All songs were written by
Lynch. Title track is a classic, which contains an all-time positive
message, about trying your best, reaching for the top, and so on.
"When Heaven Comes Down" (slow and heavy, good stuff), "Bullets To
Spare," and "Into The Fire" are also very good rockers (one thing
Lynch could always do was creation of solid riffs). Other songs
display the characteristic flaws of glam: lame lyrics and
uninspiring music ("Heartless Heart"). "You Just Got Lucky" was
popular among the girls world-wide, mostly due to a corny video. The
final track, "Turn On The Action," however, along with cheesy text,
has one of the greatest fast rocking riffs, and is a pleasure to
headbang to. If you see this album in a used bin, grab it
immediately. If not, it's still recommended.
UNDER LOCK AND KEY (1985)
RATING: **1/2
BEST SONGS: "Lightning Strikes Again"
As we get further into the 80s, we see that glam metal bands
that at first expressed energy and desire to rock were steadily
losing those redeeming qualities and mellowing down, in order to
achieve greater commercial success. Examples are frequent and
in-your-face: Def Leppard, Motley
Crue, and Dokken all lost their metal edge. All songs on this album
are written by Don Dokken, and they are mostly just bad and boring stuff. Some of the tunes are OK, but
nothing spectacular: melodic "In My Dreams," heavy "It's Not Love,"
pro-peace "Will The Sun Rise," and speedy "Till The Livin' End."
There is only one reason to own this album, however, is a good
one: "Lightning Strikes Again." Damn, what a great rocker! Fast,
energetic, with great solo, and incredible vocal performance by Don
Dokken (I dare anyone to repeat that
"li-ghtnin'-strikes-ah-ga-a-a-an!" at the end). You just can't keep
on sitting in your chair, when this song is played. One of my
favorite tunes ever, and, easily, the greatest song from
Dokken.
DYSFUNCTIONAL (1995)
RATING: ****
BEST SONGS: "Shadows Of Life," "Long Way Home," "What
Price"
Again, I saw the cassette in the used bin and bought it. Despite
the fact that first two songs are boring and shouldn't have been
there, I started to like it some more when I got to "Too High To
Fly." "Shadows Of Life" just blew me away. This is a great proof
that one can still rock in the 90s, have great riffs, original
arrangements, awesome lyrics ("Save it for innocent! Save it for the
cruel, yeah!"), and just play metal the way it was meant to be
played. Dokken truly has the potential for writing great songs; too
bad they use it inconsistently. Starting from "Shadows Of Life," a
set of very good song begins: speedy and heavy "Long Way Home"
(semi-fast song in the 90s style), slower and groovy
"Sweet Chains," another speedster with strange lyrics "What Price"
(there's even an "f-word" at the end :), and a pretty acoustic cover
song "In The Beginning" (why did they put it "in the end," though?).
A very good alterna-metal album: on the level of King's X and
beyond.
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