Dokken – Remasters (Breaking the Chains, Tooth and Nail, Under Lock and Key)
Rock Candy Records
www.rockcandyrecords.com

Rating: B+

Dokken ruled the West Coast Metal scene alongside the likes of Quiet Riot and Motley Crue in the early 1980s.  The band, too often lumped in with the hairband scene, actually predated that crowd and was more influenced by bands that came before them. 

Armed with a sexy lead singer named Don Dokken and a powerhouse master lead guitar player called George Lynch, Dokken could do no wrong between 1983 and 1985 when they released the albums Breaking the Chains, Tooth and Nail and Under Lock and Key. 

Breaking the Chains title track got the band noticed (howabout that video...Ahh,  I remember MTV), but fans quickly realized this band had raw talent and that the poppiness of the hit song was just a hint at the hard rocking future they were heading toward.  Tooth and Nail, released in 1984 saw the band sell Platinum in the USA.  The album contained rocking songs like “Just Got Lucky” and “Into the Fire,” but it was the softer song “Alone Again” that made this album sell in huge numbers.

Dokken hit the road and gained fans across the world before releasing 1985's Under Lock and Key.  Two songs reached the charts, “The Hunter” and “In My Dreams,” but that album failed to reach the same success as the earlier ones.  It proved to be the last of the albums to make a splash by the band, which went on to split up after some famous band fighting that tore things apart, to the point that relationships have yet to be resurrected.  It’s too bad, really, as this band had the look and the sound to make them something special beyond the 80’s.

Rock Candy has added new in-depth liner notes complete with interviews from Don Dokken to each release, making these the definitive versions on the market today.

By Jeb Wright