Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: TwilightOdyssey on May 14, 2008, 04:24:46 PM
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With Lynch now openly saying he would love to play in DOKKEN again after all the cr@p he's said about Don in the Dojo, and listening to Lynch's latest material, it makes you wonder: what happened to the mojo Dokken once had? Hooks a mile wide coupled with incendiary guitar playing and actual guitar tone.
Well, look no further than the latest DOKKEN album, Lightning Strikes Again, proving that Don Dokken can still write in the style that made him famous.
Lightning Strikes Again is the album Dokken fans have been pining for since Back For The Attack and their last shot at '80s glory, the oft-ignored Walk Away single.
LSA sees Dokken's return to form after several tepid albums. From opening to closing, this album is chock full of great riffs, brilliant solos and classic Dokken vocal hooks. Jeff Scott Soto provides backing tracks on several songs, sometimes mixed more prominently than even Dokken himself (Heart To Stone).
Jon Levin finally proves himself a worthy as Lynch's successor. While being vaguely Lynch-like in style, his tone is a bit mellower and more modern and his phrasing is more linear than Lynch. He also uses a wider, slower vibrato.
The mix is masterful, another great effort from Wyn Davis, the unseen 5th member of Dokken.
My minor complaints --
1. It's a crime to have a bass player of Barry Sparks' ability half-buried in the mix. I would like to have heard louder and more active bass parts.
2. I would have chucked one of the slower songs and added another barn-burner to the album. The album almost becomes mired in mid-tempo purgatory if not for the inventive soloing of Levin.
3. The price! $19 is too much to pay for a CD, though gladly forked over my money for it. I would've preferred a simpler package and lower price -- I mean, really, who needs lyrics for a Dokken album?!!
See Dokken's official podcast for song clips.
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I agree with your review
I do love the album.
What do you mean too much at $19
I paid about that if not a little more
Until recent times we were paying £16 = $30 for new release CDs here in the UK.
Thank god for Amazon etc
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time for Dokken Radio!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zV5qUB7iJ1U
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Thank you for that; that was brilliant.
How's about some real Dokken?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4FqwfZOhcSY
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in that video he sounds like Katon W. DePena, the difference though is that Katon is totally baddass. :P
Interesting solo by Lynch though. As usual, the garb is horrendous, but what can one say? It was the 80's.
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=4FqwfZOhcSY
tone :o
Dokken are another band this forum has thankfully introduced me to, the other is Blue Murder. those palm mutes kick like a machine gun.
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How's about some real Dokken?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4FqwfZOhcSY
"When the light-nun.... strikes a-gun". Hmmm. Was Don going through a phase of thinking he was Klaus Meine? :?
Still, for a few years back in the early '80s I loved Dokken more than any other band. But I haven't enjoyed anything Don or George have done in recent years (I do really like Up From The Ashes and the first two Lynch Mob albums... but they're nearly 20 years old too).
I might have to give this new album a try. Hope it's a bit better than the Whitesnake comeback.
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"When the light-nun.... strikes a-gun". Hmmm. Was Don going through a phase of thinking he was Klaus Meine? :?
Funnily enough, for quite a while now I've thought that they have a similar vocal style. Mind you, I also think that Dee Snider sounds like Klaus, and I'm sure you could switch Stephen Pearcy with Dave Mustaine and no one would notice.
Anyway back on the topic of the album, I've heard most of it and it definitely has the old Dokken sound, in fact the intro to 'Standing on the outside' sounds remarkably like the intro to "Standing in the shadows" from BFTA, so much so that I actually thought it was Lynch playing! Overall it seems a welcome return.
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and I'm sure you could switch Stephen Pearcy with Dave Mustaine and no one would notice.
:lol: I love the idea of Pearcy playing with Megadeth, it'd be hilarious.
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How's about some real Dokken?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4FqwfZOhcSY
"When the light-nun.... strikes a-gun". Hmmm. Was Don going through a phase of thinking he was Klaus Meine? :?
Don did sing on a Scorpions album
Back in 81/82 Klaus was having voice problems and they got Don in to sing guide vocals on the Blackout album
Obviously Klaus recovered and did the main vocals but It may be the case that there are still Dokken backing vocals on the album
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no love for Dokken Radio aside from TO? :(
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time for Dokken Radio!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zV5qUB7iJ1U
It was funny but I have a few friends who might think the DJ is me!
Too close to the truth perhaps
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time for Dokken Radio!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zV5qUB7iJ1U
It was funny but I have a few friends who might think the DJ is me!
Too close to the truth perhaps
LMAO!! Your honesty gives you power my friend!