I like and own both of those albums.

Dokken with just Don is what Up From The Ashes is - it is a good, solid album. I remember Mirror, Mirror got MTV and rock radio play back in the day.

I remember the Wicked Sensation video too. I thought that Don's release was better than Georges.

Unfortunately, I don't see Don and George kissing and making up - getting them too on stage together is worse than trying to get divorced parents to behave at a wedding!

I like both albums but I give the nod to Lynch Mob. Up From The Ashes has too many mellow tracks.

Lynch Mob all the way.

This entry should've been placed before the UP FROM THE ASHES/Lynch Mob post, but it slipped my mind. My bad.



BACK IN THE STREETS is not an official "piece" of the Dokken discography but is an interesting item nonetheless. Released on the "Repertoire Records" label around 1989, BACK IN THE STREETS was a widely distributed bootleg album of a 4-song demo that was recorded in 1979. Legend has it that this album came about when some bootleggers stole a copy of the demo tape out of producer Michael Wagener's car.

Don is the only member of the "classic" Dokken lineup to appear on the six-song EP (four of the songs are studio tracks, two are live). In fact, the band lineup shown on the album's cover isn't even the same one that played on the tracks. The "Back on the Streets" demo lineup was Don on vocals and guitar, drummer Greg Pecka, and bassist Steve R. Barry. The band shown on the cover is of a later lineup featuring Don (center, w/red pants and striped shirt), drummer Gary Holland (who would later join Great White) on the left, and guitarist Greg Leon second from left. (I have no idea who the guy wearing all black, all the way to the right is. Does anyone?)

I used to see this album on vinyl/cassette all the time back in the late 80s/early 90s, I may be wrong but I could almost swear I came across it in "real" record stores from time to time (usually labeled as an "IMPORT"). I would guess at that time the legality of this release was still questionable, which allowed some copies to trickle into legitimate distribution channels.

Either way, BACK IN THE STREETS is an interesting but far from essential listen. The production's not the best, of course, given that these songs were merely intended as demos, but you can still hear the raw talent that Mr. Dokken possessed at this early stage of the game.

Years later, copies of this long-out-of-print bootleg have become fairly pricey, but the band has made all the tracks available as free downloads from their website. Their rationale is that if fans want this material, they can get it straight from the band for free, therefore the bootleggers won't be profiting from them. If you wanna hear BACK IN THE STREETS for yourself, check'em out here. You have Don's blessing. http://dokken.net/downloads/mp3s.html

I will download this when I get home and thanks for the info, never heard any of these tracks before, I used the album in import ads, along with a Def Leppard EP called 'First Strike' but never actually seen either one of those releases in any stores.

Never heard this, but I will be downloading

I have the download that someone posted awhile ago. It's kinda cool to hear, but nothing earthshattering from what I recall. Like Freddy said, it's an interesting piece in the band's (or moreso Don's) early career, but nothing essential. Worth a listen.

I have this bootleg. It's merely a curiosity and there's not much reason to own it unless you're a Dokken completist.

1994 brought the surprising news that Dokken had re-united with all of the original members, reportedly at the request of the Japanese record label Victor Entertainment. I'm not sure what convinced Don and George to work together again but I would assume that a decent amount of money must've changed hands. After some low-key reunion shows around their Southern California home base (one of which would eventually be released as the ONE LIVE NIGHT mostly-acoustic live album) the band recorded a new, self-titled studio album and quietly released it only in Japan.

Response to the album was positive, and so the tracks from the Japanese album were then remixed and released in the rest of the world by Columbia Records in 1995 with a new title - the very appropriate DYSFUNCTIONAL.


In addition to the new mix, the track order of the DYSFUNCTIONAL version differs from the Japanese album, and it also features 2 songs that weren't on the Japanese edition - "Hole in My Head" and a cover of ELP's "From the Beginning."

Fan reaction to DYSFUNCTIONAL seems mixed to this very day. Some love it, others wonder why they even bothered to get back together. At first I was somewhere in the middle. As Dokken is one of my favorite bands, I was glad to hear new material from them, but on the other hand the CD didn't really grab me when I first got it. It wasn't till a year or so later when I picked up the acoustic live album ONE LIVE NIGHT that followed this album that I re-discovered DYSFUNCTIONAL. One particular song that I really enjoyed on ONE LIVE NIGHT was the track "The Maze," which prompted me to dust off the studio version. Not only did I dig that track but I found myself enjoying the rest of the album as well, even more than when it was a new release. Go figure. Maybe I just didn't spend enough time with DYSFUNCTIONAL when I first got it.

DYSFUNCTIONAL is a good bit darker than Dokken's previous lite-n-peppy metal of old, but the performances are solid, Don's voice still sounds great, and the band sound like they hadn't missed a step during their time away. In addition to "The Maze" I also particularly dig "Too High To Fly," "Lesser of Two Evils" and the surprisingly heavy "What Price?" (the midsection of this track is as close to speed metal as you'll ever hear from Dokken). Nowadays I find myself reaching for DYSFUNCTIONAL more often than some of the "classic" records when I'm looking for a Dokken fix.

DYSFUNCTIONAL performed surprisingly well, considering the musical climate at the time of its release and the fact that the band had been out of the loop for such a long time. It made it to #47 on the Billboard charts and supposedly sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 250,000 copies, with very little promotion. The aforementioned "The Maze" was released as the one and only single from the record and I'm told it's the only song from this album that the band continues to perform live to this very day.

This album had the potential to be the start of a legitimate comeback for the band but unfortunately the ongoing Don & George Drama Show would begin rearing its ugly head soon after its release, which eventually led to what is universally considered to be Dokken's biggest debacle...but we'll get to that one in a couple more posts. Stay tuned.

This is one release of theirs I just couldn't get into. I picked it up through BMG or Columbia House if I recall correctly. I held onto it for a while hoping it would grow on me but it never did and I eventually got rid of it. I haven't bought a Dokken release since so I'll just have to only read about all the subsequent releases from here on out.

Dysfunctional is okay but George was brought in very late in the process and it shows. It's way too mellow of an album for my tastes. I did see them on this tour at a fairly small club. The tension between Don and George was palpable. Also Don's voice was totally shot. Shocker!

I like this album and spent a long time searching on ebay before I found the Japanese version at a decent price. It is a good album that, for me, was a bit of a grower, but once it clicked, it became one of my favorites.

I loved the album and still do, the songs are amazing and the vocals are killer.

I actually got to meet the entire band at a promo when they were doing an instore signing, got my 'Beast from the East' autographed by the entire band, everybody was cool expect George Lynch who sat apart from the rest of the band and was very stand offish, could tell who he did not want to be there, but he still autographed my album, my ex hag when we called it a day, took the album even thou she is not a Dokken fan!!!!!!!


What was cool is that record rep gave me the CD for free because he did not know any of the band members and even gave me free tickets to the show, so my friends and I got to see the gig for free.

During the set they played 'Too High to Fly' which was stretched out for like 15 minutes and right in the middle of the song, Dokken began playing The Doors 'The End' 'Riders on the Storm' and then went back to the tune 'Too high to Fly', I lost my mind, since I am huge Doors fan and they did an excellent job.

They also did this on the DVD for the live album they did with Reb Beach but it only included the End, not the Riders like the performance I saw.

I remember my old roommate having this disc and I'd probably heard most if not all of it at the time, but I don't recall much from it except for the 2(?) songs that ended up on the unplugged album.

Just snagged Under Lock and Key on vinyl from Goodwill the other day.

Though DYSFUNCTIONAL sold fairly well it still did not perform up to Columbia Records' expectations and Dokken was dropped from the label. Fortunately the "retro" minded label CMC International Records, which had been on a brisk signing binge at the time (picking up leftover '80s bands abandoned by the majors) quickly snapped up the band. Dokken's first album for CMC was 1996's "unplugged" live disc ONE LIVE NIGHT, which had been released by their Japanese label the previous year.

ONE LIVE NIGHT was recorded on December 13, 1994 at the Strand in Redondo Beach, California, and features the newly-reunited band running through a cool set of old favorites plus a few tracks from DYSFUNCTIONAL (which had yet to be released in the U.S. at the time of the concert), plus covers of the Beatles' "Nowhere Man" and ELP's "From the Beginning." George Lynch is the only band member playing electric guitar during the set, adding his usual shredding leads while Don and Jeff play acoustically.

Unplugged albums were a dime a dozen during this time period but ONE LIVE NIGHT is one of the better ones to come out of that fad in my book. I was unsure at first how well Dokken's material would translate into the acoustic realm, but the bulk of the songs sound great, particularly "Alone Again," "In My Dreams," and DYSFUNCTIONAL's "The Maze" and "Nothing Left To Say." As I mentioned in my DYSFUNCTIONAL entry, I found myself particularly impressed by the acoustic version of "The Maze" found here, even though the original album version hadn't grabbed me at first. Hearing this rendition eventually prompted me to pull the studio version off the shelf and re-evaluate the entire DYSFUNCTIONAL album.
The band sounds like they had a lot of fun during this show. Nearly everyone gets a chance to shine vocally, as Jeff Pilson sings lead on "Just Got Lucky" and Wild Mick Brown performs "It's Not Love." This prompts Don to good-naturedly rib George about taking the mic for a lead vocal in between songs (he declines). The relaxed, acoustic setting gives everyone a chance to show off their considerable instrumental chops.

CMC also released ONE LIVE NIGHT as a live video on VHS, though I am unsure if it's ever been made available on DVD.

Worth a listen if you want to hear a slightly different side of Dokken, or if you're a fan of unplugged discs.





Several years after its initial release, ONE LIVE NIGHT was reissued as one half of a 2-CD set, with the other disc being the ill fated SHADOWLIFE album.

I have this concert on DVD, and it is a cool show, and is telling that George Lynch is sitting away from Don Dokken and Jeff Pilson, but it could be because he was playing electric guitar. These show was filmed very cheaply but still cool thing to own, even if I rarely watch it.

It has been awhile since I listened to the audio CD but was impressed with the performances and the strength of the songs, the vocal harmonies are incredible and like FF said 'Nothing Left to Say' and 'The Maze' are incredible performances of two songs that I liked but did not stand out to me til i heard these versions.

An excellent album that despite this it is not a disc I spin very often but I will do so sometime this week.

I pulled this one out last week in anticipation of this thread. Still holds up well.



I'm pretty sure I picked this album up as a somewhat blind purchase new release at Tower Records. I still wasn't a huge fan of the band, but I do like unplugged albums and gave this one a shot. George puts a nice spin on things by staying plugged in for the performance. It balances out the acoustic portions nicely.



I remember spinning this disc quite a bit late at night as I drifted off to sleep in my apartment.

Dokken's first studio album for CMC Records, 1997's SHADOWLIFE, appeared at a time of major turmoil not only within the Dokken camp itself, but in the music scene in general. Many of the old-guard '80s musicians were struggling to stay "relevant" in the 90s music scene at this time (see: Warrant's "Ultraphobic" and "Belly to Belly" albums, or Rob Halford's ill-fated experiment "Two") and Dokken apparently decided that they had nothing to lose by giving the alterna-thang the old college try as well. The resulting album was a disaster that nearly put the band on ice for good.

Just a glance at the album cover should tell you that this is not your older brother's Dokken. The songs are down-tuned, melancholy, darker in subject matter and bear almost no resemblance to the classic Dokken sound. Fan reaction was a nearly universal "what the F***?"

Interviews with the band at the time reveal that the members probably shouldn't have been making a new record at all, or at the very least shouldn't have put the Dokken name on it. The players may be the same but this is a "Dokken" album in name only. Don Dokken was absent for nearly all of the song writing process, citing a case of writer's block and his ongoing struggles with alcohol. The bulk of the music for SHADOWLIFE was written by Lynch, Pilson, and Brown and then sent to Don to add lyrics to it. Lynch and Pilson have admitted that much of this material was written with a non-Dokken side project in mind (perhaps this was an early draft of what became the Lynch/Pilson WICKED UNDERGROUND album that appeared a few years later?). When Don received the music he struggled to write lyrics that fit it, saying "I had to write dark and that's not my trip."

The band also struggled with CMC's choice of producer for them. Seattle native Kelly Gray, who had previously produced Candlebox (and who would later join Queensryche as a guitarist, aiding them in their further slide into mediocrity) was admittedly not a fan of Dokken's earlier works and is quoted by Don in a Metal Edge interview as saying "Knock off that harmony sh*t. It's my job to get you out of that '8os thing." While the band were recording, they constantly butted heads with Gray and ended up scrapping bits of songs and were constantly re-writing and re-tracking parts due to Gray's constant complaints and interference.

The combination of a band's general disinterest in their own material, plus a producer who had no idea what the record should sound like, proved to be a toxic combination. By the time SHADOWLIFE appeared in stores in April of '97 the pre-release word of mouth on it was so bad that the release was pretty much Dead on Arrival. DYSFUNCTIONAL had sold around 250,000 copies but SHADOWLIFE struggled to reach 100,000 in sales.

The bad press that SHADOWLIFE received was enough to convince me to avoid the album like an explosive device when it was first released. The only positive review I read of the album was by Metal Edge magazine's Gerri Miller, who was a well-known record company puppet so that was a pretty major red flag (Haha). Months later, SHADOWLIFE turned up in the discount section of the Columbia House Record Club catalog for $3.99 so I figured "ehhhh, what the hell" and ordered it. Maybe it's because my expectations were extremely low but when I finally heard SHADOWLIFE it wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. I don't love the album but I enjoy a couple of songs, particularly "Here I Stand" (Jeff Pilson's debut lead-vocal recording), the opening "Puppet On A String," "Cracks in the Ground" and "Sweet Life." I can hear a lot of King's X and Soundgarden influence in these songs. As a Dokken album it may be a miserable failure but as a plain ole nothin' special '90s rock album I've heard a lot worse.

The drama continued as Lynch and Dokken began dragging their personal animosity towards one another out in the press and on the road. Dokken blamed Lynch for the failure of SHADOWLIFE and Lynch blamed Don for not doing his part during the recorcing process. Finally Lynch admitted that even HE didn't like the album and had "only done it for the money," and furthermore he refused to go on tour for the album. That was the final straw for the rest of the band, who released Lynch from his contract and vowed to continue on without him.

Years later, SHADOWLIFE is still viewed as Dokken's worst album. Rumor has it that if you ever tell Don Dokken that you bought it, he will personally apologize to you and refund your money. As for me, I find it to be an interesting experiment, but not an essential piece of the Dokken discography by any means.




Useless trivia: the Japanese edition of the album contains two bonus tracks, "How Many Lives" and "Deep Waters."

Several years after its initial release, SHADOWLIFE was repackaged as part of a 2-CD set with the ONE LIVE NIGHT disc.

I saw this album in the used bin. I didn't even know that they had a new album out(I was busy in my personal life at that time, movin from one city to another and getting remarried). Based on the cover I thought that Dokken may have gone into progmetal territory ala A Pleasant Shade of Gray by Fates Warning.


Boy was I wrong, I think I sold it and then rebought it many years later to give it a second chance. Deep Waters is a bonus track that should have been on the domestic release.... It's a good tune!!!!

It's definitly not Dokken's best album, but it is a good one to listen to on a dark rainy day.

I actually like the album a great deal and think the band sounds excellent on it, the first track 'Puppet on a String' even owes more then a little something to Tool.

Listening to the album this afternoon, considering the behind scenes drama and sfincter producer who has no clue who Dokken were and are, not to mention Lynch wanting to push the band into a more 'modern direction' it is a miracle anything of quality material came out of these sessions.

I like the fact the band went outside (make that way outside their comfort zone) and made an album that was so against their image and identity and while I am glad they chose not pursue this direction for more then one album, I thought and still think it is a great album, sadly as FF documented this album broke the band apart once again.

One Live Night is forgettable. Shadowlife is an abomination.

1999 brought two releases from Dokken: an archives/compilation disc and a new studio album.


Rhino Records' THE VERY BEST OF DOKKEN is an excellent comp that lives up to its title. All of the band's singles are on here as well as a few surprises (Don Dokken's solo track "Mirror Mirror" from UP FROM THE ASHES and DYSFUNCTIONAL's "Too High To Fly"). Some excellent liner notes detailing the band's history complete the package. If you already own all of Dokken's studio albums then I suppose this best-of is totally unnecessary, but if you're just getting started on your Dokken collection or you're a casual fan that only wants the "hits," look no further than this disc.



Meanwhile, back in the present, Dokken rebounded nicely from the SHADOWLIFE debacle with its follow up, 1999's ERASE THE SLATE. George Lynch had been given his walking papers and was replaced by Reb Beach, formerly of Winger and Alice Cooper. Though some fans might have been worried that the band's signature sound would suffer without Lynch's distinctive guitar tone, Beach proved to be a fine substitute. He may not be as gifted/skilled as George but Reb's flashy finger work fit just fine into the Dokken template.

ERASE THE SLATE (a very appropriate title, considering the crap storm the band had just weathered) is a fine release that is much more in the traditional "Dokken" mode than SHADOWLIFE (thankfully) or even DYSFUNCTIONAL. The title track opens the album in fine style and though the production is not quite as "slick" sounding as their classic '80s platters, this is the one post-reunion Dokken album that's closest to those in spirit. There's still some of the "90s" dark-side feeling in tracks like "Drown" and "Shattered," but the band is obviously having fun again as well, evidenced by the fine cover of Three Dog Night's "One" and the goofball pop/rock song "Crazy Mary Goes 'Round" (sung by drummer Mick Brown). All in all, ERASE THE SLATE was a definite step up from SHADOWLIFE (which admittedly couldn't have been very hard to do) and fans who'd been disappointed by that album (this writer included) were relieved to hear Dokken returning to more traditional pastures. Nowadays ERASE THE SLATE is the most highly regarded of Dokken's post-reunion albums (though I'll admit that I probably like DYSFUNCTIONAL just a little better... but only by a smidge).

Unfortunately, Reb Beach only stayed with Dokken for this album and tour, though interviews at the time seemed to indicate he was in it for the long haul. The inconsistency in the guitar department would continue to plague the band for the next several records.

I have that greatest hits collection and it is a great listen, with a great song selection and running order.

I don't own 'Erase the Slate' and when I get around to collecting Dokken again, I will add to my want list.