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Singer Don Dokken says he set out to prove something with Dokken’s tenth studio album, Lightening Strikes Again. Taking its title from a track on the band’s platinum 1985 classic Under Lock & Key, the new songs bring the group’s sound full circle. “It’s time that a band from our era did something special and proved that our brand of music is still valid,” he says. “Our goal was to create an album that was our best since our heyday.” Dokken returns to the band’s roots for its Rhino debut, Lightening Strikes Again. Mixed by Wyn Davis (Dio, Great White), the album features Don Dokken (vocals), Mick Brown (drums), Jon Levin(guitar), and Barry Sparks (bass). Lightening Strikes Again contains 12 tracks, including the breakout songs, “Standing On The Outside,” “Oasis,” and “Heart To Stone.” The album captures the signature mix of barbed-wire riffs and razor-sharp melodies that made Dokken one of the most dominant creative and commercial forces in the world of melodic hard rock.
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4 1/2 Stars – Dokken Back In Top Form Dokken released some of the 80’s best Melodic Metal albums, including , , and , and released one more good album in before tensions in the band split them apart.In the 90’s they got back together and released the fantastic album. That was an album that saw their 80’s style updated to fit better in the grungy 90’s without sacrificing the basic elements of their sound. Following that album they released the puzzling – and album of dark, grungy, alternative leaning songs that turned off many of their fans. Guitarist George Lynch parted ways with the band and they hired former Winger guitar player Reb Beach and released the much heralded . Erase the Slate was much closer in style to their 80’s sound than either of it’s predecessors, and the album went a long way towards recapturing the fans turned off by Shadowlife.Reb Beach’s stay in the band didn’t last long, and he was replaced in turn by former Europe guitarist (and solo act) John Norum for the album . Long Way Home was an album that had many good songs, but ultimately suffered from the too many ballads syndrome. John Norum’s songwriting contributions were fantastic, as his songs were darker and heavier but still based in the Melodic Metal stylings of his biggest influences (Thin Lizzy, UFO, Deep Purple), the only problem was that there were only four songs co-written by Norum, and the rest of the album was somewhat lackluster. Norum left the band not too long after the album’s release.Enter Jon Levin. An unknown guitar player that most of Dokken’s fans were skeptical could live up to the standards of George Lynch and Reb Beach. His first album with Dokken, , wasn’t the killer album that fans wanted (and it featured an absolutely horrible album cover). Sure, there are a few great songs, just like it’s predecessor, Long Way Home, but there is also some filler and not enough HEAVY material overall (the first half of the album is great, the 2nd half is mediocre). Confidence that Jon Levin was the right guy for the job wasn’t exactly high. It wasn’t really all that low, either, as Don Dokken took most of the heat for the less heavy material on the last two albums.All of which leads to this. Lightning Strikes Again.The pre-release statements from Don Dokken were that this was the album where Dokken would once again return to their 80’s style that long time fans had missed on the previous two releases. The album title, Lightning Strikes Again was picked out before songwriting for the album was even completed. Named after one of their more popular heavy songs from the 80’s, Lightning Strikes Again had a lot of high expectations to live up to. Originally slated for a Summer 2007 release the album was delayed 9 months, creating more anticipation – and even higher expectations to live up to.So does Lightning Strikes Again live up to all the pre-release hype?Yes. And no.It is VERY similar in style to parts of Under Lock and Key, as well as having bits vaguely reminiscent of Tooth and Nail and Back for the Attack, but there are also elements of Dysfunctional, Erase the Slate, Long Way Home, and even Hell to Pay. It’s not 1986, so to expect Don, Jon, Mick, and Barry to be able to completely recapture the mindset of the mid-80’s was perhaps a bit unrealistic.However…Lightning Strikes Again does come very close to recapturing the mid 80’s style that Dokken played so well. Part of the problem is that Don’s voice has taken a beating over the last 25 years and his vocal range is noticeably smaller than it was back in the mid 80’s. That creates a bit of a problem in recreating that era musically, but it also leads to one of the album’s strengths – a VERY strong melodic sensability.The other main strength of the album is Jon Levin’s songwriting and performance. On Lightning Strikes Again Levin is clearly channelling George Lynch. He’s not so much ripping off George’s style as he gets into the mindset that fits this type of music best – as Lynch did in the 80’s. This is the album where Jon Levin proves that Don Dokken’s confidence in him was well…
Best Dokken LP in quite some time In looking at the previous reviews, it seems to me that most people that gave this album a poor review do so by way of comparison. No – this is not Dokken circa 1986 with George Lynch shredding every song and Don’s voice in his prime. But for the 2008 version of Dokken, this is a very good album. I have to agree with several of the previous reviewers in that ‘Hell to Pay’ and ‘Long Way Home’ were forgettable albums. I listened to each of those albums from the beginnig to end and except for maybe 1 catchy song on each I felt no reason to play them again. Not so with LSA. This is a very strong album, with a nice mix of up-tempo tunes mixed with a few ballads. And who in the Metal world sings a love-gone-bad ballad better than Don Dokken? I was very pleasantly surprised by Jon Levin’s guitar work, and Mick was spot-on with the drums as always. Some of my favorites were “Standing on the Outside”, “Heart To Stone”, “How I MIss Your Smile”, “I Remember” (great guitar work here), and “This Fire”. This album has found it’s way into my CD changer since I bought it, and I don’t se it coming out any time soon. Now – is this as good as some of those great Dokken albums of the 80’s – not quite – but when judged on its own it is a solid album. I don’t think any Dokken or Hard Rock fan for that fact would be disappointed!
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