Amazon.com: 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.
Lightning Strikes Again This album is Dokken's best since Back for the Attack! I was thrilled to see them go back to the style they are best at. "This Fire" I thought was one of the best songs Dokken has ever wrote, it was an excellent song to cap off a great new album. I recommend this CD to any hard rock fan.
Great Comeback Again With "Lightning Strikes Again" As awesome, smooth, and brilliant as "Hell To Pay", Dokken's comeback album from 2004, is; their "Lightning Strikes Again" is a really great follow-up to it. The music is still smooth and brilliant so many clever guitar riffs, catchy drum tempos, great bass work, as well as Don Dokken's smooth melodic vocals. Even with George Lynch being long gone from the band, the guitar riffs and solos are still a very big important factor in making each song as awesome and unique as possible. John Levin proves once again to be a very worthy replacement. The rest of the line-up for this album contain Barry Sparks on bass and Mick Brown on drums.
This album tells a very basic but very touching story about a long running relationship that was believed to be perfect just breaking up. Each song contains a lot of emotional yet well worded and well thought out lyrics dealing with that sort of situation with a lot of strong depth and emotion. Don Dokken really brings out the lyrics to each and every track on this album perfectly with the right emotions for each song along with his smooth vocals. The music also backs up the lyrics, depth, and emotions by setting the right mood for each and every track. It is just as easy to feel the depth and emotions for each track through the music as it is through the vocals. The guitar riffs and solos, bass work, drum tempos, and vocals all go together perfectly without missing a beat or getting sloppy even once. There are a lot of great multi-talents and sophistication being present to form a very fine unique art to this album. The album is also in top production to help bring out the great talents and other fine qualities about it even more.
Dokken has been around for over twenty-five years now, and they are still together and still going strong. Their concerts are still getting large turn-outs and their albums are still selling millions of copies all over the world. This album is one fine example of why all that is.
Dokken's best album ever, and the best ROCK cd of 2008 * On Lightning Strikes Again, Dokken has the comeback of the year and quite possibly the best hard rock record of 2008. For the fans-this is exactly what we've been waiting for. This may be Dokken's best album ever-in terms of songwriting, lyrics, inspired arrangements and quality production. As far as band member performance, John Levin has that classic George Lynch sound down perfect, but enough of his own style to make it interesting. Having Mick Brown still on the drums as tight and punchy as ever is great to hear, he's an excellent drummer. Barry Sparks on the bass has got the perfect style, unobtrusive and solid. Some reviews have made negative comments about Don Dokken's voice on this cd...for me, his vocals are awesome. Yes, it's true he can't sing quite like he used to 20 years ago, so what? Who can? I actually like his voice on this cd, sounding a little raspy and even mildly straining at times. It's real, it's raw, and it's still got that fire. There's an old saying that a lot of music snobs don't get these days, and that's: "It ain't perfect but it's close enough for Rock & Roll". And this is Rock and Roll. So Don Dokken- kudos and bravo to you, for bringing the real ROCK! As far as favorite songs, tracks like "Oasis", "Give Me A Reason", "Standing On The Outside", "Point Of No Return", "It Means" and "Judgement Day" certainly rank right up there with the band's all time classics from their heyday. These songs are catchy, have enough hooks, killer riffs, and strong vocal melodies, to get stuck in your head on the first listen. Even the ballads are well written and tuneful, never sinking to the 2nd rate, cheesed-out depths of many late 80's power ballads, that helped sink and nearly kill a whole genre of music. This is the new standard of melodic hard rock in the new millennium. This band is tight, hard rocking and real. Lightning has struck again, and Dokken is back for the attack!
The True Missing Ingredient is... Jeff Pilson.
That's right. Not George Lynch. Jeff Pilson. And this is coming from a Lynch fan of over 20 years. Let me explain:
Back for the Attack was a great record. It didn't have the stylistic range of Under Lock and Key (really soft ballads to fast metal anthems and everything in between), but it contained great songs and even better performances by Don and George. Even though Jeff's name is all over the songwriting credits and his background vocals are great, I never realized HOW much he was bringing to the table.
Then the band broke up. Jeff went his own way, George formed Lynch Mob and Don put out a solo record. Don's record (Up From the Ashes) was as much a Dokken record as any before it... except it seemed like it was missing the excitement and fire from the previous 2 albums. At the time, I thought it was the loss of George Lynch. That maybe the rivalry between them brought out the best in Don's performance (Hey, I was 16, bear with me!).
The band reunites in 94 and put out Dysfunctional. Everyone sounds re-envigorated and I feel that I must have been right about my theory, even tough George barely wrote anything on it and practically came on board at the last second. In 99 they put out their first record without Lynch (Erase the Slate). To my surprise, the songwriting, riffs and most of all vocals were great! "Hmmm, maybe George isn't the main ingredient". I couldn't believe it. Then the answer came when Jeff left the band and Dokken put out Long Way Home. While there are some good songs on it, overall, the CD is weak. Don lost his fire. If it wasn't obvious then, it became paifully so when Jeff helped George write the best stuff he had put out since he got kicked out of Dokken (Wicked Underground), and Don went on to put out another dissapointing Dokken record (Hell to Pay).
This brings us to today. Lightning Strikes Again is better than the last 2 CDs. Don decided that he's gonna recapture the classic sound on this new record. For the most part he succeeds. Even though it has an excess of ballads, the style of the songs is old-school. The guitarist, John Levin sounds like he's possessed by George's ghost, and I'm talking about his tone and performance. This is hard for me, but it's safe to say that George has been effectively replaced. On the other hand, the songwriting is still missing something, even though it's Don's best writing since Up From the Ashes. The vocal performance is another matter. Don has lost his ability to sing like he used to. That's a shame, 'cause he tries. It's clear to me now that it was Jeff who was responsible for most of the awesome melodies in Dokken and also for the fire in Don's vocal performance in those days.
If Don plans to continue Dokken, he needs Jeff Pilson. They make a great songwriting team and he sure could use Jeff to challenge and to back him up vocally.
Thanx for reading my book ;)
Not Quite Don Dokken tried to recapture the past magic with this one. The sound and structure are indeed close to the old stuff. Still, it just isn't quite there.
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