Let’s get right to it Folks with sides 3&4 of Beast From The East….
Cast of Characters- Don Dokken(Vocals),George Lynch(Geetar),Jeff Pilson(Bass) and Mick Brown(Drums)
King Of Yammering- Deke
Actually before we get to it everyone knows my deal with Greatest Hits Albums and how I have a issue with them. Ha! Well one of my faithful Arena Rock Readers BMellis said within my review on Wednesday in regards to the first part of Beast From The East I was bashing Greatest Hits albums that I was taking Cheap(Pot) Shots at him (BMellis) and his sidekick Rockin Roberts without naming them! Hahaha,myself and BMellis had a good laugh about this as this wasn’t my intention but from now on…yeah it’s gonna be!
To Be Fair to these two Greatest Hits Guru’s (BMellis&RockinRoberts) they like the best songs on compilations so be it……
Seriously though where is The Hunter?
HEAVEN SENT-Don leads the Japanese faithfull with some opening “oh oh oh!” And they follow and George plays some real chill cool riffs during the verses and the song like so many Dokken tracks ramps up at the chorus! Great tune! Slow build of a tune but it still has some ommph to it!
ITS NOT LOVE-more Curious George playing some more real chill riffs and this song has single written all over it! Don tells us “Why Baby Why?” Seriously Don you just regroup,pick up the chics hit the next town and party down on the Tour Bus like there’s no tomorrow! Thats how Tbone explained it to me on how Rockstars roll! Ha! Great catchy chorus and more back and forth banter between Don and the Japanese faithful! You realize if your a fan of Dokken just how many of these tunes on this double live were singles …..speaking of singles…lookie what’s next!
ALONE AGAIN-oh oh power ballad ….make it mega power ballad time! This song sold the Tooth And Nail album and out of the ten tracks on Tooth And Nail this was the only power ballad! Actually compared to a lot of crap at the time this is pretty good and a lot of bands copied Dokkens format. By that I mean nice soft quiet verses and once the chorus hits….KABOOM big time power riffs, Que big time guitar hero solo than back for one more romp around the chorus and nice little fade out…..back in the mid to late 80s this is how LA Bands made a ton of cash! Myself I made little cash washing dishes in a cafeteria to fund my music addiction! FIRST TIME EVER…A POWER BALLAD VIDEO IS POSTED here at ARENA ROCK….Ummm no I’m not mellowing!
JUST GOT LUCKY-things in Tokyo ramp back up and Just Got Lucky is Don going on about how the woman is the devil in disguise! Ha…we all have been there done it….George plays some good guitar whereas the song sounds like a big solo but it’s not if that makes sense. Just watch the video!
BREAKING THE CHAINS-when most people think of Dokken they think of this song! Fair enough as its a good song for me though when I think of It I remember the adds Rokken with Dokken! What I wanna know is how much was the record company Yahoo being paid yearly to come up with selling slogans like Rokken With Dokken! This song features a real good lead vocal into the chorus. Lunch peels rubber on the solo while Pilson and Don handle the vocals ….
IN MY DREAMS-Don,Jeff and Mick do some acapella with the intro and the songs goes from there. This was a pretty good decent rock single and it pushed Dokken in sales and solidified there fan base! Watch the video from Philly 1987 style…these cats can play and sing…
TURN ON THE ACTION-end of the show, time to hot dog some quick rock. George shreds, Don howls, Pilson holds down the bass while Wild Mick smashes his drums and there off! Rokken Dokkens night in Tokyo comes to a end!
WALK AWAY-so here’s a studio track tacked on the end of the live album! Walk Away is kinda a ballad. Walk Away Dokken and they all literally did just that! I recall this video and I think Don was sporting some real funky looking dreads in the hair dept. I was fuckin spooked and never revisited Walk Away again….can’t even tell you about the track other than its not a rocker….
IN CONCLUSION – Dokken,too bad they split. I dug these guys and was pleasantly surprised that in 2015 I still dig this live album! It’s a solid ball of live rock well I’m sure there was tweaking in the studio but who cares. What I don’t know what was tweaked won’t hurt my deal with this record! Lynch is awesome on this and when I thought about reviewing this album I was thinking I hope I can make it through with Curious George going off to shredville. Sure George does during some solos and of course his guitar solo but no worries folks he stays within the lines(ha!) .
These guys if they would have stayed together were well on there way to Arena Headline Status but …….
SHIT HAPPENS!
