257. Dokken / Dysfunctional. 1995. 3/5.

You know that a band, or certain members in a band, are not getting on, when at the peak of their powers and popularity, with the music world at their feet, they disband. This was definitely the case for Dokken, who in the late 1980’s on the back of albums such as “Tooth and Nail”, “Under Lock and Key” and “Back for the Attack” had built up a huge following based around the excellent rhythm section of drummer Mick Brown and bass guitarist Jeff Pilson, vocalist Don Dokken and guitar hero George Lynch. After the huge tour to promote ”Back for the Attack” which then spawned the excellent live album “Beast from the East”, the build-up of tension within the band must have come to a point of no return. There had always been a simmering tension between Dokken and Lynch, both of whom had their own ideas on the direction the band should be heading, and many always guessed it would only be a matter of time before the two found a way to part terms. In March 1989, this is exactly what happened, and all four members went their separate ways.
Over the next five years each had their own successes. Lynch and Brown peeled off together and formed Lynch Mob, releasing two albums, “Wicked Sensation” and the self-titled “Lynch Mob” to solid reviews. Pilson plied his trade in several bands including Flesh & Blood, appearing on the McAuley Schenker Group’s third album “M.S.G.” before joining Dio for the “Strange Highways” album. The first signs of a melting in tension came from Lynch’s solo album, “Sacred Groove”. Pilson made contributions to two tracks on the album, co-writing the lyrics to the song “Flesh and Blood” and playing bass on the track “We Don’t Own This World”. Perhaps more importantly, Don himself co-wrote “We Don’t Own the World” and at one point was going to sing lead vocals on it as well. If nothing else, it showed that the friendships still existed there in part at least.
Dokken had written and recorded a solo album in 1990 called “Up from the Ashes” by a group that included Europe’s John Norum on guitar, Accept’s Peter Baltes on bass and Mikkey Dee on drums, which had been well received, and now in 1993 he began to put together his second. Mick Brown had come on board having left Lynch Mob, and they then convinced Pilson to come on board as well, and the three began composing songs for a new album. It was suggested that it might make good commercial sense to see if Lynch would be interested in playing on the album, and so the three sent him the material they had been composing. Lynch was sufficiently impressed that he agreed to return, and thus saw the return of the band under the name Dokken. With no big name label to distribute it was initially released in Japan simply under the name Dokken, but once they were picked up by Columbia the album was remixed and a couple of extra tracks recorded and added. And thus came the return of Dokken the band, and the first album to be released in their new era was perhaps fittingly titled “Dysfunctional”.

The first thing that must be said about this album is this – don't come into listening to this thinking it is a Dokken album that sounds like their 1980’s releases, because it is not. This is 1995, it is the very back end of the grunge movement and the beginning of the morphing into the alternative rock and metal movement. And that is what you are going to get here. An album that is atypical of the era, featuring four excellent individual musicians who are very good at their job. The question that remains is, does it work? Well... it is an interesting proposition.
The return of producer Michael Wagener is of obvious benefit. He and Don had been friends for over 15 years at this point in time, and his help in mixing and or producing the first three Dokken albums had proven a positive influence. And given the time this was released, he was going to have to be at his best in order to get the best from the band in an era when most of their contemporaries had moved on to other careers.
“Inside Looking Out” gets a little repetitive in both rhythm and vocal, But Lynch’s solo breaks bring a different energy to the track that gives it a kick at the appropriate time. “Hole in My Head” has a dual vocal between Don and Jeff that almost sounds like it wants to be like Alice in Chains without the harmony. It’s an interesting style, one that I am never sure as to whether I like it or abhor it. Once again though George arrives to change things up in the middle of the track and kick some energy back in when it is needed. I’m not sure that it is a good thing that both opening tracks only seem to come alive when his distinctive soloing arrives, but its a good thing it does. “Hole in My Head” segues straight into “The Maze”, and we are stuck in a very basic yet solid rhythm that lays the base for the duelled vocals throughout again. Here the pace drops back to a slow mid tempo, and the clockwork chug of the rhythm riff sets itself for the five minutes duration of the song.
Stick that tempo on repeat people, as we move into the lengthy “Too High to Fly”. If you listen to the album you’ll know the story by now, the alternative rock grunge riff holds court through the song, fading in and out at times to highlight the solid 2/4 drum beat that barely changes throughout. Don’s vocals offer varied varieties of energy dependent on the mood of the piece. It seems like a strange song, length wise at least, to release as a promo single, but its musical style probably best suits the age of the album and perhaps was a fair reflection of what they wanted to highlight from this album.
It wouldn’t be Dokken without a ballad or two, and the first on this album follows with “Nothing Left to Say”, a Don and Jeff special with acoustic guitars and orchestral pieces added in, and their dual vocals showcasing their best qualities here. Acoustic ballads are for the most part far better than power ballads, and here there is a lot to enjoy with George’s guitar and the vocals. “Shadows of Life” proves to be the most aggressive song musically on the album, with Mick hitting his drums harder, George riffing harder, and Don’s vocals... well... he’s trying to be heavier, but with his voice that isn’t an easy proposition. This is followed by a great opening riff from George to start off “Long Way Home”, one that sets this off in the right direction. This has characteristics of Queensryche of the same era, another band that was struggling to rediscover its identity in the mid-1990's. Then comes the second acoustic based ballad of the album “Sweet Chains”, which follows the same formula as the first on the album did, though without quite the same result. They should have stuck to just the one. “Lesser of Two Evils” though brings the album back onto the tracks, with what really sounds like an 80’s track played in a 90’s theme, substituting the hair metal enthusiasm for the grunge seriousness, toning back the outward joy to portray the grown up band talking about grown up things.
“What Price” is the heaviest song on the album, a much ramped up song in every respect from anything else that appears on the album. The vocals finally have a bit of grunt behind them, Mick gives a great performance on the drums, and George’s two solo breaks, which simply not long enough on either occasion, are reminiscent of what he used to unleash in the 80’s. If you listen to the sound closely though, strangely enough there is a real similarity to stuff done by The Doors back in the day. It’s a stretch as a tangent. The song is barely structured, and perhaps that is part of it, but the mix of styles here certainly make it interesting. All of which is then brought back to earth by the cover of the Emerson, Lake and Palmer song “From the Beginning” to close out the album. You can tell this is a tack on, because it doesn’t really fit the album the way it has been written and recorded. It’s a strange decision, either by the band or label, and I guess in some ways does sum up what has gone on here.
There is a mix of influences on this album from my perspective, and I’m sure the band may well not agree. But I hear the band trying to incorporate sounds from bands such as Soundgarden and Alice in Chains in the same way Queensryche was on its album “Promised Land”, and that is where the conflict within me begins.

Missing Dokken at their height of their career, at a time at the end of my high school years when they would have ranked as one of my favourite bands had I heard those first four albums at the time they were released, is a regret that I cannot change. It is such a shame, especially for Past Bill who would have enjoyed them so much, and would have air guitared and sung all of those songs all the way through my final year of high school. So it wasn’t until over a decade later that I began to listen to them in earnest, and went about getting those albums and discovering that regret that I now have.
What that meant was that I got this album at pretty much the same time as I got those great 80’s releases, and so my initial listens to the album were at a massive disadvantage. How could this album, with its revamped sound to deal with the changed landscape of the mid-1990's, ever hope to compete with “Tooth and Nail” and “Back for the Attack”? The answer is, it couldn’t. And that answer hasn’t changed. And that comment is not meant to slag off this album. It’s just a simple fact that Dokken was a very good 1980’s band that played great music of that era, and what they play here isn’t as good.
When I brought this album out to do this episode, it was with an open mind. Over the years since when I have listened to the album it a has been with a slow and building enjoyment. Because what the band has put together here is perhaps one of the better albums by an 80’s band released in the mid-1990's. The fact that it was also a reunion album, their first SINCE those heady glory days, is also quite a fillip. Now it isn’t a top shelf grunge album, or a top shelf alternative album. It isn’t a top shelf Dokken album. If you come in looking for a Dokken album you will possibly leave disappointed. If you are coming in for a grunge or alternative album, you will possibly leave disappointed.
BUT – if you come in with a love for what these four bandmates have done in the past, and you are willing to accept that the change on this album was a necessity of the times, and you want to hear what they can do with that genre of music... then I think you may find something worthwhile listening to. It isn’t all brilliant. A lot of it is formula driven, taking a colour-by-numbers look at the genre and trying to fit their styles and attributes around it. And some of it is more boring than it is diversified. For many it might be a bridge too far.
For my own part, I’ve enjoyed this again. It won’t rank on any lists of great albums or cutting edge albums or album produced in the 90’s. It reached #47 on the US charts on release, probably only for the fact that this foursome had reunited, and it quickly slid back into oblivion. But it gives an intriguing snapshot of the 80’s metal band still making a go of it in the mid-1990's and getting to a certain level of success.