Hell To Pay

In the early 2000's I was starting to make a return to heavy metal after stepping away from those bands throughout the 90's. It was great to return to those bands that I'd loved throughout the 80's, and it was cool to see bands like Dio and Maiden kind of catch some attention again. For me, it seemed that metal was starting to make a resurgence and I was excited for it. One of the 80's bands that was supposedly going back to their roots at the time was Dokken.

There was a bit of hype for the 2004 release of Hell To Pay from Dokken. I hadn't paid attention to the band since 1987 when they released the excellent Back For The Attack, so I had missed out on all of their stumbles through the 90's, but Hell To Pay was being touted as a return to form for Don Dokken and company so I grabbed a download off of WinMX or Soulseek or whatever file sharing program I was using at the time. I thought it was a decent album at the time, not too terribly exciting but okay enough that I would pull it out once every couple of years for a spin.

When it was announced earlier this year that Hell To Pay was going to be released on vinyl for the first time, I got a bit excited and quickly ordered a copy...even though I hadn't bothered to listen to the album over the past 10 years. Revisiting this record now, it falls a bit flat. Sure it starts out with a few good songs on side a, and it is just enough to get you excited that this album might be worth it, but by the time we are halfway through side b I'm checking to see if this thing is almost finished. There are just too many slower and mid-paced songs and it starts be a slog. So while I was initially excited to rush out and buy this record, now I'm kind of shrugging my shoulders and thinking "meh".

Only 1,000 pressed of Hell To Pay, with 500 on red and 500 on green colored vinyl.

Breakin' The Chains

Looking back at when I first started to get into music, I'm amazed at how quickly things progressed. Dokken's Tooth And Nail was one of my favorite albums when I started to discover Heavy Metal in 1984, and yet when I finally went back and picked up the Breaking The Chains cassette, it barely saw any playing time, and by the time Under Lock And Key was released in 1985, I had pretty much left the band in my rearview mirror.

I've been obsessed with records from this time period lately, and it made me go out and grab a download for Dokken's first album to see if it was the clunker that I remembered it as.

After ignoring it for the past 30 plus years, I suddenly found myself obsessed with this album. I couldn't get enough, and had these songs on repeat. I couldn't understand why I struggled with it as a kid, because some of these songs straight up rip...and while I could possibly end up on an FBI watch list for singing songs like Young Girls and Felony, I'm going to have to take that chance because I'm having a blast with this record.

The more I started checking into the history of the record, the more I wanted a copy...and suddenly, an original pressing of this thing was at the top of my immediate want list.

Initially it was released only in Europe back in 1981 as Breakin' The Chains under the name "Don Dokken", before finally seeing a more widespread release for the US in 1983. The '83 release gets a slight change to the record title and cover, features a different mix, with some songs being partially re-recorded, and a different track sequence...so of course, I needed to own them both.

The US pressing was considerably easier to pick up, and at a fraction of the price the original German pressing goes for.

I haven't done a close side by side test on the audio, but I'm leaning toward the more raw sound of the original pressing. Still, I'm extremely happy to have both in my collection.

RSD 2018 - Part 2: In My Dreams [The 80's]

The week before Record Store Day, an old friend reached out to me, pointing me in the direction of a live bootleg video on youtube of Dokken's set during the Monsters Of Rock tour in 1988. The video was from their set at Oxford Plains Speedway, which was the show that we were at shortly after we had graduated from High School. I hadn't really given Dokken much thought, outside of the occasional spin of Tooth And Nail, but watching this video brought back memories from that day. The show was about a one hour drive, but I hadn't traveled much at that point, and at that age it seemed like such an adventure to journey so far from home. We stood in line in the immense heat for hours just to get in through the gates, and after getting tossed around and being afraid for my life during Metallica's set, the rain came down and drenched us for the rest of the day as we braved lightning storms through sets from Dokken and Scorpions. By the time Van Halen took the stage with Sammy Hagar, I was chilled to the bone, our group of friends had splintered, and a few of us headed to the cars to get dry and warm. We spent the night sleeping in our cars, since all the campgrounds were full, and it was pretty much the defining moment of our Summer. Fuck, I miss those times.

With this nostalgia kicking into high gear, I was listening to lots of Dokken, Ratt, Twisted Sister and Quiet Riot...and pretty much had a Record Store Day mission to pick up a bunch of mid-80's Metal albums from those teen years as I could.

[1985] One of the first records that I found on Record Store Day was Dokken's Under Lock And Key...still fucking sealed. Goddamn, it was going to be a good day. Well this didn't stay sealed for much longer, and soon I was dropping the needle to the vinyl. It's funny, I don't even remember if I ever owned this album as a kid...when I think back to other albums I picked up in '85, I don't have any strong memories of Under Lock And Key...I mean I know the hits from this record, but none of the other songs are all that familiar. Either way, I'm loving it in 2018.

[1985] I know that I loved Ratt's Out Of The Cellar when I bought the cassette in '84, but a year later, after moving on to stuff like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Dio...that stuff seemed more heavy and intense, and some of those bands that first introduced me to Metal were starting to feel a little weak and limp. Ratt was one of those bands, and by the time Invasion Of Your Privacy was released, I wanted nothing to do with it. It's funny how much difference a year can make when you are fourteen years old...and even funnier how much I'm digging this album today. There is some great heavy stuff on this album, but I was too busy trying to be hard and edgy at the time to appreciate how good this album is.

[1985] Another band from the mid-80's that I loved back in the day, but had not really paid much attention to over the years, was W.A.S.P. When I saw the Blind In Texas 12 inch single in the used bins, and that the b-side had an exclusive song that didn't make it on to The Last Command album, I quickly snatched it up...and in a case of record collector kismet, as I was holding it in my hands, I received a message from Doug, who had just picked up the shaped picture disc version of the same single.

[1986] I remember buying Queensryche's Rage For Order when it first came out back in '86, and it was a big departure from The Warning. I don't think that I would hang with a change in sound like this today, but back then, I stood by my bands no matter what. I was undying in my devotion, and even something like Gonna Get Close To You was not going to turn me off. Could it be that I was more open minded when I was sixteen?

[1986] I didn't care at all about Ratt when 1986 came around, and I paid no attention to Dancing Undercover. I vaguely remember the Dance video, but really, when I had Slayer's Reign in Blood cassette, Ratt was not going to cut it at the time. Still, this is a fun album to revisit, and remember those few friends that were really into it.

[1987] I was really happy to find Dokken's Back For The Attack on Record Store Day. While I might not have remembered much about Under Lock And Key, I do recall having the Back For The Attack CD, and being surprised with how heavy it sounded to my ears. While Tooth And Nail remains my favorite Dokken album, this one is only a notch below that. So good.

[1988] The final album from my 80's shopping spree, isn't really that impressive. I'm not that big a fan of Frehley's Comet, but there are some pretty good songs on this live EP, so I grabbed it. Listening to these live songs, I started to think that maybe I needed to revisit some of their albums, and then the one studio song comes on, and I'm like "Nope...I'm out". I'll just stick with live version of Rip It Out and Rocket Ride.