DOKKEN – Long Way Home

It has indeed been a long way home for Don Dokken, and he has indeed taken more than one detour. Now he’s back home, at least knocking at the door hoping to get in. Inside, George Lynch and Jeff Pilson sit by the fireplace wondering if they should open or not. No, that’s not right, Lynch and Pilson are on a longer detour than Don ever took, and it’s only a picture on the wall next to that fireplace showing their faces. So who’s going to open the door and let Don in? I don’t know. If I did, I am sure I would have been rich.

Anyway, John Norum is a great guitar player, always was, always will be. Barry Sparks is an incredible bass player, much more technical than Pilson. But I do miss the riffs from Lynch, his soaring high notes and the impressive solos. That stuff, boys and girls, I am afraid you can only find it in the fireplace back at Don’s home, gone forever. The record has great songs, most of them more mellow than old Dokken, and while John is let loose with a riff here and there, the album is more Beatles influenced than old Dokken influenced, meaning; when Don meets himself on the other side of that door, he really don’t know what to say. Nothing wrong with the record, it just suffers a bit from being presented as a Dokken record.

That being said, Don has a unique voice, and who am I to say he should call his band anything else? So while John Norum and Barry Sparks are kept hiding in the bushes next to Don’s home, and Don and Mick keep knocking on the door hoping someone eventually will open, this is Dokken for the 21st century. Take it or leave it.