CD - Dokken - Under Lock and Key

1 CD - UK Remaster on Rock Candy 

NO MATTER how hard they tried, the feuding principals of Dokken, that’s vocalist Don Dokken and guitarist extraordinaire George Lynch , failed to impede the band’s commercial progress. Like fire and ice the two were in constant opposition, looking to settle old scores and start a whole heap of new ones at the drop of a hat. Some say that it was this uncomfortable friction that fuelled their creative engine, helping to make Dokken one of the most respected and commercially successful acts of the era.

‘Under Lock And Key’ was, natch, recorded under strained circumstances. For their last album a bizarre system of separate daytime/nightime recording sessions helped to ease the bickering, but this time around the two protagonists insisted on using two different studios to record their contributions. It was an arrangement that dismayed outsiders, yet it made for a fascinating science experiment, one that produced some exceptional music.

Produced by both British studio wizard Neil Kernon (Queensryche, Kansas, Autograph) and Michael Wagener (Mötley Crüe, Extreme) the album, originally released in 1985, is generally regarded as one of their best creations, giving rise to a number of classic tracks, including ‘The Hunter’, ‘Unchain The Night’, ‘It’s Not Love’ and the chart hit ‘In My Dreams’. It was a record that promoted them to an A-grade platinum attraction and one that resulted in the sort of kerb appeal shared by the likes of the Scorpions, Ratt and White Lion.