Dokken - Breaking The Chains (1981/1983) [1986, Japan]

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Dokken - Breaking The Chains (1981/1983) [1986, Japan]

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"Breaking the Chains" is the debut studio album by heavy metal band Dokken. The album was originally released in 1981 in Europe as "Breakin' the Chains" on the French label Carrere Records. This version contains some different mixes and titles of songs from the later US edition. "Paris Is Burning" is called "Paris" and is actually a studio version as opposed to the live recording in Berlin from December 1982. The album also contained a song called "We're Illegal", which was later turned into "Live to Rock". The album was renamed and released in the US in 1983 by Elektra Records and reached #136 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album was considered a flop by the label, which had the intention to drop the band. However, Dokken management convinced Elektra that they could make a more successful album, which materialized in "Tooth and Nail" in September 1984. "Breaking the Chains" title track was named the 62nd greatest hard rock song by VH1. It is featured on the radio station "V-ROCK" in the 2006 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. In a discussion with George Lynch on January 26, 2011, he mentioned the existence of 500 copies of the Carrere Records "Breakin' the Chains" version printed with the Don Dokken moniker, instead of Dokken. This version also featured different album cover art.

After vocalist Don Dokken supplied backup belting on the Scorpions' scorcher Blackout, producer Dieter Dierks gave him leftover studio time to produce demos. Guitarist George Lynch, drummer Mick Brown, and bassist Juan Croucier (who immediately left to form Ratt) rounded out the rockin' Dokken. Combining Teutonic thunder with Sunset Strip sensibilities, the band began carving out a comfortable niche in the '80s hair market with this Carrere release, soon remixed and remastered for proper distribution by Elektra. The quartet's debut slings clichés fast and furious, but the shopworn staples seem bearable because the playing is at peak form. Opener "Breaking the Chains" remains a pop/rock perennial (forever linked to the accompanying apocalyptic video wherein Don and the boys, well, break the chains). The remainder of side one, while unremarkable, still sticks to the ribs after only a couple of spins. Side two begins to lag until the sizzling final cut, the live "Paris Is Burning" (originally a studio track called "Paris"), erupts into flames through the phenomenal fretwork of dazzling axe-god Lynch, a legend from an era with no shortage of six-string-heroes. After intense glory in the Headbanger's Ball daze, Dokken splintered into several dysfunctional side projects, tainting the band's solid '80s output. Everything started with this record, which remains an enjoyable, if not essential, slab of competent corporate metal.

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Dokken - Breaking The Chains (1981/1983) [1986, Japan]

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Dokken - Breaking The Chains (1981/1983) [1986, Japan]

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