Customer Reviews

Dokken - Live from the Sun

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Recorded at the Sun Theater in Anaheim, "Live From The Sun" features original Dokken members, Don Dokken on vocals, Jeff Pilson on bass and "Wild" Mick Brown on drums. Ex-Winger guitarist, Reb Beach replaces original guitarist, George Lynch. The disc features live concert material on DVD on one side, and on the other side an audio only CD recording of the concert.

The well edited video features multiple angles, split screen, and multiple window presentations. At times there are as many as four separate windows on screen at one time. The effect is pretty cool. Most of the time the image cuts are in synch with the music, and you have enough time for your eyes to rove around before the image switches to something else. This presentation helps keep repeated viewings from becoming predictable or boring.

Singer Don Dokken, is showing his age a bit, but he still has the same set of pipes that made him one of hard rock's great voices. Approaching 50, the man still rocks, but his singing style doesn't include a lot of prancing around on stage. That's more in bassist Jeff Pilson's department. He is all over the stage, and expends so much energy that he is soaked in sweat by the fourth number. Steady Mick Brown mans the drums.

What really makes this video exciting is Reb Beach. I had the opportunity of seeing Dokken live during the "Erase the Slate" tour, and this video doesn't come close to capturing the energy and excitement of Reb's playing. He is a rock and roll animal, and his playing blew me away. He has George Lynch's rhythm chops down pat. For the solos, he plays most of George's signature licks, mixed in with own wild playing style. Beach, to a greater degree than Lynch, incorporates the "tapping" technique into his playing style. Tapping, once the rage in the 80's, has almost disappeared, so it's cool to see it being used again in a tasteful manner. Reb is so technically proficient, that he makes everything look way too easy.

The set list primarily contains "classic" songs from 80's period, like "Alone Again", "It's Not Love" and "Kiss of Death". The exceptions are "Erase the Slate" and "The Maddest Hatter" two harder tunes from the Beach era Dokken, and "Too High To Fly" from the reunion album "Dysfunctional". "Too High" is one song that assumes a new life when performed live. Recognizing this, the video attempts to add some additional atmosphere to the number, the results are only partially successful, but they did try. The final number "In My Dreams", features excerpts from the original 1985 music video, acknowledging the passage of time, and noting the changes that have occurred over the years.

Dokken has had a long and rocky past, and part of their history is explored in a short but informative interview segment, one of the disc's bonus features. A couple of music videos of acoustic numbers are also included. A photo gallery of the band, and images of art by Don Dokken, round out the extras. This video becomes a bit more significant because both Reb Beach and Jeff Pilson have since left Dokken. I fully expect that Don Dokken will continue to rock on, and recommend "Live From The Sun", the best concert DVD I have seen, to fans of heavy metal everywhere.

On the positive side, the music simply rules. I saw Dokken twice last year in St.Petersburg Fl as the headline act with Great White opening up, and in Tampa on the Poison tour. This DVD is a must have for any Dokken fan and any fan of the genre. Reb Beach makes one almost forget about George Lynch. On the negative side, I cant understand why all the split screens and floating boxes?? Lets just see the band live on stage. After a while, all the fancy split screens gave me a headache. Also, why the band chose that particular venue (the Sun Theatre in Anaheim Ca.) is unclear. The crowd was pretty pathetic thus the minimum of crowd shots was understandable. Forgetting these issues, the band covers all the essential songs except for perhaps "just got lucky" and "when heaven comes down". Pop this DVD in your player,hopefully its hooked up to your surround system, turn up the volume, and get ready to do some Rockin with Dokken.

Dokken was one of those bands from the 80's that was kind of ignore by the critics, but not by the fans. A lot of the songs like "Alone Again", "In my Dreams" (one of the best songs on this DVD), "Paris is Burning" are still landmarks of the heavy/hard rock scene from the 80's.

This DVD has superior quality in sound and images with a lot of creativity on the "sub scenes" featuring clips from their original videos. Also there are 2 excellent unplugged songs taken from the "One Live Night". The interview is also interesting which describes a lot of the turbelence behind the downfall of the band during the late 80's.

Reb Beach (Winger, Alice Cooper) is an excellent replacement for George Lynch and in some ways he is even better!!! I think this DVD is one of the best around, not only for the music but also because of the quality and the information that it has.

I've been an avid Dokken fan since they first broke onto the music scene and own several of their albums. Once I saw this DVD I realized that it had to be added to my collection. The music and detail of the video are excellent with one exception. The constant sub screens that jump from scene to scene during the first couple songs tend to leave you a bit frazzled. But if you endure them long enough the better effects are demonstrated...especially in the song "Too High To Fly". I had not heard that song before and think it is the best song and video on the DVD. If your in the least bit a Dokken fan this DVD is for you.

This DVD looks and sounds awesome. The concert has true 5.1 sound that blows away any other concert DVD out there. The film is professional and the effects & camera angles keep things interesting w/o being annoying. I heared Don Dokken on KNAC.com saying he personally spent 2000 hours editing the film and re-mixing the entire album in 5.1 from scratch. It really shows! Watching Reb Beach on guitar will leave you thinking "George who?"

This is a great dvd. If you are Dokken fan you will love it. It has Interviews, art from Don Dokken. Exclusive acoustic tracks. Great footage of Dokken on stage and backstage. This is just a good live shot concert. I have been listening to Dokken for sixteen years and I have One night live and Unchain the night videos. Now I purchased this one and this is the best one. Dokken has been around for a long time and they still rock !

The DVD itself and its cover are beautiful. The cover for "Live From The Sun" is much more attractive than most DVD covers are.
The songs that were selected for the concert and performed at the Sun Theatre in Aneheim, CA, while not the best, still consists of some of Dokken's best tracks recorded. "Erase the Slate" and "Maddest Hatter" are from Dokken's latest project which was released in mid-'99. The concert itself, the camera footage and sound quality are all top-notch, as are the special features which are very interesting themselves. The band interviews, band photo gallery and Don Dokken's own special art gallery all help make this DVD well worth the price. This is why I rate "Dokken: Live From The Sun" with five stars. The only small gripe I have is that the band Dokken rarely seems to play one of my very favorite songs of theirs live anymore--"Burning Like A Flame." Besides that, and over-doing the split camera shots, everything is fantastic. I realise George is gone and everything, but the truth is he was an excellent guitar player, but he no longer fits with the band. For those who didn't know, Dokken broke up after "Back For The Attack" in 1988 and got back together in '95 and collaberated on a brand new project titled "Dysfunctional." Shortly after, George left (again), and they got back together in '97 and debuted an attrocious grunge-like, alternative sounding awful piece of work called "Shadowlife." Needless to say, none of the songs off that album are ever played live by the band. This leads us to 1999, the release of Dokken's first great album to date in years, "Erase The Slate" with Reb Beach, the band's new guitarist. Reb is wonderful; he treats each and every one of Gerorge's songs with respect and does the solos unbelievably well, too. You will not be disappointed by this DVD as long as you can get over the fact that, yes, George IS gone, and yes, Beach does all of the songs just as well. Don's voice not have been in top form when this performance was recorded, but nonetheless, does a fine job singing his heart out in each of the songs.

If you are not a Dokken fan, I don't know why you are reading this in the first place. If you are just getting into Dokken,
I would still recommend this DVD to get you acquainted with the band. If you are a long-time fan, you will still find yourself to be very entertained by this performance. Great DVD.
Peace bros.

(note: Reb Beach left Dokken a while back and now John Norum, former guitarist of Europe, and one of the guitarists on Don Dokken's solo project "Up From The Ashes," is the new guitarist for Dokken. I will miss Reb, but John is fantastic as well, so I will not call this a loss.)

Of all the "metal bands" of the 80's, Dokken keeps rock'n and stays on the edge of technology. This dvd is excellent. I use 5 channel digital stereo sound to blast all speakers LOUD!. 5.1 just doesn't give its' due.Sound and picture are excellent. The dvd includes (1) song not on cd. Very well put together. Don was into it, Jeff as always great.One of the best. If you still rock, get this one.

I've seen Dokken twice in the last year and this DVD is true to their shows. Straight ahead rock/metal without any extras - in other words, no extravagant stage set. Just 4 sweaty guys. Reb is a great guitarist and fun to watch (but George is still my favorite). I wish there would have behind the scenes footage, although the interviews were good. Also, I would have liked more straight ahead stage shots without the split screens but I didn't find the camera work annoying. I can see myself popping this in the DVD player for a quick fix of a song or two when the mood strikes. In closing, long live 80's style metal. Those of you who grew up on Maiden, Ozzy, Priest, Ratt, etc.. know what I mean.

I also own the dvd version of theirprior release and this totally blows their prior release away!!, the video and audio quality is certainly top notch, if you are a fan of the hair days (as much as we all admit) this brings back the old days with a flury, don't miss the chance to own this one!!