The thought of a live album from 'Dokken' with the classic line-up had me watering at the mouth with anticipation as I had visions of another 'Beast from the East' which in my book is a cracking live album. Unfortunately this isn't the 'Dokken' of 89', this is the 'Dokken' of 95' and by this time, they had split, reformed and started to disintegrate again. Vocally 'Don Dokken' isn't quite as strong as on 'Beast from the East', especially on the heavier material and the first few tracks, fortunately however he does improve as the album proceeds. Production wise this isn't great either and commences as an average bootleg, but as with the vocals this seems to improve as we progress and by the later acoustic numbers it's fairly crisp. Whilst this is the weakest live 'Dokken' album, it still has its moments especially the fret work from 'George Lynch' which is as smoking as ever. All said I do get the impression the dollar signs dictated this release with the presumption that the classic line-up with help increase sales.

With absolutely no introduction which took me by surprise, we burst into the live favourite 'Tooth and Nail' and although not a poor rendition, this is extremely murky with 'Don Dokken's' vocals hardly in the mix at times. Thankfully 'George Lynch's' fret work is still ever present to save this opener. The pace drops for the plodding 'When Heaven comes Down' and 'Into the Fire', as with 'Tooth and Nail' the production is less than crisp- you will hear better versions of these on 'Beast from the East' and 'Live from the Sun'. The tempo is restored with 'Kiss of Death' and this comes across stronger, the guitaring is more forceful and displays the brilliance of 'Lynch', while 'Don' sounds more convincing and is supported by the usual flawless backing vocals. Material from 'Dysfunctional' is introduced with 'Shadows of Life', although I wouldn't rate this with 'Dokken's' best it's a still a very decent rocker, not as crisp as it should be but a lot shaper than the opening tracks. Next up is the Beatlesesque sounding 'The Maze' not one of my personal favourites but the guitar solo and passionately executed wind-down make this an entertaining journey. 'Mike Brown' takes over some of the vocal duties for 'Long Way Home', the intro to which is especially heavy and gets my thumbs up, in fact this all works pretty well live with steadfast vocals coming from all the vocalists. It's back to the classics with 'Breaking the Chains' and I've always thought that unless this track is performed flawlessly it sounds awkward. This is proven with the relatively sloppy rendition we have here, vocally it's out of key with the backing vocalists coming in unevenly and less than melodically, instrumentally it's ok but there's a lot better versions to be heard. The pace drops for a string of acoustically performed numbers and whilst I would rather electric versions these are a pleasant surprise with a crisper production than the aforementioned tracks. The first is 'Unchain the Night' and this comes off startlingly well with sharp vocals, intricate fret work and a great flowing melody. 'Nothing Left to Say' follows and although it doesn't rank as a 'Dokken' classic is features more precise instrumentation and steadfast vocals. The 'George Lynch' instrumental 'I will Remember' makes a surprise appearance but a very nice addition as we hear this fret master stun us all with his usual excellence. 'Alone Again' continues in the acoustic mood but features a piano and vocal intro, while it's far from poor the sound quality is ropy with some terrible interference overpowering the key work- some attempt should have been made to edit this out!. It's back to the rockers with the 'George Lynch' instrumental blazer 'Mr. Scary' this is a quality cut but doesn't better the longer more intense version on 'Beast from the East'. Last up is 'It's not Love' and this gets my vote for best track, by now the sound quality has improved from the awful opening of 'Tooth and Nail' and we are gifted a pretty top notch rendition of this superlative offering. 'Don' turns in a powerful performance and is well backed up with lively rhythm and sweet guitar licks.

Despite some ropy aspects the classic line-up will always turn in a decent performance and while this is far from their best it's still decent stuff. If you only buy one 'Dokken' live album then it must be 'Beast from the East', this release does have 5 more recent tracks which don't feature on that classic so will be of interest to fans. 'Live from the Sun' released in 2000 shows that 'Dokken' are far from finished and makes for a very worthy addition to any Rocker's CD Collection.