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intothewellsabyss
Nov 16, 20224 min read

Dokken - Beast from the East (1988)

FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…



On November 16, 1988, Dokken released their debut live album Beast from the East via Elektra Records.


The album was recorded in Japan in April 1988, while the band were touring in support of their album Back for the Attack. The album features live versions of the band's most popular songs from their previous four studio albums. The album also gives listeners a glimpse of the band at the height of their career. George Lynch’s performance on this live recording showed the guitar phenomenon at the top of his game, while his rendition of Mr. Scary on Beast from the East is considered as legendary.



Beast from the East also featured the (then) new studio single Walk Away. The song was accompanied with a music video, which featured members of the band performing atop the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking Topanga Canyon and the Pacific Ocean.



Background:

Up to 1988, Dokken had released four studio albums, of which the last three were certified platinum. The band opened for Judas Priest, Aerosmith and several other bands, which eventually gained the band a spot on the Monsters Of Rock 1988 festival, where they played with Metallica, Scorpions, Kingdom Come and the headliner, Van Halen. They also recorded the song Dream Warriors for the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.



Prior to the Monsters of Rock fest, the band went on to tour in Japan, where they recorded several shows of the tour. Those recordings were released as their first live album called Beast from the East, (with the additional new song Walk Away). While not as successful as the band's previous release, Back for the Attack, Beast from the East entered the Billboard 200, where it went on to peak at No. 33, while the single Walk Away peaked at No. 48 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart. The album also earned the band their only Grammy Award nomination for the Best Metal Performance in 1990, with Dokken ultimately losing to Metallica's One.



In 1990, when they were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance, the band was involved in controversy when Chris Cornell of Soundgarden (who was in direct competition with Dokken in the Metal category) stated, "I have no idea why they call Dokken “Metal” and put them in the same category we're in." To date, Beast from the East is the last Dokken album to receive a certification by The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), where it received a Gold certification for sales in excess of 500,000 units.



Critical Reception:

The album received mixed to negative reviews from music critics, with Jimmy Guterman of Rolling Stone Magazine giving Beast from the East one of the most clueless, and harshest reviews, stating;

“There are several immutable Heavy-Metal laws. Metal bands must tour constantly; they must put down women in their songs; they must wear leather and chains; they must let their hair grow halfway to their navels; and they must release at least one useless live double album.” On Beast from the East, the L.A. outfit Dokken respectfully obeys those rules.
There's no edge, no rapport with the audience, no attempt to do anything other than replicate studio versions of songs and then add feeble guitar or drum breaks. On this lengthy, thin-sounding record (consumer warning: several numbers on the LP and cassette have been dropped from the CD so that the album will fit on one disc), Dokken plods through everything expected of a mediocre Heavy-Metal band – harmonies so off that the singers sound as if they were shouting different songs, cries of "Are you ready for a Rock & Roll party tonight?" and guitar solos that go absolutely nowhere much too fast for much too long.

Guterman then concluded with;

“This Beast is no monster.”

Into the Wells Final Thoughts:

Is it just me, or was this man not listening to the same Beast from the East album as I’ve been listening to all these years? I guess I have no taste as it is still one of my favorite live albums! — E.N. Wells



Side Note:

Dokken broke up in March 1989 following the release of Beast from the East due to creative and personal differences between Don Dokken and George Lynch.


In 1994, despite the fact that the tension between Lynch and Don Dokken was the cause of the band's 1989 split, the two agreed to put their problems behind them for the time being. The band re-united in 1994 along with Mick Brown and Jeff Pilson, releasing the 1995’s Dysfunctional.


Some have speculated that the song Walk Away, the only studio track on Beast from the East was a foreshadowing of the band calling it quits, which would explain why the song has never been performed live since the bands first reunion in 1994.



Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells



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