Dokken - Erase The Slate

Mentioned this elsewhere....


Picked this up at a pawn shop the other day. Had never had any real contact with Dokken so I thought "what the heck".

Two thoughts:

It's not bad at all. It's a keeper, in fact.

Erase The Slate reminds me a lot - in general - of King's X and I can't place why...but that's the vibe. Anyone else hear that?

Great melody and some nice guitar work. How does the rest of Dokken's catalogue fair compared?? Thanks!

One of my fave bands!

ERASE THE SLATE is probably the best of their reunion-era albums. Too bad Reb Beach didn't stick around past that CD, he was the best George Lynch replacement they've had.

I would also recommend 1995's DYSFUNCTIONAL (their first "reunion" album), and of the classic 80s stuff, it's all good but my fave is 1987's BACK FOR THE ATTACK.

Most will probably tell you to avoid SHADOWLIFE (1997) like it's an explosive device, but I kinda like that one too. I wouldn't pay full price for it though. If you could find it for cheap like you did ERASE it might make for an interesting listening experience for you at least.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Mentioned this elsewhere....


Picked this up at a pawn shop the other day. Had never had any real contact with Dokken so I thought "what the heck".

Two thoughts:

It's not bad at all. It's a keeper, in fact.

Erase The Slate reminds me a lot - in general - of King's X and I can't place why...but that's the vibe. Anyone else hear that?

Great melody and some nice guitar work. How does the rest of Dokken's catalogue fair compared?? Thanks!

I really liked this album! 9/10

Since this thread is revived I thought i'd give my thoughts. Scott, the King's X similarities is probably in the groove Dokken brought to their 90's fare. Erase The Slate is a good listen, I personally like Dysfunctional better and can't stand Shadowlife. Also, Hell To Pay isn't bad either, I thought Jon Levin held his own.

Dokken rhymes with Rockin"

I thought Erase the Slate was quite good. One of Dokken's more underrated albums.

IMO, Dysfunctional is a LOT like King's X (listen to "Hole In My Head", etc).

As for Erase The Slate, it's good...I think that King's X vibe comes from the tones and the occasional groove. But yeah, Reb was great in this band. Had Don been sober, etc, I think this line-up could have stuck it out. "Mad Hatter" and "Erase The Slate" are killer songs...

I got to sit in on one of the sessions from this album, it was cool to see them in the studio and Jeff Pilson messing at the control board with his messy bed head hair. I remember Don explaining their cover of "One" by Three Dog Night was meant to be heavy in the vein of Metallica.

Troublezone wrote:

I got to sit in on one of the sessions from this album, it was cool to see them in the studio and Jeff Pilson messing at the control board with his messy bed head hair. I remember Don explaining their cover of "One" by Three Dog Night was meant to be heavy in the vein of Metallica.

That's pretty cool TZ. How'd you swing that?

I fail to understand how they intended the Three Dog Night cover "to be heavy in the vein of Metallica," though. ?? Not even close.

Anyway, this thread's resurgence prompted me to dust of E.T.S. for the first time in a while and play it on my ride to work... it still holds up pretty well... can't believe that album is 10 years old already!!

Yeah, I still consider albums 10 years old to be newer. 'Cause i'm OLD.

TheNazgul wrote:

Yeah, I still consider albums 10 years old to be newer. 'Cause i'm OLD.

I remember buying ERASE THE SLATE and W.A.S.P.'s HELLDORADO (which I listened to yesterday) on the same day. Could that REALLY have been 10 years ago already?? Good Lord.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

I got to sit in on one of the sessions from this album, it was cool to see them in the studio and Jeff Pilson messing at the control board with his messy bed head hair. I remember Don explaining their cover of "One" by Three Dog Night was meant to be heavy in the vein of Metallica.

That's pretty cool TZ. How'd you swing that?

I fail to understand how they intended the Three Dog Night cover "to be heavy in the vein of Metallica," though. ?? Not even close.

Anyway, this thread's resurgence prompted me to dust of E.T.S. for the first time in a while and play it on my ride to work... it still holds up pretty well... can't believe that album is 10 years old already!!

I knew a guy playing in a local band called "Shattered" at the time and he worked at a credit agency as his day job. Anyways, he was doing Don some kind of favor in that dept and he supposedly had Dokken produce his demo. I was invited to go hang out at the studio which was co-operated by Dokken and Great White in Redondo Beach, Ca.

Quote :

I fail to understand how they intended the Three Dog Night cover "to be heavy in the vein of Metallica," though. ?? Not even close.

I don't know... It is what Don said. He was just probably talking out of his ass trying to act like Dokken was more "metal" than they are.

I just spun this album last week, since I hadn't really listened to it since last summer (when I bought it). I was surprised how good it was. I'm not sure why I felt that way, considering I've always enjoyed Reb Beach.

I like it. The first couple of tracks rock pretty hard. I haven't spun this one in a while but I did when I first purchased it many moons ago. Peace.