{"id":5616,"date":"2018-12-24T21:00:43","date_gmt":"2018-12-25T02:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=5616"},"modified":"2018-12-24T12:26:05","modified_gmt":"2018-12-24T17:26:05","slug":"portly-politico-a-very-dokken-christmas-part-iii-under-lock-and-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/portly-politico-a-very-dokken-christmas-part-iii-under-lock-and-key\/","title":{"rendered":"Portly Politico &#8211; A Very Dokken Christmas, Part III:\u00a0 Under Lock and Key"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>1985 was a great year.\u00a0 President Ronald Reagan began his second term in office, <a href=\"https:\/\/theportlypolitico.wordpress.com\">The Portly Politico<\/a> was born (not the blog, just me), and Dokken released their finest effort to date, the start-to-finish gem <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Under-Lock-Key-DOKKEN\/dp\/B001O54NKS\/\">Under Lock and Key<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Their third studio album was also their most commercially successful up to that point, perhaps due in part to a more commercial sound.\u00a0 That said, <em>Under Lock and Key<\/em> isn\u2019t just a Def Leppard sound-alike, or full of crowd-pleasing power ballads.\u00a0 It\u2019s an album that rocks consistently, and even the mid-tempo material is full of fist-pumping fury.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Take the opener, \u201cUnchain the Night.\u201d\u00a0 Just like <a href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/23\/a-very-dokken-christmas-part-ii-tooth-and-nail\/\"><em>Tooth and Nail<\/em>\u2019s<\/a> \u201cWithout Warning,\u201d <em>Under Lock and Key<\/em> kicks off with a brief but effective instrumental intro (albeit part of the title track, instead of a separate tune), this time with synthesizers.\u00a0 I crank this part up as far as my Dodge minivan\u2019s sound system will allow for the full, gut-punching effect\u2014after a slow synth arpeggio drop, the guitars kick in full blast, and \u201cUnchain the Night\u201d truly begins.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know <em>exactly<\/em> what Dokken is trying to convey when he sings, \u201cNever unchain the night\/don\u2019t tell me that the love is gone\/never unchain the night\/\u2019Cause tomorrow\u2019s another turn,\u201d but it\u2019s powerful, and a powerful earworm.\u00a0 I also can\u2019t help but note the contrast with <em><a href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/20\/a-very-dokken-christmas-part-i-breaking-the-chains-1983\/\">Breaking the Chain<\/a><\/em>\u2019s title track, which is all about breaking free of personal and emotional chains (a later chorus in \u201cUnchain the Night\u201d ends with \u201cI\u2019m never gonna set you free\u201d\u2014dang).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Hunter\u201d is an equally effective second track.\u00a0 It\u2019s the perfect song before heading out for a night on the town, as it\u2019s all about being a hunter on the prowl, \u201cSearching for love on these lonely streets again.\u201d\u00a0 A common theme in rock \u2018n\u2019 roll is the pantheric nature of the wandering troubadour, never fully satisfied with his lot in life and love, constantly stalking the concrete jungles for a shot at romance\u2014or unbridled lust.\u00a0 It\u2019s not as intensely sexy as Whitesnake\u2019s \u201cStill of the Night,\u201d but it gets the point across well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The third track, \u201cIn My Dreams,\u201d is a solid track, and was a minor hit for the band.\u00a0 Here the fullness of the band\u2019s ensemble vocals is heard from the get-go.\u00a0 It\u2019s a strong rocker, and one that showcases the band\u2019s overall style and range well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But for money, the best track on the album is \u201cLightnin\u2019 Strikes Again,\u201d a furious, intense, full-throttle rocker that <em>never<\/em> lets up.\u00a0 Like sitting through a raging thunderstorm, you can feel this track in your bones.\u00a0 It features an incredible, multi-measure drum fill that sounds like acoustical lightning, and some of Don Dokken\u2019s finest vocal work as he leaps to seemingly impossible heights, with a call-and-response, \u201cLightnin\u2019!\/Lightnin\u2019 Strikes Again!\u201d repeats until the end.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The rest of the album is solid throughout; if anything, my failure as a reviewer is how hooked I am on \u201cLightnin\u2019 Strikes Again.\u201d\u00a0 When I listen to <em>Under Lock and Key<\/em>, I force myself to listen to the last five tracks, not because they suck, but because \u201cLightnin\u2019 Strikes Again\u201d is so good.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s Not Love\u201d is a fun song about breaking with an obsessive girlfriend (not fun if you\u2019ve ever experienced, but the song handles it cheekily).\u00a0 \u201cWill the Sun Rise\u201d is a brooding, beautiful, sad tune about warriors setting off in a post-nuclear war, and asks dolefully if they\u2019ll ever see the sun or sky again.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Most reviewers recommend <em>Under Lock and Key<\/em> as a good place to start with Dokken, and I will repeat that advice unabashedly.\u00a0 It represents a mature version of the band, and it has something for almost any taste (as long as you\u2019re broadly into hard rock and heavy metal from the 1980s).\u00a0 It remains one of my favorite albums of all time; if not in the Top Five, it\u2019s definitely in the Top Ten.\u00a0 Highly recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1985 was a great year.\u00a0 President Ronald Reagan began his second term in office, The Portly Politico was born (not the blog, just me), and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1489,1606,237,1605,1594],"tags":[1596,1622,1310,38,1595],"class_list":["post-5616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-contributors","category-heavy-metal-music","category-reviews","category-rock-and-roll-music","category-the-portly-politico","tag-guest-contributors","tag-heavy-metal-music","tag-music-review","tag-review","tag-the-portly-politico"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Portly Politico - A Very Dokken Christmas, Part III:\u00a0 Under Lock and Key - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/portly-politico-a-very-dokken-christmas-part-iii-under-lock-and-key\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Portly Politico - A Very Dokken Christmas, Part III:\u00a0 Under Lock and Key - Orion&#039;s Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1985 was a great year.\u00a0 President Ronald Reagan began his second term in office, The Portly Politico was born (not the blog, just me), and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/portly-politico-a-very-dokken-christmas-part-iii-under-lock-and-key\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orion&#039;s Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-25T02:00:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-12-24T17:26:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/portly-politico-a-very-dokken-christmas-part-iii-under-lock-and-key\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/portly-politico-a-very-dokken-christmas-part-iii-under-lock-and-key\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"photog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\"},\"headline\":\"Portly Politico &#8211; 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