Tooth and Nail

iTunes Review

Dokken broke through to the big time with their sophomore album, 1984’s Tooth and Nail. In addition to bringing on Jeff Pilson to replace Juan Croucier (who had departed to join Ratt), the band was assigned two expert producers in Roy Thomas Baker and Tom Werman. Baker had overseen classic records by Queen and the Cars, while Werman had produced Cheap Trick and more recently, Mötley Crüe’s Shout at the Devil. The collaboration helped make Tooth and Nail one of the definitive metal albums of the early ‘80s. The band could conjure speed metal (“Tooth and Nail,” “Turn On the Action”) and chunky, fist-pumping riffs (“Heartless Heart,” “When Heaven Comes Down”), but Don Dokken’s soaring vocals keep the songs from becoming too threatening or overbearing. “Just Got Lucky,” “Into the Fire” and “Bullets to Spare” exemplify the melding of hard rock and pop that would make hair metal a chart force throughout the ‘80's. And like every hair metal band worth its stripes, Dokken delivers here its first bona fide power ballad. “Alone Again” is a paragon of the form.