Neha Patil (Editor)

Under Lock and Key

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Recorded
  
1985

Label
  
Elektra

Length
  
42:25

Released
  
November 22, 1985 (1985-11-22)

Studio
  
Amigo Studios, North Hollywood, Los Angeles Le Mobile remote unit Total Access Recording, Redondo Beach, California

Genre
  
Heavy metal, glam metal

Under Lock and Key is the third studio album by heavy metal band Dokken, released on November 22, 1985 through Elektra Records. The album reached No. 32 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and remained on that chart for 67 weeks. Two singles also charted: "The Hunter" and "In My Dreams", both reaching No. 25 and 24 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock respectively, with "In My Dreams" at No. 77 on the Billboard Hot 100. Under Lock and Key was certified Gold on March 4, 1986 and Platinum on April 14, 1987.

Contents

Critical reception

Eduardo Rivadavia in his review for AllMusic calls Under Lock and Key "quite possibly Dokken's most 'complete' album, with a little something for every type of fan", like "fist-pumping headbangers", extraordinary "bittersweet mid-paced rockers" ("Unchain the Night" and "The Hunter") and "saccharine ballads". Rivadavia recommends the album as the best introduction to new listeners of Dokken, but notes that heavy metal purists would likely prefer the band's 1984 album Tooth and Nail. Canadian journalist Martin Popoff considers the album "too weighted towards Def Leppard's fat-and-open formula rock", resulting "a bit subdued and predictable" in comparison with its predecessor. The band's glamorous look, the media exposure and George Lynch's "attempt to define the L.A. sound in his own image" do not save Under Lock and Key from sounding "like the work of a band just fed".

Track listing

All tracks written by Dokken.

Dokken

  • Don Dokken – lead vocals
  • George Lynch – guitar
  • Jeff Pilson – bass, background vocals
  • Mick Brown – drums, background vocals

    • Additional musicians

  • Chris Currell – Synclavier programming

    • Production

  • Neil Kernon, Michael Wagener – producers, engineers, mixing
  • Mark Wilczak – assistant engineer and mixing
  • Cliff Bonell, Michael Lardie – assistant engineers
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering at Masterdisk, New York

    • Unchain the Night

    The music videos produced for the singles from the three Dokken's albums were featured on a longform videocassette release, Unchain the Night, by Elektra/Asylum Records through Elektra Entertainment. That video debuted on Billboard's Top Music Video—Longform chart at No. 11 in January 1987, peaking at No. 5 that May. The video collection was certified Gold in April 1987, and Platinum the following April. In 2007 the collection was re-released in DVD by Rhino Home Video through Warner Music Vision, debuting on the Billboard Comprehensive Music Videos chart at No. 27.

    VHS track listing

    1. "The Hunter"
    2. "In My Dreams"
    3. "It's Not Love"
    4. "Jaded Heart"
    5. "Lightning Strikes Again"
    6. "Unchain The Night"

    References

    Under Lock and Key Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA