While this release from Dokken is a good compilation, a few (of my) top songs from the band didn't make the list: Don't Close Your Eyes, Bullets To Spare and Prisoner Of Love. It's tough to please everyone! However, Don Dokken's smooth vocal delivery coupled with George Lynch's fine axe work make this a great album to pick up regardless of personal preferences for one tune or another. If you don't have a Dokken album in your collection and you like 80's hard rock/pop metal, this is the one to get.


Keep on rockin' with the Dokken   March 24, 2004
Darian Dennison (Walla Walla, WA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

This is the first greatest hits CD that I ever bought from Rhino records and I'm glad that they released this Greatest Hits CD on Rhino Records cause the sound quality is really good and the liner notes is very informative, it's everything that a Dokken fan needs to know, what got me into Dokken was hearing In My Dreams on the radio when I was getting ready to go to bed and I was packing up to go to Long Beach, Washington, I think that Dokken guitarist George Lynch is one of metal's underrated guitar players of all time and he can really play and I think that Dokken was one of the best hair metal bands of all time too cause they had good songwriting skills as well, this CD has 16 cuts from 1983-95 and 14 of it was from 1983-88 and we do get to have one Don Dokken solo cut called Mirror Mirror which is quite a good song and I'm surprised that the song didn't make it big, plus I had no idea that George Lynch formed a new band called Lynch Mob either.

Here are my ratings for each track.

Breaking the Chains: Dokken's first known song off of their debut album and it is the title track but this song is a classic, who can forget the video when George Lynch starts breaking the chains during the guitar solo part? 10/10

Paris is Burning (live): This live track is actually off of Dokken's debut album and it's awesome, I like the opening part of the song the best. 10/10

Into the Fire: Now we enter the Tooth and Nail album and this song is a classic, excellent chorus. 10/10

Just Got Lucky: This is one of Dokken's heavier songs but this song isn't quite one of my favorites. 8/10

Alone Again: This song was Dokken's biggest hit and I'm surprised that they didn't score a Top 40 hit on the Billboard charts. 10/10

Tooth and Nail: Not to be confused with Foreigner's version off of the Agent Provecatuer album which came out earlier that year. 7/10

The Hunter: Now we enter the Under Lock and Key album which contains this classic song. 10/10

In My Dreams: This is my favorite song by Dokken and this song is awesome, it should've been in the Top 40 but oh well, at least that it did well on the Modern Rock tracks. 10/10

It's Not Love: Another standout and this song reminds me of early 1999 when I heard this song on the Youth Gone Wild CD Vol. 2. 10/10

Dream Warriors: I think that this is the best song off of the Back for the Attack album. 10/10

Burning Like a Flame: I'm surprised that this song didn't make it on the Beast For the East live album which came out a year earlier but this isn't one of my favorite songs. 7/10

Heaven Sent: Not one of the better songs for Dokken although this song is a bit more ballad like. 6/10

Mr. Scary: An instrumental tune done by George Lynch and this is a really cool song. 10/10

Walk Away: Probably one of Dokken's most softest songs and this was off of the Beast From the East live album and this song doesn't do it for me. 6/10

Mirror Mirror: This is a really good song by Dokken's solo album and this song is on par with the earlier classics. 10/10

Too High to Fly: The longest song on this album (which clocks in at over 7 minutes) and this song isn't that great. 6/10


This Is The Very Best Of Dokken   May 9, 2001
M. B Evans (Madison, Mississippi United States)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

I was 15 when Dokken's Breaking The Chains came out. I have been hooked ever since. I am 33 years old now, and still love Dokken and other 80's hair bands. This cd is a must have. It has every song yoiu would want from the early 80's to the early 90's. Don Dokkens sultry, bluesy, voice and George Lynch's fiery, blistering guitar, made Dokken an 80's icon. Get this cd, you want be dissapointed. Metal Rules....


The very Beast of Dokken...   October 5, 2003
Erick Bertin (Santo Domingo, Heredia Costa Rica)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Nope, it's not a mispelling, i meant to write "beast",not best... anyway, as I mentioned, i bought this compilation recently along with Skid Row's "40 seasons", and i decided to review them together, because they share a few interesting things in common. I must say that, as opposed as with Skid, I like Dokken, I have all of their records, but I am not a HUGE fan. The 2 things about Dokken that i liked the most is that they had nothing to do with the glam metal scene of the 80's (other than their dreadful look), specially in regards of the lyrics, and George Lynch's guitar playing... but Don Dokken vocals were never too impressive, and their 80's records sound horrible now, dated, lost in that horrendous mid 80's, pristine and polished, crystal clear sound...anyway, let's get down to the disc:

- Best of vs Greatest Hits: this is, for the most part, the best of Dokken. Sometimes, the best material of a band actually matches their greatest hits, and in this case, it pretty much makes sense...
-Non-involvement of the band: this is even worse than what happened with "40 seasons". At least that compilation had imput from 1 member of the band, but here, there is no imput whatsoever, and THAT is NEVER a good thing...this compilation is then reduced to an attempt by pinhead record execs to make money out of the band's name...

-Chronological order / running order: as is the case with "40 Seasons", this is a chronological compilation, but this one succeeds were the former fails: "Breaking the Chains" is a natural opener!! After that, the running order gets a little messy, specially by putting "Alone Again" before "Tooth and Nail"... not a good sequence... and I miss the instrumental intro of "Without warning"... but generally speaking, it is okay...

Song selection / Album Representation: it is pretty decent... of course, since my favorite album is actually 95's "Dysfunctional" (represented here only by "Too high to fly"...understandably so, since that record was made with another record company), actually one of my favorite records ever, i should probably complain, but i won't...but just as is the case with "40 seasons", there are at least 2 songs that i'll never understand their inclusion here: "Mr Scary" and "Mirror Mirror". Who the hell includes an instrumental in a compilation? That was a terrible idea! And of course, I am sure that whatever pea-brain chose to include then thought "OK, great, since i have included a song that is basically a George Lynch solo track, let's include a Don Dokken solo track!" Dreadful idea!

Songs like "Mirror Mirror" make you understand why Nirvana took over only a few years later... if by the beginning of the 90's you weren't able to see that that kind of music was dead, you deserved to fall flat on your face and not sell a freakin'record... and not only the song, but the production, OH MY GOD, GIVE ME A BREAK!! You can almost picture Don Dokken dancing and moving his arms a la Debbie Gibson during the song's poppier than pop chorus (I just hope there was no video for this...)the only good thing about it is John Norum's solo, but... that's not enough... but the thing that bothers me the most is that by including these 2 songs (ok, maybe there are 3, I don't care much for "Burning like a Flame", either), other songs like "Unchain the night", "So many tears", "Stop fighting love" were overlooked...

Anyway, there is enough bang for the buck here, so go ahead, if you are a Dokken fan, and get this... it is worth it...


One of the Best "Best Of's"   September 28, 2002
M. Schafle (Jacksonville, FL USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Dokken's "Very Best Of" is just that: just about everything that made Dokken a staple band for most kids in the 80's that were into metal. Don Dokken has some of the best vocals of any of the 80's wailers, and George Lynch is arguable the most talented axeman to appear in the 80's. The guy is incredibly talented, plays ferociously, and the blistering sound just jumps off of his steel toy and through your speakers. Whitesnake's Steve Vai, Vinnie Vincent, and Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora are three guitarists of a handful that can only hope to come CLOSE to rivaling Lynch's skill with the axe. Absolutely incredible. Anyway.

This album is the quintessential album for anyone that remembers Dokken with fondness and a zillion great memories of what they were doing when they heard this stuff on their radios, or for a 90's nu-metal disenchantee searching for a better sound, willing to try something they've never heard. Whether you're new to the 80's rock sound and fascinated with the possibility that there IS something better than 90's-00's [stuff]-o-rama rock, or a made-in-the-80's thoroughbred that was in high school when Dokken was the big cheese (along with bands like Kiss, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Poison, Ratt, Cinderella, etc.), you won't be disappointed with the choices for the "best of" set Dokken has compiled. Every song most definitely deserves to be included on this album, but space was limited...

...which must have forced them to make some important decisions. Songs like "Unchain the Night", "Slipping Away", and "When Heaven Comes Down" (a favorite anthem the band loved to play live) had to be excluded. Not to worry, though. If you're looking for those songs on a "best of" type compilation, I recommend the very good live album from Dokken (released 1988) "Beast From the East". What songs this best of compilation lacks that album includes. Both include the insanely good "Mr. Scary" guitar solo/instrumental by George Lynch.

But when an album includes "In My Dreams", "Breaking the Chains", "Into the Fire", "Dream Warriors", "Alone Again", "Tooth and Nail", "It's Not Love", and "Hunter" and still has 8 MORE quality tracks on it, it's hard not to want the album!

Still, this album doesn't go wrong. If you want an introduction to Dokken, or a reunion with their music, this is the album for you. If you are a more serious Dokken or 80's metal fan, I would recommend going for all of Dokken's 80's releases: "Breaking the Chains" (1983), "Tooth and Nail" (1984), "Under Lock and Key (1985)-- their most solid release, "Back For the Attack" (1987), and "Beast From the East" (1988). I have all of these, and I'm a very happy man...

Rock on! Here's to the 80's metal bands!!!