''Beast from the East'' is a live album recorded by the American heavy metal band

Dokken Dokken is an American glam metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. It split up in 1989 and reformed four years later. The band had several hit singles which charted on the Billboard Hot 100, such as " Alone Again", " In My Dreams", and " Burn ...

in Japan in April 1988, during tour in support of their album '' Back for the Attack''. It was released on November 16, 1988. The album features live versions of the band's most popular songs from previous four studio albums and also includes a new studio track entitled "Walk Away". The song was accompanied with a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

, which featured members of the band performing atop the

Santa Monica Mountains The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in ...

overlooking

Topanga Canyon Topanga () (Tongva: ''Topaa'nga'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located in the Santa Monica Mountains, the community exists in Topanga Canyon and the surrounding hills. The narrow s ...

and the

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. The album earned the band their only

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

nomination for the

Best Metal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...

in 1990, losing to Metallica's " One".

Background

Up to 1988,

had released four studio albums, of which the last three were certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

. The band opened for Judas Priest, Aerosmith and several other bands, which eventually gained the band a spot on the

Monsters of Rock Tour 1988 Monsters of Rock was an annual hard rock and heavy metal music festival held in Castle Donington, England, from 1980 to 1996, taking place every year except 1989 and 1993. It later branched into other locations such as the Netherlands, Poland ...

festival, where they played with Metallica,

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

, Kingdom Come and the headliner,

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

. They also recorded a song " Dream Warriors" for the movie '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors''. Prior to the Monsters of Rock fest, the band went on to tour in Japan, where they recorded several shows of the tour. Those recordings were released as their first live album called ''Beast from the East'', with an additional new song called "Walk Away". While not as successful as the band's previous release, '' Back for the Attack'', ''Beast from the East'' entered Billboard Top 40, achieving

gold certificate Gold certificates were issued by the United States Treasury as a form of representative money from 1865 to 1933. While the United States observed a gold standard, the certificates offered a more convenient way to pay in gold than the use of coi ...

. In 1990, it was nominated to the

for

, the only Dokken album to receive one. However, the band was involved in controversy when

Chris Cornell Christopher John Cornell (né Boyle; July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American singer and musician best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and primary lyricist and songwriter for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave ...

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yama ...

, who was in direct competition with Dokken in the "Metal" category stated, "I have no idea why they call Dokken metal and put them in the same category we're in." To date, ''Beast from the East'' is the last Dokken album to receive a certification by RIAA.

US CD track listing

Japan & original U.S. cassette & LP version track listing

Sides 1-2

Sides 3-4

Personnel

Don Dokken Donald Maynard Dokken (born June 29, 1953) is an American singer and musician. He's best known for being the lead singer, occasional guitarist, and founder of the glam metal band Dokken. He is known for his vibrato-laden, melodic vocal style wh ...

- lead vocals * George Lynch -

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

* Jeff Pilson -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, keyboards,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

* Mick Brown - drums, backing vocals

Charts

Album

Single(s)

"Walk Away"

Sales and recognition

, - , style="text-align:center;", 1990 , , Beast from the East , ,

, ,

References

{{Authority control Dokken live albums 1988 live albums Elektra Records live albums