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Tooth and Nail is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Dokken, released on September 14, 1984 through Elektra Records. After the unsuccessful US release of the band's 1983 debut album, Breaking the Chains, the record label was reluctant to give credit to Dokken for a follow-up. Dokken's management struggled to convince the label's executives to give the band another chance and this fight for recognition is reflected in the album's title. This album was the group's first with bassist Jeff Pilson following Juan Croucier's departure to join Ratt. The production of the album was entrusted to renowned producer Tom Werman, but the recordings were hampered by the clash of egos between vocalist Don Dokken and guitarist George Lynch, who could not work together in a studio at the same time, and by the excesses of musicians and technicians. For these reasons, Werman was unable to carry on his work and quit the job after a few weeks, replaced by Roy Thomas Baker and Michael Wagener, who completed the recordings and mixed the album. The music of the album ranges from fast and aggressive tracks to pop and melodic ballads. Tooth and Nail received positive reviews but was a slow seller, reaching the peak of No. 49 on the US Billboard 200 album chart and Gold status more than ten months after its release, on the wake of the success of the single "Alone Again" and of its accompanying music video. The album was certified Platinum by the RIAA in 1989, after both Under Lock and Key (1985) and Back for the Attack (1987) had achieved such status. Background After the release of their debut album Breaking the Chains through French label Carrere Records on November 1981, Dokken had toured in support of the album in Europe, but were still relegated in local clubs in the US, where the album had not been issued. Only when Dokken came under the management of the influential Q Prime Inc. of Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch, which also represented the successful Def Leppard, the band signed a contract with the major American label Elektra Records and eventually had the album released in their home country on September 18, 1983. Dokken went on an arena tour in the US as support act for Aldo Nova, Blue Öyster Cult and Rainbow, but the band's increased exposure did not save the remixed reissue from commercial failure, and Elektra meditated to drop them. Their management convinced the label to finance the release of another album instead. Meanwhile, bassist Juan Croucier had left Dokken to join the Los Angeles outfit Ratt and guitarist George Lynch had quit and rejoined multiple times. It was apparent from the start a manifest incompatibility of character between Lynch and vocalist Don Dokken, which prevented the two from working together and more than once escalated in open hostility. During Lynch's lapses of membership, Dokken tried out other guitarists, including Warren DeMartini, who later joined Ratt when that band's career began to take off. Lynch auditioned for Ozzy Osbourne's band to replace the deceased Randy Rhoads but was not selected, and finally settled in with Dokken after the release of their first album in the US. To fill in the vacant bass-player slot, Shrapnel Records manager Mike Varney suggested to Don Dokken a member of his band, Cinema, named Jeff Pilson, who joined the band after an audition in 1984. Composition and recording Lynch began laying down guitar riffs and music ideas on a four-track recorder at his home in 1983, soon joined by Pilson and drummer Mick Brown. The three of them formed a cohesive songwriting team which produced several demos including lyrics and vocals. Don Dokken was excluded from this creative stage and worked on songs and lyrics on his own or with Pilson. The power ballad "Alone Again" was the result of a Dokken/Pilson collaboration and is the reworking of a song written by Dokken in 1975. Lynch opposed the inclusion of the song in the album because he did not want ballads in it, but was finally convinced otherwise. According to Don Dokken, the band wrote 25 songs in this period, which were then narrowed down to the ten best. Before pre-production began, Don Dokken proposed as producer his German friend Michael Wagener, whose curriculum included works with Accept, Raven, Great White and the production and engineering of Breaking the Chains. Predictably, Wagener's friendship with Dokken and Lynch's dissatisfaction for the sound of their debut album brought to the rejection of the singer's proposal by the rest of the band. Elektra Records selected instead the expert Tom Werman to produce the album; his accomplishments in the music business included multi-platinum albums with Cheap Trick, Molly Hatchet, Ted Nugent and the production of rising stars Mötley Crüe's second album Shout at the Devil. Werman was present at rehearsals and helped to select and arrange the songs before production began. The recording of the album started in March 1984 at Cherokee Studios in Hollywood, California with veteran sound engineer Geoff Workman, whose personality and erratic behaviour did not mesh easily with Werman's direction. This troubled relationship only added up to the escalating clash of egos between Lynch and Dokken, which was furtherly exacerbated by the abuse of cocaine and alcohol by musicians and technicians. Werman set the working schedule to avoid the contemporary presence of guitarist and vocalist in the studio, with the former recording with the rest of the band late morning and in the afternoon and the latter at night. This arrangement was maintained for all the permanence of George Lynch in the band, as he and Dokken never worked together in a recording studio. After a few weeks of work, the situation exploded when Lynch violently rejected Werman's advice for some of his guitar solos and refused to work again with the producer. Werman quit and left for a summer vacation with his family, bringing Don Dokken to request again the hiring of Michael Wagener to complete the recordings and mixing the tracks. Despite Werman and Burnstein's agreement on Wagener's involvement, the rest of the band continued to refuse him, jeopardizing the release of the album. The singer expressed his concerns to the label executives and pleaded with them for Wagener's help. Elektra complied to Dokken's request, but hired also the British producer Roy Thomas Baker, famous for his work with Queen, Journey and The Cars and for his hedonistic lifestyle. Baker's main task was to keep the band in check and occupied while Wagener recorded lead vocals by night and mixed the album, secretly assisted by Dokken. Production also overcame the sudden and unmotivated disappearance of Lynch for a week and wrapped up recording in July and mixing in August 1984. Music style Dokken are considered players of the hair/pop/glam metal subgenre by many critics and fans and Tooth and Nail is included in various polls of best glam metal albums. However, in a 2004 interview, Don .... Discover the Tom Dokken popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Tom Dokken books.