BIG BANG THEORY – STYX (2005)

 

A real group doing a covers album….what a concept!  And since they didn’t have to write new material, this Chicago-based band was able to pick some of their favorites and just learn to play them well.  That eight of the fourteen songs are by British bands make it abundantly clear that rockers from across the pond made a profound influence on the members of Styx.  I found the selections to be quite interesting.

 

«     Big Bang Theory begins with I Am The Walrus and it’s the showpiece of the CD.  While it’s hardly my favorite Beatles song, Styx just does an awesome rendition.  I would’ve loved to have been in the audience in Oregon last year when this song was recorded live.  Played loudly, it’s nothing short of thrilling.

«     I Can See For Miles is next.   Certainly a fine old song to cover and the Styx version is not bad.

«     Can’t Find My Way Back Home follows and it’s one of the better tracks.  The acoustic guitar is tasty and the vocals are very well done.

«     It Don’t Make Sense (You Can’t Make Peace), an old Willie Dixon song, is next.  Other than hearing this one on Robben Ford’s last CD, I can’t say that I’m really familiar with this tune.  Styx does it justice. 

«     I Don’t Need No Doctor follows and it’s a barn-burner.  One of my fondest concert memories is hearing Humble Pie do this one live – Steve Marriott is probably the loudest little singer in rock history and he & Frampton were positively scorching the Atlanta crowd with their Les Pauls.  The Styx version is smokin’ as well.

«     One Way Out is track six.  While Styx’s token Southerner Shaw knows a little about covering the Allmans, the band overall just doesn’t capture the Macon magic.  I can’t help it -- it pales in comparison to the original.

«     Track seven is a cover of Procol Harum’s Salty Dog.  Again, I don’t know this song, but I remember the album in the 70s.  Styx provides a passionate remake here and it’s uncannily reminiscent of former front man Dennis DeYoung, who could have easily served up the drama required to tell this tale.

«     Next up is Summer In The City, a very rocking remake of the old Lovin’ Spoonful song.  You either love or hate this one…..I wished they’d have left it out.

«     Manic Depression follows and Styx does a good job with what I consider to be one of Jimi’s less exciting hits.

«     Talkin’ About The Good Times is next.  Never heard this before in my life…..A learned Anglophile my age should probably know music by The Pretty Things, but I missed them.  In any case, it’s definitely a Styx-style song.  Very nice.

«     Locomotive Breath is track eleven.  You don’t mess with Mother Nature….vocals sound uncomfortably like me in the shower.  Nevertheless, kudos for selecting one of classic rock’s most electrifying songs to include in this collection.

«     The next track is Find The Cost of Freedom, a mini-song snitched from CSNY’s Four Way Street album.  Some nice harmony here.

«     An old song by Free, Wishing Well, is next.  Again, it’s readily apparent that Styx can most closely relate to the multitudes of straight-up rock & blues bands from England in the late 60s-early 70s.

«     The last track on the album is Blue Collar Man @ 2120, a modern rehashing of Tommy’s monster hit of days gone by.  It was a great song then and now.

 

All in all, listening to Big Bang Theory is like hearing a killer band at a nightclub.  In a literal reversal of fortune, this band isn’t busting their hump to get rich & famous.  Styx, I suppose, is at the stage where they are playing what they like to play.  Rock on!

 

PS: Many many thanks also to Montgomery native Tommy Shaw for making fantastic music for the last 35+ years.  Locals who had heard him since junior high days always knew he was destined for stardom.  The epiphany moment for me was listening to Tommy (then playing for Jabbo Stokes & the Jive Rockets) play Store Bought, Store Thought by The Flock in my college town in 1970.  I can’t exactly explain the feeling, but I knew I was hearing a remarkably gifted musician with a white hot future.  A few years later, he was migrating from a Montgomery bowling alley lounge to Chicago with a little tune called Crystal Ball.  The rest is history. GD