STYX; "Big Bang Theory" (New Door/Universal)*

This is not a Styx album. It's a Tommy Shaw/James Young album, with a little Lawrence Gowan thrown in.

In the beginning it was a good idea — make an album of cover tunes from the '60s and '70s and give them some Styx flair. But the flair turned out to be a fizzle.

The band — guitrarists/vocalists Shaw and Young, bassist Ricky Phillips, drummer Todd Sucherman and keyboardist/vocalist Gowan — doesn't add a thing to the songs.

Bottom line: "Big Bang Theory" is just an album of covers. Why did the band bother making it? Why not take the road that was opened with the band's last album — the nice, tightly progressive "Cyclorama?"

The band's remake of the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus," which has been all over the Web, the Who's "I Can See for Miles," the Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer in the City" and Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression" are a sampling of the songs Styx decided to redo.

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Young's version of Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath," which features original Styx bassist Chuck Panozzo, and the Spoonful's "Summer in the City," are the strongest songs in this collection. But that doesn't make up for the lack of emotion on Traffic's "Can't Find My Way Home" or Bad Company's "Wishing Well."

To add insult to injury the band asked acclaimed blues queen Koko Taylor to sing a duet that drags with Shaw on his own "Blue Collar Man." The problem lies with the arrangement. Taylor's voice is strong and sassy, but the song takes its sweet time getting to the point.

While Styx was at one time one of the powerhouses in American progressive rock, it has reduced itself to a mere oldies band that only has, at times, three of its classic five-man lineup.


E-mail: scott@desnews.com

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