Today's Song You Should Know: 'Locomotive Breath' By Styx

While Weezer's new "Teal" album of cover songs is getting a lot of attention following the success of their reluctant cover of Toto's "Africa," it's important to remember that albums of cover versions is a bit of a tradition with rock bands. Particularly bands that find themselves in the middle of a creative slump. The best scenario you can hope for in most cases is that the covers don't suck. But most of the attempts are either soulless note-by-note renditions of the original hit or a song that's been altered so much that it's painfully unrecognizable.

One of the few exceptions to that rule is the 2005 Styx album "Big Bang Theory." Like in the case of Weezer, this cover album evolved almost by accident. During an appearance at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival, the band played a cover of "I Am The Walrus," which was so well received that the live version was released as a single. That eventually turned into the covers album "Big Bang Theory," which included the live version of "Walrus," 12 additional covers ranging from Jim Hendrix to The Pretty Things and a acoustic cover of the band's hit "Blue Collar Man."

The album doesn't have any complete misfires and in many cases, Styx manages to put a believable updated spin on a song you've likely heard a hundred times. My personal favorite is this energetic cover of Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath." In part, it's because Jethro Tull has been criminally ignored by younger classic fans. But mostly I'm choosing this cover because it is just 3 minutes and 30 seconds of explosive rock goodness.