The Black Crowes- A Band Worth Listening To?

Posted Sep 09, 2008 at 09:35 PM in General, Reviews

Recently, there was a scandal at Maxim men¹s magazine. The Black Crowes'
label didn't make advance copies of their new album available for review, so
needless to say, they were surprised when they saw Maxim's review in their
March issue. Then someone inside the magazine leaked information that the
music reviewer gave The Black Crowes¹ new CD a review without even listening
to it, which may have been why they gave them a menial 2 1/2 stars out of 5.
Maxim apologized profusely to its readers and the band. The following is an
email The Black Crowes received from Maxim:

'Of course, we always prefer to (sic) hearing music, but sometimes there
are big albums that we don't want to ignore that aren't available to hear,
which is what happened with the Crowes. It's either an educated guess
preview or no coverage at all, so in this case we chose the former.'

I think if the magazine is going to tell The Black Crowes their new album
stinks, at the very least they should listen to the album first. Also, the
magazine¹s review was pretty harsh towards lead singer, Chris Robinson (see
link below)- calling him ³boozy, competent and in slavish debt to the
Stones, the Allmans and the Faces.² While I do agree that their new CD does
sound similar to their last CD, (what band¹s doesn¹t?) I think they have
moved away from sounding like the afore-mentioned bands, into a more
Grateful Dead sound, with less singing and more instrumental genius. Of
course Chris Robinson still has an incredible voice and the CD is pretty rad
(at least 3 stars worth), in my opinion.

The Black Crowes¹ manager was outraged at the review and said, ³It speaks
directly to the lack of the publication¹s credibility. In my opinion, it¹s a
disgrace to the arts, journalism, critics, the publication itself and the
public. What¹s next- Maxim¹s concert reviews of shows they never attended,
book reviews of books never read and film reviews of films never seen?²

This has definitely made me rethink how seriously I take any type of review-
even from a well-known publication like Maxim. Who exactly is doing the
reviewing and why are they qualified to review? What do you think?

Maxim¹s Review:
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/resources/2008/02/maximreview.jpeg
This post was written by Kirsten Agard, Marketing Assistant

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