The Black Crowes split

Upsetting news for people who never got out of 1996: The Black Crowes have split up. Guitarist Rich Robinson broke the news:

"It is with great disappointment and regret that after having the privilege of writing and performing the music of the Black Crowes over the last 24 years, I find myself in the position of saying that the band has broken up," Robinson said in a statement.

image: http://nme.assets.ipccdn.co.uk/images/article/1991TheCrowes_Getty85238532160115.jpg
"I hold my time with the Black Crowes with the utmost respect and sincerest appreciation. It is a huge swath of my life's body of work. I couldn't be more proud of what we accomplished and deeply moved by the relationships people created and maintained with my music.

"That alone is the greatest honor of being a musician. I love my brother and respect his talent, but his present demand that I must give up my equal share of the band and that our drummer for 28 years and original partner, Steve Gorman, relinquish 100 percent of his share, reducing him to a salaried employee, is not something I could agree to."

Financial markets are unaffected by the news; David Cameron claims this would never have happened if we just let him read everyone's emails.

Maxim reviewer: I thought I was a previewer

Maxim's decision to carry reviews for albums still unheard continues to create a fascinating sideshow: Today, David Peisner, the man whose reviews upset Nas and the Black Crowes, puts his side:

“I’m a freelance writer. I was assigned to write previews of the Black Crowes and Nas albums. I did that. When the issue came out, the previews were laid out as reviews complete with star ratings. I never at any point or to anyone claimed to have heard these albums in their entirety. Whatever decisions Maxim made after I turned in my work were beyond my control.”

Peisner doesn't say if this sort of thing has happened to him before - he's been writing for Maxim for at least two years (he reviewed - or possibly previewed - Lindsay Lohan for Maxim back in 2005).

The Black Crowes - who must be loving the publicity for an album which otherwise would have slid out largely unnoticed - aren't satisfied with this. Manager Pete Angelus continues to rail:

“There’s no accountability for Dave Peisner, editor James Kaminsky or Maxim magazine. They issued a partial apology to their readership, but no apology directly to the artist whose work they denigrated without having heard more than one song, while attempting to pass it off as an album review. I think Peisner’s claim is absurd. He wrote a review of music that he never heard, he disparaged both the band and the material. He said, ‘It hasn’t left Chris Robinson and the gang much room for growth,’ and yet now he’s going to attempt to pass off his actions on Maxim? Absurd.”

Perhaps Maxim are waiting to see if the album actually does turn out to be better than the review suggested it would be. It would be terrible if they had to then apologise for issuing an apology, wouldn't it?

Black Crowes dismiss pre-emptive review

Maxim ran an advance review of the Black Crowes new album in the March issue, giving it a ho-hum two-and-a-half:

[T]he reviewer opined that the album—the band's first in seven years—"hasn't left Chris Robinson and the gang much room for growth."

The only trouble is, there's no way the reviewer could have heard more than the first single released off the record. The Black Crowes are, um, crowing:

"Maxim's actions seem to completely lack journalistic integrity and intentionally mislead their readership," the Crowes' manager Pete Angelus said in a statement. "When confronted with the fact that they never heard the album they are claiming to 'review' in their music section--with a star rating, no less--they attempt to explain that it was an 'educated guess.'

"What's next--Maxim's concert reviews of shows they never attended, book reviews of books never read and film reviews of films never seen?"

Good lord - reviewers not actually sitting through the things they're reviewing. Whatever next?

Maxim, of course, were caught out because giving a Black Crowes album anything more than a single star is going to look very suspect indeed.