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.