The Black Crowes / Reuters
MAXIM magazine is still under fire today, despite issuing an apology for publishing a negative review of the Black Crowes' new album by a writer who hadn't even listened to the whole CD.
Maxim editorial director James Kaminsky told The Associated Press today the magazine had made an error in reviewing unreleased albums and judging them with star ratings.
"I will be the last person to mince words here: This is a mistake," Kaminsky said. "It's a mistake that won't happen again, but it's not a mistake that appears in other parts of (the magazine's entertainment section). ... There should be no blurry line between what's a preview and what's a review."
The "review" in Maxim's March issue gave the Crowes' Warpaint album a rating of two-and-a-half stars out of five, adding, "they sound pretty much like they always have: boozy, competent, and in slavish debt to the Stones, the Allmans, and the Faces."
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The review prompted the Crowes to post a statement on their website saying "it was impossible since advance copies of the CD, out next Tuesday, weren't made available."
"It comes as no surprise that Maxim has elected to apologise to their readers now that the world has been informed of their deception; however, that is not full accountability," Angelus told The Associated Press.
Kaminsky issued a statement apologising to readers for the review, which was against their policy of only rating albums that have been heard in their entirety.
The Black Crowes' manager, Pete Angelus, said Maxim was doing "self-serving damage control."
Kaminsky later apologised to the Crowes - and again, to the readers.
"We have often run previews, which are based on the fact that an album is coming out ... but (those in the March issue) should not have had star ratings attached to (them)," he said. "There was a bit of a breakdown that led to that happening and I'm looking into it and, as I've said, we've already put measures in place to ensure that that will not happen again."
Warpaint is the Black Crowes' first album in seven years. The band, fronted by Kate Hudson's ex-husband Chris Robinson, has had hits including Hard to Handle and She Talks to Angels.
Meanwhile, rapper Nas told the New York Post he was "surprised" Maxim had given his unfinished album a two-and-a-half star review. His rep said it has not yet been released, but the "preview" in Maxim said some of the music as "downright radio friendly."
tracy!
