Maxim magazine is eating crow over a lukewarm write-up of the Black Crowes' upcoming album, Warpaint.
A review of the album, giving it two-and-a-half stars out of five, was published in the March issue of the magazine—despite the fact that the reviewer had not listened to the full album, due out Mar. 4.
Even without listening to it, the 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 band responded to the review with a posting on its website, pointing out that no advance copies of the album were provided and that only one song, "Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution," had been released, meaning the reviewer based his or her assertions solely on the strength of the single.
"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?"
Maxim editorial director James Kaminsky responded Tuesday with a statement apologizing for the oversight.
"It is Maxim's editorial policy to assign star ratings only to those albums that have been heard in their entirety," Kaminsky said. "Unfortunately, that policy was not followed in the March 2008 issue of our magazine, and we apologize to our readers."
On Wednesday, Kaminsky also offered an apology to the band, after Angelus accused the magazine of performing "self-serving damage control."
The Crowes weren't the only act to receive a poor review of a partial album. Nas also received two-and-a-half stars for his still-unfinished forthcoming album.
There was no word on whether the reviewer would face disciplinary action.