The Black Crowes have one of the more interesting pieces of advance publicity going for their forthcoming album, "Warpaint."

Seems that Maxim magazine reviewed the record without actually hearing it, and the Crowes busted them. There were no advance copies sent out, so writer David Peisner apparently wrote the 75-word review more or less out of his imagination.

It wouldn't have aroused much of a stir if Peisner had just gone with an extra half-star. But gave it 2.5 out of five, and you'd have to figure a band like the Black Crowes are probably looking for more. Nickelback, for instance,would have rejoiced.

The funny thing is, after getting caught, Black Crowes management got an email from Maxim saying, "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."

That's pretty lame, and the Crowes want an apology.

The band's manager Pete Angelus said, "Maxim's actions seem to completely lack journalistic integrity and intentionally mislead their readership."

Of course, anyone who looks to Maxim, a magazine far more interested in babes in bikinis and silly lists, for their music wisdom is probably getting what they deserve.

Peisner dismissed the record as being "boozy, competent, and in slavish tribute to the Stones, the Allmans, and the Faces."

Little did he know this was the Crowes' show tunes record.