Criminally Underappreciated power pop record now gets it s due! - Financial decisions! Can I afford to buy any fun music in these tough economic times? Yes you can, so scrape together some change for this album! American Beat Records has reissued another fine, reasonably priced, long out of print, classic and alas underappreciated rock and roll album in Honor Among Thieves by Fairfax, Virginia-based 1970 s power pop band, Artful Dodger. Favorable comparisons by other reviewers of Artful Dodger to Faces, Badfinger, Cheap Trick, Head East and the Raspberries are well founded. In 1976, I attended college in Buffalo, New York and 97 WGRQ was the semi-progressive FM commercial radio station that I listened to from the time the clock radio went off in the morning (or early afternoon) until I closed my text books for the night. I recall that Honor Among Thieves received some midnight air-play which was the time slot when WGRQ dee-jays were allowed to play a full length album of their choice uninterrupted by commercials. Artful Dodger sadly never got into heavy rotation and this album flew under the radar and off the map having never charted at all. I admit I was tempted to buy Honor Among Thieves while browsing through new LPs in SUNY at Buffalo s student run Record Co-op in the basement of Norton Hall after class one day, but I passed up Thieves and bought Agents of Fortune by Blue Oyster Cult instead. Had I the money at the time, I would have purchased both LPs, my musical life would have been richer and I may have gotten a date with that cute blonde co-ed in my sociology class, but alas I was living on a limited budget, working at a grocery store and living in the middle of a double digit inflation economy in the year of the bi-centennial. For me (and quite possibly for you, dudes and dudettes), having the pleasure of owning Honor Among Thieves would have to wait until April 2008 when, being somewhat better off financially, I could afford this aural luxury...now in digital format. I allude to economics because amidst the grim mid-1970 s reality of inflation and looming unemployment, Artful Dodger, with its reputation for electrifying live performances, developed their cult-like fan base primarily among working class audiences in Northeastern rust belt cities such as Pittsburgh and especially Cleveland. That commercial success eluded this band is truly a shame, but at least some folks who knew good rock and roll at the time were listening.Exuberant, high energy rock, with a solid back beat and a slice of gritty vocals was what Artful Dodger served up along with some tuneful ballads and that is what you will hear in all of its pop glory on Honor Among Thieves. Lead singer, Billy Paliselli sounds a bit like Rod Stewart but to my ears, a better comparison would be to Humble Pie s, Steve Marriott with an unapologetic nod to Nazareth s, Dan McCafferty. Gary Cox and Gary Herrewig propelled this band with their powerfully inventive rocking guitar playing which Robert Christgau described as an instrumental wallop that, a lot of bands around CBGB [would] spend their lives wishing they could have gotten it together like this. The American Beat Records re-issue contains the album version and the single version of Scream, a clever and definitely un-mushy romantic love song. A plodding and weird re-make of Keep A-Knocking is the album s low point. The high points for me, however, are Keep Me Happy and Remember which are about two of the purest pieces of American power pop that were recorded in the mid-1970 s. These guys even pay power pop homage to late Rolling Stone Brian Jones in Dandelion. Now, as other folks have `screamed ...when will the other three Artful Dodger albums be re-issued? More power pop, please sir! 4 ½ Stars.
How many other cool bands got lost in the 70 s Shuffle? - It s great to see this lost gem from the 70s available again. So my question is, WHEN IN THE DAWN OF THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE ARE WE EVER GOING TO SEE THE OTHER THREE?! This is not the first time Honor Among Thieves has been available on cd, but to my knowledge their other three have NEVER been. Now granted, their last album was the weakest of the lot (sorry, guys), but their self-titled debut and their third, Babes on Broadway, are every bit as significant to 70s rock n roll as Honor Among Thieves. Being from out West, I have to say I ve never once heard these guys on commercial radio anyway, so what makes their second release any better than the other two when all three efforts deserve recognition? O.K. I ve had my rant. Time to talk about the album. I was in my late teens when I first heard Artful Dodger, and I immediately loved their sound. The chiming, jangly guitars of Gary Herriwig and Gary Cox combined with the smooth but powerful tenor vocals of Billy Paliselli made me an instant admirer of the band. Their catchy riffs and their songwriting sensability made them instantly hold their own with other like-minded rockers of the day, such as Head East or Pavlov s Dog, or even Aerosmith. From the intro to the first song, the title track, one can hear and feel the obvious talent that this band possessed. These guys had what it took, and no mistake. Problem was, not all their songs had the same intensity throughout. Some were all-out rockers, and some were beautiful ballads, but some drifted a little too close to pop for a lot of people s tastes, I m guessing. Any fan of old Stones or Rod Stewart, however, ought to give Honor Among Thieves a chance. Songs like the title track, Not Enough, Remember, or Keep Me Happy will give ya enough hooks to fill a closet full of t-shirts! And the ones that really grab you personally you ll remember forever. Trust me. Artful Dodger deserve to be recognized.
Finally - Finally. An Artful Dodger album released on CD for the first time since the 90s. While Honor Among Thieves is not Artful Dodger s best album (that honor goes to either their 1975 self-titled debut or their 1980 swan song Rave On), it is very representative of this amazing rock and roll band from Fairfax, Virginia. While Scream was the best known cut from this album (and this re-release also contains the single version in addition to the original album track), Remember, Dandelion, and the title track are classics as well. The band s music has held up very well over the past 30 years. American Beat Records was not able to re-mix or digitally remaster the album, but it is nonetheless great to see Honor back in print. After disappearing from the scene in the early 80s with a brief reappearance in 1991, Artful Dodger is alive and well with the five original members (singer Billy Paliselli, guitarists Gary Herrewig and Gay Cox, bassist Steve Cooper and drummer Steve Brigida) along with later member keyboardist/guitarist Peter Bonta performing five shows in 2006 (three in their adopted hometown of Cleveland and two in Virginia). Hopefully, this re-release of Honor Among Thieves will spur the band into some live performances in 2008.
power pop meets rod stewart - Agree with the above review except it is their second album, not third. This is great power pop better than the other groups listed in my opinion. They can rock hard and do ballads equally well. The main singer(Billy Paliselli) is very similar to Rod Stewart so if you like him you ll like A.D. Also, Gary Cox s song Dandelion is excellent though it is stylistically different than the rest of the cd. Highly recommended.
Powerpop Gem Back in Print! Take THAT overpriced Ebay dealer! - Finally! An Artful Dodger CD reissue! For those of us who missed out on the brief and limited mid-90 s CD reissues,seeing Honor Among Thieves available again is a hopeful sign that the rest of the band s 4 album output will be seeing the light of day soon.Honor Among Thieves was , I believe, the band s 3rd album. It is packed with great hooky powerpop songs along the lines of Raspberries, Badfinger, and Cheap Trick.If you are even a casual fan of the aforementioned groups, you need to pick this album up NOW!