Customer Reviews

Honor Among Thieves

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

This is a quality rock album from a classic band that didnt get nearly enough recognition(like the michael stanley band).The music is melodic,edgy and fun.Great scratchy Rod Stewart like vocals and searing crunchy guitars.The bands first release,the previous "Artful Dodger" is a notch hotter than this one but this one follows suit with no shame at all."Honor among Thieves" will be sure to please anyone with an appetite for the rock classics.The song "Scream" is a melodic and emotion provoking acoustic rock ballad that is a high point on the album.

This is a good CD even though I think the albums that came before and after this one are a little better(their debut and "Babes on Broadway"). But all their albums contained two ingredients that appear to be in short supply these days-skill and fun! Purchase this Cd so the record company takes notice and releases the other 3.

In the Mid-70's, Artful Dodger, mainly popular in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh areas, combined an infectious combination of artistic qualities from the Faces and Badfinger into a power pop posture and provided some accessible, straight-ahead rock that unfortunately for whatever reasons never really got its push to the commercial mainstream.

"Honor Amoung Thieves" was their second release in 1976 after an excellent 1975 self titled debut, a truly forgotten and virtually unknown pop classic that was close to being on par with other power pop artists like the Raspberries and Big Star at the time. "Honor Amoung Thieves" is not as strong and consistent as the debut but still has some quality AOR-orientated power pop rock.

When I first heard the kickin' "Keep A Knockin'" and singer Billy Paliselli, I thought I was listening to Rod Stewart and the Faces. A number of other catchy tracks such as "Not Enough", "Good Fun", "Hey Boys", the title track and the nice ballad "Scream" displays that the band was truly having fun and still shining with success.

If you want to rediscover true 70's power pop that has been relatively unknown to the mainstream, pick up these first two Artful Dodger CD's and breathe in the fresh air of enjoyment.

This album came out in the 70's during my early adolescence, when I had just discovered album-oriented rock (now classic rock). Having just gained an appreciation for Kiss, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, etc. on my local rock station, I was pretty excited when I heard "Honor Among the Thieves" blaring out of my new bookshelf Radio Shack stereo (14 watts!). This previously unknown band burst onto the scene out of nowhere. Their sound was a unique pairing of Rod Stewart vocals and Rolling Stones guitar tones; all wrapped up in Aerosmith sing-along melodies and catchy guitar hooks (both of which are missing in most of today's rock). Couple all of this with the initial DJ enthusiasm over what was supposed to be their breakthrough album, and the fact they shared the same management team as Aerosmith and Ted Nugent at the time, Artful Dodger seemed to be a band ready to break big. Based on the title track, I couldn't wait to have my parents drive me to the local record store to buy the album. Do you know the rare feeling you get today when you buy a CD based on a couple of good songs, and you discover that it's actually a great listen from start to finish, as opposed to being comprised mostly of throw-aways? Well, this album is just a great listening experience from beginning to end. It's one of those that will have you singing along in the car, tapping your fingers on the steering wheel, and taking the long way home. Tragically, for whatever reason, this band disappeared from the radio and record stores just as quickly as they arrived on the scene. Perhaps the management team had only so many resources to spread around, and chose to focus their energies on the already established Aerosmith and Ted Nugent. Nothing against these giants--they're great. But given the right support, Artful Dodger is one of those classic "could've beens." You can't go wrong by adding this one to your collection--right next to "Toys in the Attic."

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!

Waiting for all of their past LP's to come out on CD, Artful Dodger was one of the classics.

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.

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. 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.