Artful Dodger is a classic example of a great band who arrived at the wrong time -- in this case, they were caught in the mid-'70s crossroads, between the power pop of
the Raspberries and the crunching rock of
Cheap Trick, whose producer Jack Douglas helmed
Artful Dodger's debut as well as
Honor Among Thieves, their excellent second album. Sonically,
Artful Dodger falls between
the Raspberries and
Cheap Trick -- they have guitars and jangle and melodies that evoke
the Beatles -- but to call them pop almost seems dismissive, to ignore that
Honor Among Thieves is a heavy rock & roll record, an album where the power chords outweigh the power pop. That's not to downplay the songwriting of guitarist Gary Herrewig and vocalist Billy Paliselli, the two members who write the bulk of the album (rhythm guitarist Gary Cox contributes two numbers, including the nicely spacy "Dandelion" where he takes lead vocals): they write muscular, insistent pop songs where the riffs are as memorable as the melodies, songs hooky enough that it's easy to see why
Artful Dodger is tagged as power pop. But what makes
Honor Among Thieves a lost '70s classic is that it works as a rock & roll record -- it's a rush of pure addictive sound, one that captures the sound and feel of its era, but transcends it just because it rocks so hard. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine