Track Listing

1. If This City Never Sleeps
2. Why Waste More Time?
3. One I Love
4. Much Farther to Go
5. Paper Doll
6. Kite Song
7. Songbird
8. All the Way to New York City
9. Say Hello
10. These Friends of Mine

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20852 in Music
• Brand: Thomas
• Released on: 2007-03-13
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Rosie Thomas has a delicate, weird little voice and it's never really been the forefront of her music until now. The preteen Joni Mitchell/ choirgirl strains of her vocal tones are something to be played up, not down; thankfully she's finally realized that on her Nettwerk debut and fourth solo album. The album also includes studio patter tacked onto the beginning or ending of the songs, awesome little snippets of Rosie's famous comedic wit. Such material works in the album's favor, grounding the material by showing that Thomas is not some precious freak-folker. It also gives a glimpse of her live performances, where Rosie sometimes performs as a neurotic woman in a neck brace hopelessly in love with Leo DiCaprio named Sheila (really). The record's title likely refers to the batch of famous friends who act as accompanying musicians throughout. Thomas's core of musical compatriots in vaguely Christian dreamy emo folk-rock is here expanded from Pacific Northwesterners Damien Jurado, David Bazan, and Jeremy Enigk to include New Yorker Sufjan Stevens. Sufjan and Rosie duet beautifully and breathlessly on their cover of R.E.M.'s "The One I Love." This sparse and Beatle-length album (ten songs, just over half an hour) is her strongest by far. Huzzah! --Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

Good timing...
I walked into a record store in Oslo, Norway on Monday and the guy behind the counter had just put "These Friends of Mine" on. My Norwegian husband, my teenaged son and I were all dumbstruck - what was this magic floating out of the speakers? We hung around the shop and listened to the first three songs - each one better than the last - before buying the CD. Our only multi-generational regret: "These Friends of Mine" lasts only 33 minutes.

love it...love her
I bought this cd as a surprise to myself, as I had never heard of Rosie Thomas... AND I love her! The cd is beautiful, relaxing and even humorous at times. Super creative and FUN!

Gorgeous
This is a beautiful record. I understand that some of the songs were recorded in Rosie's friends apartment in New York City. In fact the entire album sounds like a love letter to New York City, like some of the old Simon and Garfunkel albums. I really liked the simple production, it really lets the beauty of the music come through - like a beautiful woman without make up. I hope Rosie continues to make this type of album. If you like this album you may also like Laura Gibson's If You Come to Greet Me, another fine record by an under appreciated artist.