This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
How quickly they grow up.
Just a couple of years ago, Adam Green was singing ridiculous, foul-mouthed ditties about crack, bunnies and porn with the anti-folk phenoms The Moldy Peaches. Now, on his oddly ambitious second solo album Friends Of Mine, he’s singing about … well, pretty much the same stuff, actually. But it’s not what he’s saying on these 15 cuts; it’s the way he says it.
The strummy acoustic guitars and bare-bones rhythm section that anchor Green’s songs are augmented and sweetened by — wait for it — an authentic string quartet, whose lush elegance adds an air of smooth sophistication to sophomoric silliness like Bunnyranch, Broken Joystick and Salty Candy. It’s still a long way from adult: At times, Green sounds like an easy-listening singer with a bad case of Tourette’s and an airport full of personal baggage. But it’s nice to know that even if you still can’t take him out, at least you can dress him up.
