The Age of Miracles

Best Mary Chapin Carpenter cd ever! Rarely is there a cd that I like the first time I listen to it and this was one. Buy it. You won't regret it.

Mary Chapin Carpenter provides me a soundtrack to my own life. Her lyrics are poetic and her music is transporting. Again, on Age of Miracles she gives us all something to think about, to cherish, and to enjoy. In my opinion, there is no American songwriter with her talent for poetry and her gift of song and composition. I am indebted to her because her lyrics have framed so much of my life and her sentiments are so powerful. Age of Miracles is simply another amazing step in the journey.

Is there a more thoughtful, gifted artist than Mary Chapin Carpenter? She's at her best.

OK, I admit I was skeptical. I'm an old MCC fan, but I have not cared for 2 of her last 3 albums (don't like Time Sex Love or The Calling (though I love the songs Houston and Twilight), I do like Between Here and Gone), but this one is great. If you want to sample songs, try: I Put My Ring Back On, I was a Bird, I Have a Need for Solitude, The Age of Miracles, and The Way I Feel. That's a lot, but this is a great album that ends stronger than it begins.

I have never been disappointed by this artist and this album is no exception. She's hit it out of the park again. Both the title track and "4 June 1989" particularly stand out. Highly recommended.

This album has grown even better with repeated listenings. When I put it on, I go to that special Mary Chapin Carpenter place, and I'm lost until the end of the album. The obvious stand outs are "We Travelled So Far", "I Put My Ring Back On", and ""4 June 1989". How about that first cord that opens the album? You just know something great is starting when you hear it. Thank your Mary Chapin Carpenter--I love you!

Mary Chapin Carpenter has had the kind of career that most artists would envy. Marketed early on by Capitol records as a country artist, she enjoyed early and buoying success, but survived Capitol's designation because her talent proved too big for Nashville's narrow-minded focus. She is a song-writer, first and foremost, and one of the best this country has to offer. She has remained deeply in touch with America, its people, its rhythms, its triumphs, and its tragedies, and she knows just how to get them into the lines of her song. When Chapin sings, whether it is of Tiananmen Square ("4 June 1989"0) or ordinary human love ("I Put My Ring Back On"), we believe what she has to say. Credible, moving, lyrical, wise, "The Age of Miracles" is little short of miraculous. A beautiful piece of work.

I love MCC and was very excited when she had a new album out. Downloaded it immediately and listened through once and thought ehhh... So I listened two or three more times to make sure I wasn't jumping to conclusions. I wasn't. Its not terrible by any means - and still better than a lot of what's out there - but just not as good as most of Mary Chapin's other stuff. I guess I'm just spoiled by her older work.

I've followed Mary Chapin Carpenter's career since she performed "You Don't Know Me(I'm The Opening Act)" on the CMA's back in very late 80's when I was twelve years old. Now, some twenty years later, her name is printed on the covers of several of my all time favorite albums. On "The Age Of Miracles", Chapin is her usually descriptive self, painting images of others lives in our heads that we can associate with our own. She's always made albums that I could listen on repeat for days and days without ever growing tired of it. "The Age of Miracles" is no exception. "Last Night I Put My Ring Back On" has radio single all over it, although unlikely to happen. And that's sad because music lovers who are vocal in what is being pushed in the market today are just as obscure and endangered as the truely talented artists. But over look that-this album will take all your anger and your guilt and your regret and throw it out the window doing a mellow 60 miles per hour on a rural back road. This, like all of Chapin's albums, is like sitting at a table at an outside cafe having coffee with a dear old friend who doesn't come around as much as we'd like.

This album is pure Mary Chapin from beginning to end. A great reminder of why I fell in love with her music in the beginning and happy to know that she has recovered from what could have been a catastrophic illness to produce something that gives us a deeper look into her soul.