The Things That We Are Made Of
by Mary Chapin Carpenter
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Mary Chapin Carpenter bestography
The Things That We Are Made Of is ranked 14th best out of 20 albums by Mary Chapin Carpenter on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Mary Chapin Carpenter is Come On, Come On which is ranked number 9704 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 126.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to The Things That We Are Made Of on YouTube
The Things That We Are Made Of track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (1 out of 13 tracks have been rated).
The Things That We Are Made Of rankings
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 5 hours ago).
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 95 Music Albums of 2016 | 32/95 | 3 |
| 2025 | Johnnyo | Top 85 Music Albums of 2016 | 75/85 | 1 |
| 2024 | henrygreen0203 | Top 70 Music Albums of 2016 | 68/70 | 0 |
| 2021 | henrygreen0203 | Mickey, Nanci, Bruce and Mary - Complete Discography | 64/68 | - |
| 2021 |  pa | Top 100 Music Albums of 2016 | 63/100 | 2 |
| 2017 | mjbreuer | Top 58 Music Albums of 2016 | 46/58 | 1 |
| 2016 | Heaven Magazine | Beste albums van 2016 | 36/100 | 3 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 7 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 11 | |||
The Things That We Are Made Of collection
Showing all 6 members who have this album in their collection
The Things That We Are Made Of ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
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N.B. The average rating for this album will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 9 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/21/2025 13:34 | Tamthebam | 23,163 | 69/100 |
| ! | 05/06/2022 05:05 |  zags7000 | 20,488 | 64/100 |
| ! | 03/18/2022 13:39 | henrygreen0203 | 870 | 74/100 |
| ! | 04/18/2021 18:59 | cshadows2887 | 337 | 79/100 |
| ! | 10/05/2019 10:50 | Johnnyo | 9,863 | 77/100 |
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The Things That We Are Made Of comments
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The Things That We Are Made Of is the fourteenth studio album by Mary Chapin Carpenter and her first self-released on her label Lambent Light.
Expectations were high before I even heard this project was produced by Dave Cobb, who produced incredibly successful 2010s albums by Jason Isbell, sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton.
Carpenter definitely sounds more confident and dynamic with Cobb at the helm, but ultimately he can only do so much to support an unremarkable set of songs and melodies. I especially like Cobb's emphasis on the backseat, giving Carpenter's songs a much needed kick in the rear. Cobb does a nice job producing The Blue Distance and What Does It Mean to Travel, some highlights on the album. He production does well in emphasizing the raw emotion in the songwriting and vocals on each track.
Carpenter continues what she did on Ashes and Roses: Very literate songs that do not have a melodic hooks or choruses or singable lines to make an impression on the listener.
Perhaps at this point Carpenter needs to collaborate with a good producer AND a composer to give her songs more of a solid structure.
AVERAGE.
Condensed to a 7" Single:
A-Side: Something Tamed Something Wild
B-Side: Note on a Windshield
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