The Con (album)

Infobox Album
Name = The Con
Type = studio
Artist = Tegan and Sara

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Released = Start date|2007|7|24
Recorded = January 2007 – March 12 2007
Genre = Indie pop
Length = 37:37
Label = Vapor, Sire, London
Producer = Tegan and Sara, Chris Walla
Reviews =
*AbsolutePunk.net (88%) [http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=256835 link]
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dnfyxzy5ldfe link]
*Billboard (favorable) [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/albums/e3i4e5cfeef7081c5c8180e3b21b34e20b5 link]
*Entertainment Weekly (B+) [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20046852,00.html link]
*Metacritic (81/100) [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/teganandsara/conthe link]
*The Observer Rating|5|5 [http://music.guardian.co.uk/pop/story/0,,2256121,00.html link]
*Okayplayer Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.okayplayer.com/reviews/index.php/weblog/more/the_con/ link]
*Pitchfork Media (6.6/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/44444-the-con link]
*Rolling Stone Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/15567392/review/15605575/the_con link]
*TMM rating-10|8 [http://www.themusicmagazine.co.uk/page.php?al=Tegan_And_Sara_The_Con link]
Last album = "So Jealous"
(2004)
This album = "The Con"
(2007)
Next album =

"The Con" is Tegan and Sara's fifth full-length studio album, released on July 24, 2007 (February 18, 2008 in the United Kingdom). Guest performers on the album include Jason McGerr of Death Cab for Cutie, Matt Sharp of The Rentals (on Sara's songs), Hunter Burgan of AFI (on Tegan's songs) and Kaki King. [ [http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=215184 Tegan & Sara Update - News Article - AbsolutePunk.net ] ] [Katie Hasty, [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003564510 "Tegan & Sara Weigh Pros And 'Cons' On New CD"] , Billboard.com, March 18, 2007.] [ [http://www.filter-mag.com/index.php?id=14413&c=12 Filter-Mag.com ] ]

The album is dedicated to Rita Clement and Burt Harris.

Background

As announced on their MySpace blog, a special edition CD/DVD was released at the same time as the CD-only version. The CD/DVD release has a parental advisory warning for profanity on the DVD, although the CD contains no explicit content. [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fnfyxzy5ldfe allmusic ((( The Con [CD/DVD > Overview ))) ] ]

"Back in Your Head" is the first single, and "The Con" is also being used heavily for promotional purposes. According to "Rolling Stone", "The Con" is the second single. [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/teganandsara/discography Tegan and Sara : Discography : Rolling Stone ] ] The vinyl release of this album includes a promotional copy of "The Con" on CD. "Call it Off" is to be the third single, and the video's release date is September 15, 2008, according to the band's MySpace blog.

According to the DVD edition of the album, "Sugar, Spell It Out" was a tentative album title. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKP8liF-xmo YouTube - The Con ] ] The DVD also reveals the title track "The Con" was tentatively titled "Encircle Me" and "Like O, Like H" was previously titled "SOS."

EE Storey, the band's artistic director, designed the album artwork.

For their world tour of this album, they have posted a series of videos called "Trailer Talk" on their MySpace profile.

1,500 copies of "The Con" demos were sold for charity at concerts.

Critical Reception

"The Con" received positive reviews from the media, scoring 80 on review aggregator MetaCritic. [ [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/teganandsara/conthe?q=The%20Con "'Tegan and Sara: The Con"] , MetaCritic. Retrieved June 16, 2008.] The album debuted at number 34 on the U.S. "Billboard 200", selling about 19,000 copies in its first week. [Katie Hasty, [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003619311 "'NOW 25' Fends Off 'Hairspray,' Prince To Remain No. 1"] , Billboard.com, August 1, 2007.] On week 2, the album fell out of the top 50, at #69, selling about 10,000 that week, totaling at 29,000.

"Filter Magazine" calls The Con "a startlingly dark, yet characteristically vibrant offering, featuring a band that’s learned to harness the energy-highs, while tempering pretty (even pastoral) pop-folk with a new, deeply-affecting brand of melancholy." PopMatters gives The Con a score of 8 out of 10, calling it "very, very good. To be more precise, it is one of the best albums so far of 2007 and one of the best recent pop releases." The "A.V. Club" says that "ultimately even The Con's failings work in its favor, providing a macro version of what the best Tegan And Sara songs do, by stumbling along recklessly, then falling together." [Noel Murray, [http://www.avclub.com/content/music/tegan_and_sara "Tegan and Sara: The Con"] , avclub.com, July 24, 2007]

Track listing

# "I Was Married" (Sara Quin) – 1:36
# "Relief Next to Me" (S. Quin) – 3:04
# "The Con" (Tegan Quin) – 3:33
# "Knife Going In" (S. Quin) – 2:13
# "Are You Ten Years Ago" (T. Quin) – 3:21
# "Back in Your Head" (S. Quin) – 3:00
# "Hop a Plane" (T. Quin) – 1:53
# "Soil, Soil" (T. Quin) – 1:27
# "Burn Your Life Down" (S. Quin) – 2:26
# "Nineteen" (T. Quin) – 3:00
# "Floorplan" (S. Quin) – 3:41
# "Like O, Like H" (S. Quin) – 2:43
# "Dark Come Soon" (T. Quin) – 3:11
# "Call It Off" (T. Quin) – 2:25

DVD features

*The Con: The Movie (Making of the album)
*Extras
**Ptosis: Explained
**Ptosis Outtakes
**Duct Tape Dreads
**Feelings Report

Personnel

*Tegan Quin – guitars, keyboards, piano, vocals
*Sara Quin – guitars, keyboard, piano, vocals
*Christopher Walla – guitars (6, 10), keyboards (12), organ (6), shakers (6), cymbals (5), tiny guitars (5, 14), bass (4, 9)
*Ted Gowans – guitars (2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 14), keyboards (2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13), organ (13)
*Matt Sharp – bass (1, 2, 6, 9, 11, 12) on all of Sara's songs
*Hunter Burgan – bass (3, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14) on all of Tegan's songs
*Kaki King – lap steel (4), guitar (11)
*Jason McGerr – drums, percussion

References

External links

* [http://www.filter-mag.com/index.php?id=14413&c=12 Filter-Mag pre-release review]