The Constantines Album: "Tournament of Hearts" Release Date: Oct 11, 2005 Label: Sub Pop Rock-Rev Value: [7/10] Genre: Rock Styles: Indie Rock, Alternative Pop-Rock Buy It

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review by: Pitchfork
review by -Marc Hogan, October 11, 2005
Album Value: (7.6/10)

Curling is a people's game, but while the Canadian women's curling championship, the Tournament of Hearts, is a professional competition, there are no full-time pro-curlers. Ontario's Constantines, too, counterbalance their work-- their allusiveness and unblunted riffs-- with a rough-hewn populism. Their songs might conjure the ghosts of Italian futurists, obscure 50s casualties, or Rod Stewart, but they ultimately bleed with love, rock 'n' roll, and the booze-stained nights that follow workaday days. The band's self-titled debut clamored for the death of rock music, while 2003's equally impressive Shine a Light saw a great band building its dank, proletarian vision, dancing through alleyways, too drunk to steer or to stop.

Third album Tournament of Hearts stumbles to its factory job the next morning, shakes out the cobwebs, and turns the radio dial to classic rock. It's gentler than its predecessors, relying on sweat and unresolved tension rather than a glorious gutter-poet deluge, though the change is more of subtleties than of substance. Here, the band consecrates not the grand passions of Shine a Light but the everyday labors of nurses, phone operators, and working stiffs "from Herald Square to the heavens, earth, and sea."

In depicting ordinary people, the Constantines unabashedly evoke bands that ordinary people might like. "Working Fulltime", inspired by the work of 93-year-old Chicago journalist and oral historian Studs Terkel, nods toward Bachman-Turner Overdrive in its title and simple, power-chord refrain, then dives into a G'n'R twin-guitar breakdown. "We will not be undersold," singer/guitarists Bry Webb and Steve Lambke grimly chant, after insisting, "We wake up every morning full of wonder." The album's most immediate track, "Soon Enough", is nearly as direct and overpowering as Shine a Light's immortal "On to You", but with a soft, countrified strum rather than its predecessor's punk-derived tumult. "Work and love will make a man out of you," Webb repeats, his still-throaty vocals sounding as subdued as the arrangement.(...)


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review by: Tinymixtapes
review by Bondelli
album value: (4.5/5)

The Constantines, darlings of the Toronto indie scene, are at it again with the Sub Pop release Tournament of Hearts. Following their highly acclaimed Shine a Light, Bry Webb and the rest of the Cons deliver another impressive album of post/punk/rock & roll bliss. Tournament reveals a new progression for the Constantines, while staying true to the sound that made Shine a Light so great. The difference was probably affected by the presence of Oneida's Bobby Matador during most of their recording, and listeners familiar with both bands should be able to discern Oneida's influence. Tournament of Hearts should not disappoint existing Constantines fans or anyone else that is lucky enough to pick this album up.

Tournament begins with "Draw Us Lines," a song consisting entirely of one chord. Most bands could never successfully pull off such a feat, but Bry Webb's passionate singing and lyrics, combined with the ability to create a flow that circumvents monotony, allows the Cons to work it into an interesting track. The rest of the tracks are varied enough to keep anyone from becoming bored even after many listens. The album contains "Hotline Operator," which was originally released as a B-side on the "Nighttime-Anytime" single, and my personal favorite, "Soon Enough," a track with a Western feel that manages to be both mellow and upbeat, with catchy guitar-work tied together perfectly with Webb's singing.

The greatest aspect of Tournament of Hearts is Bry Webb's singing. His voice convinces you of the truth of the emotion and power of his songs. With so many bands either sounding whiny or bland, especially when it comes to songs even remotely addressing the subject of love, it is refreshing to hear it done the way it was meant to be: emotion without mushiness, rock without bland lyrics, and execution that seems not at all phony.

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review by: Popmatters
review by Adrien Begrand
Album Value: (5/10)

The Constantines are one of those bands whose workmanlike attitude makes them impossible to hate. These hard working, hard-touring Canadian boys are your typical, earnest rockers, a band who has delivered every single time on record, be it their ferocious 2002 debut, the more even-keeled but more nuanced Shine a Light, not to mention the impressive handful of EPs they've put out in the past. As solid as their recorded work is, they're even better live. There's a reason why many Constantines album reviews start out with a preamble about how potent their live show is; you may like "Hyacinth Blues" on record, but egad, dear reader, when you hear that song in a packed club, climaxing with the "O-V-E-R-D-O-S-E" chant, for a while there, anyway, it sounds like the greatest rock song ever. Displaying a lyrical sincerity that's as strongly influenced by Ian MacKaye and Fugazi as their music is, the Constantines wear their hearts on their sleeves, and ask listeners to do the same, while delivering soul-stirring blends of hardcore and classic rock 'n' roll. This is workingman's indie rock at its finest, and when Shine a Light won over even more admirers a couple years ago, we all thought it was only a matter of time before this Guelph, Ontario band hit it big.

Needless to say, expectations were very high in anticipation of the Cons' third full-length, but while everyone conjured mental images of an even more explosive display of post punk soul, the band went and threw us all a curveball. Not just any curveball, mind you, but one of those devastating, drop-off-the-table sliders that leaves hitters whiffing helplessly like little leaguers. Gone are the aggressive bursts of guitars, the surreally poetic manifestos bellowed by lead howler Bryan Webb, the tense songs that wind up an audience as tightly as possible. Instead, we get an album that's understated, introspective, and lugubrious enough to either enthrall longtime fans, or completely alienate them.(...)

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review by: Blogcritics
review by Zach Hoskins
Album Value: (-/-)

It's easy to see why the indie community has embraced The Constantines. Personally and politically, the Ontario five-piece embody the same kind of earnestness grass-roots musicians and fans alike can rally behind: no complacency for these guys, no Clear Channel radio or wishy-washy mainstream politics. Tournament Of Hearts, like the two Constantines records which came before, is music that means Something - it almost doesn't matter what that "Something" is. Opening track "Draw Us Lines" is nothing short of a call to arms, Doug McGregor's drums pounding out a tribal rhythm, while vocalist Bryan Webb chants his peculiarly bolstering, quasi-mystical lyrics: "Starhawk in a street ritual, pleas from Herald Square to the heavens, earth and seas. Let the land move its people, and draw us lines from our fiery designs." He lets loose with a strangled yell and the song shifts into high gear. Power chords dart into the mix, only to pull back just in time for the next verse. The intensity builds to a fever pitch; waves of guitars and cymbals lap over McGregor's insistent tom-toms, and by the time it's all over it becomes clear: perhaps self-conscious, perhaps not, this is the kind of music the word "anthemic" was invented to describe.

But does Importance (or self-importance) alone make a good album? Yes and no. Certainly, the epic scope of The Constantines' vision does them more good than ill. Songs like "Lizaveta," awash in brass and fuzztone, are so heavy with portent that their cryptic lyrics are elevated to an almost prophetic level. "It's good...we desire disorder," sings Webb. "Be sensitive. You were born to live." Musical icons are invoked left and right: U2, Pearl Jam, Springsteen. The beginning of processional blue-collar rocker "Working Full-Time" - a repeating synthesizer motif, a series of thunderous drum rolls, another masculine, hoarse-throated yell - even calls to mind one of the more famous moments from the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again." But listening to such a tailor-made modern classic can tire a guy out, and ultimately Tournament Of Hearts feels longer than its 36-minute running length should allow. It's all just so serious. Even temporary reprieves, like the tightly wired "Hotline Operator" (something like a more impassioned, less sexy Kills outtake) and the light touches of electric piano that color "Thieves," are more concerned with heaviness than headiness, and that's a shame. It's like a healthy, hearty dinner with no dessert: good for you, sure, but where's the fun?

Like Fugazi before them, The Constantines make music as stone-faced and mirthless as the politics they represent. And maybe they should: in this age of irony, a good dose of gravity could be just what we need. But Tournament Of Hearts takes itself almost too seriously. It plods rather than struts. It proselytizes, but only rarely gives the listener anything resembling transcendence. Don't get me wrong, it's a fine album; meticulously crafted, performed with firm-handed control and startling chops. One just can't help but wonder how much greater the Constantines could be if they learned to lighten up

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