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Ten Summoner's Tales

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Ten Summoner's Tales
File:Ten Summoner's Tales.jpg
Studio album by
Sting
Released9 March 1993
RecordedJune–December 1992
StudioLake House, Wiltshire, England
GenrePop rock, soft rock, jazz rock
Length52:31
LabelA&M
31454-0070-2 (Canada, US)
31454-0075-2 (International)
ProducerSting, Hugh Padgham
Sting chronology
The Soul Cages
(1991) 		Ten Summoner's Tales
(1993) 		Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984–1994
(1994)
Singles from Ten Summoner's Tales
  1. "It's Probably Me"
    Released: 23 June 1992
  2. "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You"
    Released: 1 February 1993
  3. "Seven Days"
    Released: 1 April 1993
  4. "Fields of Gold"
    Released: 1 June 1993
  5. "Shape of My Heart"
    Released: 1 August 1993
  6. "Nothing 'Bout Me"
    Released: 4 February 1994
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Chicago Tribune[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
Entertainment WeeklyA[4]
Los Angeles Times[5]
Rolling Stone[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]

Ten Summoner's Tales is the fourth solo studio album by the English rock musician Sting. The title is a combined pun of his family name, Sumner, and a character in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the summoner. Released in 1993, it explores themes of love and morality in a noticeably upbeat mood compared to his previous release, the introspective The Soul Cages released in 1991 after the loss of both his parents in the 1980s.

This album contains two US hits; "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Fields of Gold" reached No. 23.[8]

Ten Summoner's Tales was shortlisted for the 1993 Mercury Prize. In 1994, it was nominated for six Grammy awards including Album of the Year (losing to Whitney Houston‘s The Bodyguard), winning Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("If I Ever Lose My Faith in You") and Best Long Form Music Video, while "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" was also nominated for Record and Song of the Year.

A laser disc and VHS of the album were released, containing live performances of all songs on the album at Lake House.

A promotional disc was made where Sting discusses some of the songs on the album. There is also a live album produced during the Ten Summoner's Tales era titled Meadowlands of Gold, which contains 13 tracks performed at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The songs consist of tracks from the album, and a few Police songs and a cover of The Beatles' "A Day in the Life".

Background

The album was recorded at Lake House, Wiltshire, mixed at The Townhouse Studio, London and mastered at Masterdisk, New York.[9] The cover of the album was photographed at Wardour Old Castle in Wiltshire, featuring Hrímnir, an Icelandic horse Sting owned for a period.

A long form "performance" video of the entire album was filmed at Sting's Lake House property. The audio used is partly from the album, but partly recorded as played by the band during the filming. This film was released in conjunction with the album. The video went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Video in 1994 and was directed by Doug Nichol and produced by Julie Fong.

On 11 August 1994, a compact disc of Ten Summoner's Tales became the first item ever securely purchased over the Internet, for $12.48 plus shipping.[10]

There was also an interview disc released for the album, in which Sting talks about all tracks on the album.

The second track on the album, Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven), is titled after Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven. According to the interview disc, the idea came to Sting when he wanted to write a song in the 7/4 time signature. The song Seven Days is also noted for Vinnie Colaiuta's sophisticated playing in the 5/4 time signature.

The international-exclusive track "Everybody Laughed But You" was excluded from Canadian and American album releases. However, US singles from the album include the song, and a version of the song with different lyrics titled "January Stars".

The singles for Ten Summoner's Tales also give credit to Fernandes Guitars, as Dominic Miller plays a Fernandes P-Project Acoustic Electric Nylon guitar throughout the album.

1998 re-release

Ten Summoner's Tales was remastered and re-released in 1998. The re-release CD includes a bonus video track of "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You". It features the song "Everybody Laughed But You", which was excluded from the original 1993 release in the US and Canada. The song did appear on the original release in the UK, Europe, Japan and other territories, and the "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" single. The instrumental track for "Everybody Laughed But You" was also used with an alternate lyric and released as "January Stars" on the "Seven Days" and "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" singles.

Track listing

All songs written by Sting except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Prologue (If I Ever Lose My Faith in You)" 4:30
2."Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven)" 5:12
3."Fields of Gold" 3:42
4."Heavy Cloud No Rain" 3:39
5."She's Too Good for Me" 2:30
6."Seven Days" 4:40
7."Saint Augustine in Hell" (Narration performed by David Foxxe[11]) 5:05
8."It's Probably Me"Sting, Eric Clapton, Michael Kamen4:57
9."Everybody Laughed but You" (Excluded from original Canada/US releases[12]) 3:53
10."Shape of My Heart"Sting, Dominic Miller4:38
11."Something the Boy Said" 5:13
12."Epilogue (Nothing 'Bout Me)" 3:39

French bonus disc – five live recordings (later released as a promotional disc called Five Live)

  1. "All This Time"
  2. "Roxanne"
  3. "The Soul Cages"
  4. "Walking on the Moon"
  5. "Fortress Around Your Heart"

B-sides

  1. "January Stars"
  2. "Everybody Laughed but You"
  3. "Mad About You" (Live)
  4. "Ain't No Sunshine" (Live)
  5. "Every Breath You Take" (Live)
  6. "Message in a Bottle" (Live)
  7. "Tea in the Sahara" (Live)
  8. "Walking on the Moon" (Live)
  9. "King of Pain" (Live)
  10. "Purple Haze" (Live)
  11. "Fortress Around Your Heart" (Live)
  12. "Roxanne" (Live)
  13. "Ne me quitte pas" (Live)
  14. "All This Time" (Live)
  15. "Island of Souls" (Live)
  16. "The Wild Wild Sea" (Live)
  17. "We Work The Black Seam (1993 Version)" (US single)

Personnel

Production

Use in media

The backing track of "Shape of My Heart" was used, in a slightly altered way, by rapper Nas on his song "The Message" on the 1996 album It Was Written. In the later 1990s and the 2000s, it became a popular sample in R&B and hip hop songs, possibly inspired by Nas' usage. It has been sampled or interpolated in the following:

The song "Shape of My Heart" been covered by several artists:

The song "Fields of Gold" has also been covered by several artists:

Soundtrack appearances

A different version of "It's Probably Me", featuring Eric Clapton, was featured in the opening titles of Lethal Weapon 3. This version is available as a single. The song "Shape of My Heart" was featured in the end credits of the 1994 French thriller Léon: The Professional,[14] replacing Éric Serra's "The Experience of Love" (a track that Serra eventually used in his 1995 soundtrack for the James Bond film GoldenEye). In 2011, "Shape of My Heart" was used to conclude the final episode of the seventh series of the British television drama series Hustle.

Accolades

Grammy Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1994 Ten Summoner's Tales Album of the Year[15] Nominated
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical[16] Won
Best Music Video, Long Form[16] Won
"If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male[16] Won
Record of the Year[15] Nominated
Song of the Year[15] Nominated

Brit Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1994
[17]		 Ten Summoner's Tales Best British Album Nominated
Sting (performer) Best British Male Artist Won
"Fields of Gold" Best British Video Nominated

Mercury Prize

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1993 Ten Summoner's Tales Mercury Music Prize[18] Nominated

Charts

Singles

Year Title Chart positions
US Hot 100[8] UK Singles Chart[40]
1993 "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" 17 14
"Seven Days" – 25
"Fields of Gold" 23 16
"Shape of My Heart" – 57
"Love is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven)"[41] – –
1994 "Nothing 'Bout Me" 57 32

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[42] Platinum 70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[43] Platinum 100,000^
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[44] Gold 28,537[44]
France (SNEP)[46] 2× Gold 350,000[45]
Germany (BVMI)[47] Gold 250,000^
Italy (FIMI)[48] Platinum 300,000*
Japan (RIAJ)[49] Gold 178,870[36]
Netherlands (NVPI)[50] Gold 50,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[51] Platinum 100,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[52] Platinum 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[53] 2× Platinum 600,000^
United States (RIAA)[54] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Ten Summoner's Tales – Sting". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  2. ^ Kot, Greg (7 March 1993). "Feeling A Sting". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
  4. ^ Moon, Tom (12 March 1993). "Ten Summoner's Tales". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  5. ^ Willman, Chris (7 March 1993). "Sting 'Ten Summoner's Tales' A&M". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  6. ^ DeCurtis, Anthony (18 March 1993). "Ten Summoner's Tales". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  7. ^ Considine, J. D. (2004). "Sting". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 783–84. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  8. ^ a b allmusic ((( Sting > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))
  9. ^ a b "Album info". Discogs.com. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  10. ^ Lewis, Peter H. (12 August 1994). "Attention Shoppers: Internet Is Open". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  11. ^ [1]
  12. ^ [2]
  13. ^ "David Foxxe". IMDb. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  14. ^ http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2845
  15. ^ a b c "Sting Nominated To Receive 6 Grammys". nytimes.com. New York Times. 7 January 1994. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  16. ^ a b c "Past Winners Search". grammy.com. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  17. ^ "The BRITs 1994". brits.co.uk. British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  18. ^ "The BRITs 1994". brits.co.uk. British Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on 2 January 2012. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  19. ^ "australian-charts.com Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales" (ASP). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  20. ^ "austriancharts.at Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  21. ^ Library and Archives Canada. Archived 29 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2011-10-31
  22. ^ "dutchcharts.nl Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales" (ASP). Hung Medien. MegaCharts. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  23. ^ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste" (in French). infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on 6 May 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  24. ^ "Album Search: Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales" (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  25. ^ a b "Hit Parade Italia – Gli album più venduti del 1993" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  26. ^ "Highest position and charting weeks of Ten Summoner's Tales by Sting". oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Oricon Style. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  27. ^ "charts.nz Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales" (ASP). Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  28. ^ "norwegiancharts.com Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales" (ASP). Hung Medien. VG-lista. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  29. ^ "swedishcharts.com Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales" (ASP) (in Swedish). Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  30. ^ "Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales – hitparade.ch" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  31. ^ "The Official Charts Company – Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales" (PHP). Official Charts Company. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  32. ^ "allmusic ((( Ten Summoner's Tales > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  33. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Jahreshitparade 1993". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  34. ^ "The RPM Top 100 Albums of 1993". RPM. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  35. ^ "Les Albums (CD) de 1993 par InfoDisc" (in French). infodisc.fr. Archived from the original (PHP) on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  36. ^ a b Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  37. ^ "Hitparade.ch – Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1993". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  38. ^ "Complete UK Year-End Album Charts". Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  39. ^ "Billboard.BIZ – Year-end Charts – Billboard 200 – 1993". billboard.biz. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  40. ^ Sting in the UK Charts Archived 15 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Official Charts.
  41. ^ Love is Stronger than Justice (German CD sales listing).
  42. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988-2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  43. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales". Music Canada.
  44. ^ a b "Sting" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  45. ^ "Les Albums Double Or". InfoDisc.fr (in French). SNEP. Archived from the original on 24 November 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  46. ^ "French album certifications – Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  47. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Sting; 'Ten Summoner's Tales')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  48. ^ "Italian Gold for Sting" (PDF). Music & Media. 23 October 1993. p. 6. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  49. ^ "Japanese album certifications – スティング – テン・サマナーズ・テイルズ" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 1993年3月 on the drop-down menu
  50. ^ "Dutch album certifications – Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Enter Ten Summoner's Tales in the "Artiest of titel" box.
  51. ^ "Solo Exitos 1959–2002 Ano A Ano: Certificados 1991–1995". Solo Exitos 1959–2002 Ano A Ano. ISBN 8480486392.
  52. ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Ten Summoner's Tales')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
  53. ^ "British album certifications – Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Ten Summoner's Tales in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  54. ^ "American album certifications – Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales". Recording Industry Association of America.
  • Stingoop.com Ten Summoner's Tales Release Details
  • sting.com Ten Summoner's Tales Release Details on Sting's official website
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