Ten Summoner's Tales

Ten Summoner's Tales
Studio album by Sting
Released 9 March 1993
Recorded June - December 1992 at Lake House, Wiltshire.
Genre Pop rock, soft rock
Length 52:31
Label A&M
31454-0070-2 (Canada, US)
31454-0075-2 (International)
Producer Hugh Padgham, Sting
Sting chronology
The Soul Cages
(1991)		 Ten Summoner's Tales
(1993)		 Mercury Falling
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Chicago Tribune [2]
Deseret News (Positive)[3]
Entertainment Weekly (A) [4]
Los Angeles Times [5]
The New York Times (Positive)[6]
Robert Christgau [7]
Rolling Stone [8]

Ten Summoner's Tales is the fourth solo studio album by the rock musician Sting. The title is a combined pun of his given name, Gordon 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.

This album contained two U.S. hits; "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" reached #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Fields of Gold" reached #23.[9]

Ten Summoner's Tales was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 1993. In 1994, it was nominated for five Grammy awards, 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. It did not win Album of the Year or Record of The Year.

A long form video featuring alternate musical performances and live versions of all tracks was filmed at Lake House and 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.

The 1998 re-release CD includes a bonus video track of "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You". It also 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.

The cover of the album was photographed at Wardour Old Castle in Wiltshire, England, featuring Hrímnir, an Icelandic horse Sting owned for a period. The album was recorded at Lake House, Wiltshire, mixed at The Townhouse Studio, London and mastered at Masterdisk, New York.[10]

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. In 1994, "Shape of My Heart" was featured in the end credits of Léon, replacing Eric Serra's The Experience of Love (a track that Serra eventually used in his 1995 soundtrack for the James Bond film GoldenEye).

Contents

Track listing

All songs written by Sting except where noted.

  1. "Prologue (If I Ever Lose My Faith in You)" – 4:30
  2. "Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven)" – 5:11
  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" – 5:05
  8. "It's Probably Me" (Sting, Eric Clapton, Michael Kamen) – 4:57
  9. "Everybody Laughed But You" – 3:53 (Excluded from original Canada/US releases)[1]
  10. "Shape of My Heart" (Sting, Dominic Miller) – 4:38
  11. "Something the Boy Said" – 5:13
  12. "Epilogue (Nothing 'Bout Me)" – 3:39

French Bonus disc - five live recordings

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

Singles

Year Title Chart positions
U.S. Hot 100[9] U.S. Modern Rock[9] UK Singles Chart[11]
1992 It's Probably Me - 20 30
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)[12] - - -
1994 Nothing 'Bout Me 57 - 32

Personnel

Production

Samples and covers

Shape of My Heart

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 additional songs:

Fields of Gold

Accolades

Grammy Awards

Year Nominated work Award Result
1994 Ten Summoner's Tales Album of the Year[13] Nominated
Best Engineered Non-classical Album[14] Won
Best Longform Music Video[14] Won
"If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" Best Pop Vocal Performance – Male[14] Won
Record of the Year[13] Nominated
Song of the Year[13] Nominated

Charts

Chart positions

Chart (1993) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Album Chart[15] 9
Austrian Albums Chart[16] 1
Canadian Albums Chart[17] 3
Dutch Albums Chart[18] 5
French SNEP Albums Chart[19] 2
German Media Control Albums Chart[20] 2
Italian Albums Chart[21] 1
Japanese Albums Chart[22] 4
New Zealand Albums Chart[23] 5
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[24] 3
Swedish Albums Chart[25] 10
Swiss Albums Chart[26] 3
UK Albums Chart[27] 2
U.S. Billboard 200 [28] 2

Year-end charts

Chart (1993) Position
Austrian Albums Chart[29] 25
Canadian Albums Chart[30] 19
Italian Albums Chart[21] 4
Swiss Albums Chart[31] 28
UK Albums Chart[32] 17
U.S. Billboard 200[33] 21

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[34] Platinum 100,000^
Finland (IFPI Finland)[35] Gold 28,537[35]
France (SNEP)[36] 2× Gold 350,000[37]
Germany (BVMI)[38] Gold 250,000^
Japan (Oricon Charts) 178,870[39]
Netherlands (NVPI)[40] Gold 50,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[41] Platinum 50,000x
United Kingdom (BPI)[42] 2× Platinum 600,000^
United States (RIAA)[43] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by
Songs of Faith and Devotion
by Depeche Mode		 Austrian Chart number-one album
18 April, 1993		 Succeeded by
Songs of Faith and Devotion
by Depeche Mode

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Ten Summoner's Tales at Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-10-3.
  2. ^ Kot, Greg (1993-03-07). "Feeling A Sting". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-03-07/entertainment/9303188007_1_star-blue-turtles-moon-over-bourbon-street. Retrieved 2011-10-31. 
  3. ^ Boren, Ray (1993-04-09). "Feeling A Sting". deseretnews.com. Deseret News. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/284592/SUMNERS-TALES--STING-TEN-SUMMONERS-TALES-AM.html. Retrieved 2011-10-3. 
  4. ^ Moon, Tom (1993-03-12). "Ten Summoner's Tales Review". ew.com. Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,305852,00.html. Retrieved 2011-10-3. 
  5. ^ Willman, Chris (1993-03-07). "Album Review: STING "Ten Summoner's Tales"". articles.latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1993-03-07/entertainment/ca-7972_1_album-review. Retrieved 2011-10-3. 
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  7. ^ "Robert Christgau review". Robertchristgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=sting. Retrieved 2011-11-17. 
  8. ^ "Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/148626/. Retrieved 2011-11-17. 
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  11. ^ Sting in the UK Charts, The Official Charts.
  12. ^ Love is Stronger than Justice (German CD sales listing).
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  41. ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Sting; 'Ten Summoner's Tales')". Hung Medien. http://www.swisscharts.com/search_certifications.asp?search=Sting+Ten+Summoner%27s+Tales. 
  42. ^ "British album certifications – Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales". British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx.  Enter Ten Summoner's Tales in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
  43. ^ "American album certifications – Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Ten+Summoner%27s+Tales%22.  If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
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