Ten Summoner's Tales

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Ten Summoner's Tales
File:Ten Summoner's Tales.jpg
Studio album by Sting
Released 5 March 1993[1]
Recorded June – December 1992 at Lake House, Wiltshire
Genre Pop rock, soft rock, jazz rock
Length 52:31
Label A&M
31454-0070-2 (Canada, US)
31454-0075-2 (International)
Producer Sting, Hugh Padgham
Sting chronology
The Soul Cages
(1991)The Soul Cages1991		 Ten Summoner's Tales
(1993)		 Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984–1994
(1994)Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984–19941994
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
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars[2]
Chicago Tribune 3/4 stars[3]
Deseret News (Positive)[4]
Entertainment Weekly (A)[5]
Los Angeles Times 3/4 stars[6]
The New York Times (Positive)[7]
Robert Christgau (neither)[8]
Rolling Stone 4.5/5 stars[9]

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 contained two US hits; "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Fields of Gold" reached #23.[10]

Ten Summoner's Tales was shortlisted for the 1993 Mercury Prize. In 1994, it was nominated for six 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, Record or 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.

Background

The album was recorded at Lake House, Wiltshire, mixed at The Townhouse Studio, London and mastered at Masterdisk, New York.[11] 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 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.

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.[12]

Track listing

All songs written by Sting except where noted.

No. Title 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"   5:05
8. "It's Probably Me" (Sting, Eric Clapton, Michael Kamen) 4:57
9. "Everybody Laughed but You" (Excluded from original Canada/US releases)[1]) 3:53
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 (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"

Singles

Year Title Chart positions
US Hot 100[10] UK Singles Chart[13]
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)"[14] – –
1994 "Nothing 'Bout Me" 57 32

Personnel

Production

  • Produced by Sting and Hugh Padgham
  • Engineered by Hugh Padgham
  • Assistant engineer, mix assistant: Pete Lewis
  • Mixed by David Tickle and Hugh Padgham
  • Mastered by Bob Ludwig

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. In 1994, "Shape of My Heart" was featured in the end credits of Léon, 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.

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:

The song has also been covered by several artists:

"Fields of Gold"

Accolades

Grammy Awards

Year Recipient/Nominated work Award Result
1994 Ten Summoner's Tales Album of the Year[16] Nominated
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical[17] Won
Best Music Video, Long Form[17] Won
"If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male[17] Won
Record of the Year[16] Nominated
Song of the Year[16] Nominated

Brit Awards

Year Recipient/Nominated work Award Result
1994
[18]		 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 Recipient/Nominated work Award Result
1993 Ten Summoner's Tales Mercury Music Prize[19] Nominated

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[20] Platinum 100,000
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[21] Gold 28,537[21]
France (SNEP)[22] 2× Gold 350,000[23]
Germany (BVMI)[24] Gold 250,000
Japan (RIAJ)[25] Gold 178,870[26]
Netherlands (NVPI)[27] Gold 50,000
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[28] Platinum 100,000
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[29] Platinum 50,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[30] 2× Platinum 600,000
United States (RIAA)[31] 3× Platinum 3,000,000

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

Charts

Chart precession and succession

Preceded by
Gli spari sopra by Vasco Rossi
Gli spari sopra by Vasco Rossi
 Italian FIMI Chart number-one album
20 – 26 March 1993
17 – 30 April 1993		 Succeeded by
Gli spari sopra by Vasco Rossi
Gli spari sopra by Vasco Rossi
Preceded by Austrian Chart number-one album
18 April 1993		 Succeeded by
Songs of Faith and Devotion
by Depeche Mode

1998 re-release

Ten Summoner's Tales was re-released in 1998. The 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.

References

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  • Stingoop.com Ten Summoner's Tales Release Details
  • sting.com Ten Summoner's Tales Release Details on Sting's official website
  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Ten Summoner's Tales at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-10-3.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 allmusic ((( Sting > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Sting in the UK Charts, The Official Charts.
  14. ↑ Love is Stronger than Justice (German CD sales listing).
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Select 1993年3月 on the drop-down menu
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter Ten Summoner's Tales in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 2011-10-31
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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