Ten Summoner's Tales

Ten Summoner's Tales is the fourth solo studio album by English 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.

Ten Summoner's Tales
Studio album by
Sting
Released9 March 1993[1]
RecordedJune–December 1992
StudioLake House, Wiltshire, England
Genre
Length52:31
Label
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]
  2. "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You"
    Released: 1 February 1993[3]
  3. "Seven Days"
    Released: 12 April 1993[4]
  4. "Fields of Gold"
    Released: 7 June 1993[5]
  5. "Shape of My Heart"
    Released: 23 August 1993[6]
  6. "Love Is Stronger Than Justice"
    Released: 24 September 1993[7]
  7. "Nothing 'Bout Me"
    Released: 14 February 1994[8]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
The Buffalo News[10]
Calgary HeraldB+[11]
Chicago Tribune[12]
Entertainment WeeklyA[13]
Los Angeles Times[14]
Music Week[15]
Q[16]
Rolling Stone[17]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[18]
The Sacramento Bee[19]
USA Today[20]

This album contains two US hits; "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 while "Fields of Gold" got to No. 23.[21]

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 was also an unofficial live album produced during the Ten Summoner's Tales era, entitled Meadowlands of Gold, which contained 13 tracks performed at the Meadowlands Arena on February 26, 1994, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The songs consisted of tracks from the album, and a few songs by The Police plus a cover of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life".

In February 2023, it was announced that Ten Summoner's Tales would be re-released and digitally expanded, with multiple songs not previously heard or available to download.[22]

Background

The album was recorded at Lake House, Wiltshire, mixed at The Town House, London and mastered at Masterdisk, New York.[23] The cover of the album was photographed at Wardour 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.[24] 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)", was named as a homage to the films 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 the sophisticated playing of drummer Vinnie Colaiuta in the 5/4 time signature.

The international-exclusive track "Everybody Laughed But You" was excluded from Canadian and American pressings of the album. However, US singles from the album included the song, as well as 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 played 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 new CD issue included a bonus video track of "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You". It also featured 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 on the single "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You". The instrumental track for "Everybody Laughed But You" was also used with an alternate lyric and released as "January Stars" on the singles "Seven Days" and "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You".

Track listing

All tracks are written by Sting, except "It's Probably Me" written with Eric Clapton and Michael Kamen, and "Shape of My Heart" written with Dominic Miller

No.TitleLength
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"4:57
9."Everybody Laughed but You"3:53
10."Shape of My Heart"4:38
11."Something the Boy Said"5:13
12."Epilogue (Nothing 'Bout Me)"3:39
Total length:52:31

Notes:

  • Narration on "Saint Augustine in Hell" performed by David Foxxe.
  • "Everybody Laughed But You" does not appear on most vinyl pressings or on the original US and Canadian versions of the album.
  • Pressings of the album that do not include "Everybody Laughed But You" (and so only have 11 tracks) omit "Prologue" from the title of "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You".

Personnel

Production
  • Sting – producer
  • Hugh Padgham – producer, engineer, mixing
  • Andrew Bradfield – assistant engineer
  • Pete Lewis – assistant engineer
  • Simon Osborne – assistant engineer
  • Roger Lian – digital editing
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering
  • Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine, USA) – mastering location
  • Danny Quatrochi – personal technical assistant
  • Richard Frankel – art direction, design
  • Norman Moore – art direction, design
  • Kevin Westenberg – photography

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 was available as a single.) The song "Shape of My Heart" was featured in the end credits of the 1994 French thriller Léon: The Professional,[26] 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 British television drama Hustle.

Accolades

Grammy Awards
Year Nominee / work Award Result
1994Ten Summoner's TalesAlbum of the Year[27]Nominated
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical[28]Won
Best Music Video, Long Form[28]Won
"If I Ever Lose My Faith in You"Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male[28]Won
Record of the Year[27]Nominated
Song of the Year[27]Nominated

Brit Awards
Year Nominee / work Award Result
1994
[29]		Ten Summoner's TalesBest British AlbumNominated
Sting (performer)Best British Male ArtistWon
"Fields of Gold"Best British VideoNominated

Mercury Prize
Year Nominee / work Award Result
1993Ten Summoner's TalesMercury Music Prize[30]Nominated

Charts

Certifications and sales
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[58] Platinum 70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[59] Platinum 100,000^
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[60] Gold 28,537[60]
France (SNEP)[61] 2× Gold 200,000*
Germany (BVMI)[62] Gold 250,000^
Italy (FIMI)[63] Platinum 300,000[63]
Japan (RIAJ)[64] Gold 178,870[52]
Netherlands (NVPI)[65] Gold 50,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[66] Platinum 100,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[67] Platinum 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[68] 2× Platinum 600,000^
United States (RIAA)[69] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[70] Platinum 1,000,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

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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
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