Released 9 March 1993 Length 52:31 Label A&M Records | Recorded June – December 1992 Release date 5 March 1993 | |
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Similar Sting albums, Rock music albums |
Sting if i ever lose my faith in you prologue cd ten summoner s tales
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.
Contents
- Sting if i ever lose my faith in you prologue cd ten summoner s tales
- Background
- 1998 re release
- Track listing
- B sides
- Personnel
- Use in media
- Soundtrack appearances
- Songs
- References
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.
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 The album sold more than 10 million copies around the world.
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 an album produced during the Ten Summoner's Tales era titled "Meadowlands of Gold", which contains 13 live tracks performed at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The songs consists of tracks from the album, as well as 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. 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.
The international-exclusive track "Everybody Laughed But You" was excluded from Canadian and American releases. However, USA singles from various songs in the album include the song, as well as 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 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.
Track listing
All songs written by Sting except where noted.
French bonus disc – five live recordings (later released as a promotional disc called Five Live)
- "All This Time"
- "Roxanne"
- "The Soul Cages"
- "Walking on the Moon"
- "Fortress Around Your Heart"
B-sides
- "January Stars"
- "Everybody Laughed but You"
- "Mad About You" (Live)
- "Ain't No Sunshine" (Live)
- "Every Breath You Take" (Live)
- "Message in a Bottle" (Live)
- "Tea in the Sahara" (Live)
- "Walking on the Moon" (Live)
- "King of Pain" (Live)
- "Purple Haze" (Live)
- "Fortress Around Your Heart" (Live)
- "Roxanne" (Live)
- "Ne me quitte pas" (Live)
- "All This Time" (Live)
- "Island of Souls" (Live)
- "The Wild Wild Sea" (Live)
Personnel
Production
Use in media
"Shape of My Heart"
The song has also been covered by several artists:
"Fields of Gold"
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.
Songs
1If I Ever Lose My Faith in You4:31
2Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven)5:11
3Fields of Gold3:40