1993 Sting – 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.
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 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”.
Tracks
1 Prologue (If I Ever Lose My Faith In You) (Sting) 04:24
2 Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven) (Sting) 05:05
3 Fields Of Gold (Sting) 03:35
4 Heavy Cloud No Rain (Sting) 03:43
5 She’s Too Good For Me (Sting) 02:26
6 Seven Days (Sting) 04:35
7 Saint Augustine In Hell (Sting) 05:07
8 It’s Probably Me (Eric Clapton; Michael Kamen; Sting) 05:04
9 Everybody Loughed But You (Sting) 03:44
10 Shape Of My Heart (Dominic Miller; Sting) 04:32
11 Something The Boy Said (Sting) 05:25
12 Epilogue (Nothing ‘Bout Me) (Sting) 03:33
Biography
Musicians
Bass | Sting |
Drums | Vinnie Colaiuta |
Guitar | Dominic Miller |
Pedal Steel Guitar | Paul Franklin |
Keyboards | David Sancious |
Harmonica | Sting |
Harmonica | Brendan Power |
Harmonica | Larry Adler |
Sax | Sting |
Trombone | Mark Nightingale |
Trombone | Richard Edwards |
Trumpet | Guy Barker |
Trumpet | John Barclay |
Pipes | Kathryn Tickell |
Fiddle | Kathryn Tickell |
Vocals | Sting |
Strings
Cello – Sian Bell
Viola – James Boyd
Violin – Kathryn Greeley, Simon Fischer
Liner Notes
Producer – Sting, Hugh Padgham
Arranged By – Sting
Engineer – Hugh Padgham
Engineer (Assistant) – Andy Bradfield, Pete Lewis, Simon Osborne
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Mixed By – Hugh Padgham
Technician – Danny Quatrochi
Design – Norman Moore, Richard Frankel
Mastered At Masterdisk
Mixed At The Town House
Recorded At Lake House, Wiltshire
Phonographic Copyright A&M Records, Inc.
Copyright A&M Records, Inc.