Ten Summoner's Tales

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Ten Summoner's Tales
Ten Summoner's Tales cover
Studio album by Sting
Released March 9, 1993
Recorded June - December 1992
Genre Pop, Rock
Length 52:31
Label A&M
Producer Hugh Padgham
Professional reviews
Sting chronology
The Soul Cages
(1991)		 Ten Summoner's Tales
(1993)		 Mercury Falling
(1996)

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 Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales character, 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 only 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.

Ten Summoner's Tales was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 1993 and nominated for the Grammy Awards Album of the Year in 1994.

Contents

[edit] Details

The 1998 re-release CD includes a bonus video track of "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You". Interestingly, it also features the song "Everybody Laughed But You", which wasn't part of the original 1993 release in the US and Canada, a fact that isn't mentioned on the official Sting website. The song did appear on the original release in the UK, Europe, Japan and other territories. The instrumental track for "Everybody Laughed But You" was also used with an alternate lyric and released as "January Stars" on the "Seven Days" single.

A different version of "It's Probably Me" was featured in the opening titles of Lethal Weapon 3, featuring Eric Clapton. This issue is available as a single.

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 song "Shape of My Heart" was featured prominently at the end of the film Léon. The song was also sampled by Sugababes for the song Shape on their second album Angels with Dirty Faces, by Monica for the song Take Him Back off the album The Boy Is Mine (album), by Craig David for the song Rise and Fall on his Album "Slicker Than Your Average", by Carl Thomas for the title track on his album "Emotional", by Blaque for their song Release Me, by Lil Zane for the song The Ways of the World on his album Young World: The Future, and by Nas in the song The Message.

A cover version of "Fields of Gold" was released by Mary Wilson on her Up Close: Live From San Francisco CD.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Sting unless otherwise 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

[edit] Musicians

[edit] References

  • Stingoop.com Ten Summoner's Tales Release Details
  • sting.com Ten Summoner's Tales Release Details on Sting's official website