Ten Summoner's Tales

Ten Summoner's Tales
Studio album by Sting
Released	March 9, 1993
Recorded	June - December 1992 at Lake House, Wiltshire.
Genre	Pop, rock
Length	52:31
Label	A&M 31454-0070-2 (Canada, US) 31454-0075-2 (International)
Producer	Hugh Padgham, Sting
Professional reviews
Allmusic: link Rolling Stone: link
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 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.

This album 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.^[1]. Sting wrote "Fields of Gold" after he bought a house near a barley field. ^[2]

Ten Summoner's Tales was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 1993. In 1994, it was nominated for four Grammy awards, winning Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("If I Ever Lose My Faith in You"). It lost Album of the Year and Record of The Year for the above mentioned song.

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 was excluded from the original 1993 release in the US and Canada, a fact that is not mentioned on the official Sting website. 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.

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 album was recorded at Lake House, Wiltshire, mixed at The Townhouse Studio, London and mastered at Masterdisk, New York.^[3]

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 Eric Serra's The Experience of Love ( a track that Serra eventually used in his 1995 soundtrack for the James Bond film GoldenEye.

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

French Bonus disc FIVE LIVE!

1. All This Time
2. Roxanne
3. The Soul Cages
4. Walking On The Moon
5. Fortress Around Your Heart

Singles

Musicians

• Sting: Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards^[3]
• Dominic Miller: Guitars
• Vinnie Colaiuta: Drums
• David Sancious: Keyboards
• Larry Adler: Chromatic harmonica
• Brendan Power: Chromatic harmonica
• John Barclay: Trumpet
• Guy Barker: Trumpet
• Sian Bell: Cello
• James Boyd: Viola
• Richard Edwards: Trombone
• Simon Fischer: Violin
• David Foxxe: Narration
• Paul Franklin: Pedal steel guitar
• Kathryn Greeley: Violin
• Dave Heath: Flute
• Kathryn Tickell: Northumbrian smallpipes, fiddle
• Mark Nightingale: Trombone
• David Sanborn: Saxophone

Production

• Produced By Sting & Hugh Padgham
• Engineered By Hugh Padgham
• Assistant Engineer, Mix Assistant: Pete Lewis
• Mixed By David Tickle & Hugh Padgham
• Mastered By David Tickle

Samples and covers

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 additional songs:

• "Take Him Back" by Monica from the 1998 album The Boy Is Mine
• "Release Me" by Blaque from the 1999 album Blaque
• "Never Let Go" by Hikaru Utada from the 1999 album First Love (re-recorded instrumental)
• "Emotional" by Carl Thomas from the 2000 album Emotional
• "Ways of the World" by Lil' Zane from the 2000 album Young World: The Future
• Some live renditions of the 2001 song "Je Moest Waarschijnlijk Gaan" by Brainpower
• "Rise & Fall" by Craig David from the 2002 album Slicker Than Your Average (re-recorded instrumentals, and chorus sung, with new lyrics, by Sting)
• "Shape" by the Sugababes from the 2002 album Angels with Dirty Faces (included the original chorus vocals as well as the song's B-section)
• "For My Soldiers" by Pastor Troy from the 2008 album Attitude Adjuster (included some of the song's original chorus)

"Fields of Gold" has been covered by Eva Cassidy on the 1996 album Live at Blues Alley, by Mary Black on the 1999 album Speaking With The Angel, by Nadine Coyle on her demo CD before Girls Aloud, by Mary Wilson on her 2007 album Up Close: Live from San Francisco and by Jay and Abby Michaels - The Harper and The Minstrel (arranged for Celtic Harp and Female Vocal) from their 2008 Album "For A Moment".

References

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