Ten Summoner's Tales

Background

Sting commented that he intended for the songs on Ten Summoner's Tales to be more upbeat than the material found on his previous studio album, The Soul Cages and that his goal was to write songs that would "amuse my band and family." The album was recorded at Lake House, Wiltshire, mixed at The Town House, London and mastered at Masterdisk, New York. The cover of the album was photographed at Wardour Castle in Wiltshire, featuring Hrímnir, an Icelandic horse Sting owned for a period. He bought the horse from his friend Ársæll Jónsson. The title is a combined pun of his family name, Sumner, and the summoner in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Sting recorded the album at his home studio with a 64-channel Solid State Logic console. Solid State Logic had designed a portable studio for Sting with a desk that could fold into 16 flight cases. Sting also used C800 G tube microphone developed by Sony, which Hugh Padgham, the co-producer of Ten Summoner's Tales, was "the only mike I have found that can get Sting's vocals sounding how I wanted them so sound."

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" was written in the 5/4 time signature, with Sting referring to it as "a strange single" about a person who is coerced into a romantic relationship by a rival.

Release

Around the release date of Ten Summoner's Tales between 70,000 and 100,000 copies of Ten Summoner's Tales were stolen while a from a Polygram pressing plant in Hanover, Germany, was en route to a warehouse in Italy. Polydor Records took out advertisements in daily newspapers alerting prospective purchasers of the album of the theft.

A&M Records released Ten Summoner's Tales on LP, CD, cassette, DCC, and on video. The company also set the release date for Ten Summoner's Tales on 1 March 1993 in Europe, intentionally timing it one week ahead of its release in the United States. To promote the album, A&M Records purchased television slots on Eurosport along with rock music magazines.

A long-form performance video of the entire album was filmed at Sting's home studio. This film was released in conjunction with the album on VHS and LaserDisc. 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. A promotional disc was made where Sting discusses some of the songs on the album.

On 11 August 1994, a compact disc of Ten Summoner's Tales became the first item securely purchased over the Internet, for $12.48 plus shipping.

Commercial performance

Unlike Sting's previous solo albums, Ten Summoner's Tales did not reach number one on the UK Albums Chart, being held off the top spot by Lenny Kravitz's Are You Gonna Go My Way upon its release. Ten Summoner's Tales remained in the top 20 for more than six months in the UK.

In the United States, Ten Summoner's Tales debuted at No. 2, which matched the peak positions of Sting's solo albums The Dream of the Blue Turtles and The Soul Cages. By September 1993, Ten Summoner's Tales' had achieved worldwide sales of 3 million by September 1993.

Remasters

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 on the European edition of the single, and on the single "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You". Explaining the decision to include "Everybody Laughed But You" on European pressings, the international marketing director for A&M said that it was would counter the viability of import records and provide radio programmers with another song for airplay. 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".

In February 2023, Ten Summoner's Tales a digital-exclusive 30th anniversary deluxe edition was released, which included the original track listing and 15 bonus tracks.

Critical reception

Writing for Music Week, Alan Jones called Ten Summoner's Tales a "typically diverse album of merit" that was "more easily accessible" than The Soul Cages.Billboard said that Ten Summoner's Tales attained an enviable new plateau" for Sting, adding that it "entertains and amuses as thoroughly as it rocks". Cashbox said that the material on Ten Summoner's Tales provided "yet another texture added

to the complex tapestry woven by this musical master of poetic/pop

storytelling." They felt that the album contained a contrast of "lighthearted trickery" and songs that brought "listeners in for a more impassioned journey".

Track listing

Notes:

"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

Sting – lead vocals, bass, double bass, harmonica, saxophone, arrangements

David Sancious – keyboards

Dominic Miller – guitars

Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar

Vinnie Colaiuta – drums

Larry Adler – chromatic harmonica

Brendan Power – chromatic harmonica

Richard Edwards – trombone

Mark Nightingale – trombone

John Barclay – trumpet

Guy Barker – trumpet

Dave Heath – flute

Kathryn Tickell – Northumbrian smallpipes, fiddle

Sian Bell – cello

James Boyd – viola

Simon Fischer – violin

Kathryn Greeley – violin

David Foxxe – narration

Production

Produced by Hugh Padgham and Sting

Engineered and mixed by Hugh Padgham

Assistant engineer – Andrew Bradfield, Pete Lewis, Simon Osborne

Digital editing – Roger Lian

Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk (New York)

Technical assistant – Danny Quatrochi

Photography – Kevin Westenberg

Package design – Richard Frankel and Norman Moore

Accolades