Sacred Love
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- Studio Mega (Paris)
- The Hit Factory (New York)
- Capitol (Hollywood)
| Sacred Love | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 29 September 2003 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 55:20 | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Sting chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Sacred Love | ||||
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| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 66/100[5] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [6] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B−[7] |
| Mojo | [5] |
| PopMatters | [8] |
| Q | [5] |
| Rolling Stone | [9] |
Sacred Love is the seventh studio album by the English musician Sting. The album was released on 29 September 2003. The album featured smoother, R&B-style beats and experiments collaborating with hip-hop artist Mary J. Blige and sitar player Anoushka Shankar. Some songs like "Inside" and "Dead Man's Rope" were well received, and Sting had experimented with new sounds, in particular the more rock-influenced "This War".[10]
Sacred Love received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, peaking at number three in the US and UK. It would be Sting's last album of original material until The Last Ship (2013).
Sting adapted the first quatrain of William Blake's Auguries of Innocence for the first four sung lines of "Send Your Love".
Sting's collaboration with Blige, "Whenever I Say Your Name", won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 46th Grammy Awards in 2004. The first single "Send Your Love" was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, but it lost to "Cry Me a River" by Justin Timberlake.[10]
In August 2015, Mylène Farmer and Sting duetted on "Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing)" and released it as the lead single from Farmer's tenth studio album, Interstellaires;[11] the track is produced by The Avener.[12]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Sting, except "Shape of My Heart" written by Sting and Dominic Miller. All tracks produced by Sting and Kipper; co-production on "Send Your Love" by Victor Calderone, and "Never Coming Home" by BT.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Inside" | 4:46 |
| 2. | "Send Your Love" (featuring Vicente Amigo) | 4:38 |
| 3. | "Whenever I Say Your Name" (featuring Mary J. Blige) | 5:25 |
| 4. | "Dead Man's Rope" | 5:43 |
| 5. | "Never Coming Home" | 4:58 |
| 6. | "Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing)" | 3:56 |
| 7. | "Forget About the Future" | 5:12 |
| 8. | "This War" | 5:29 |
| 9. | "The Book of My Life" (featuring Anoushka Shankar) | 6:15 |
| 10. | "Sacred Love" | 5:43 |
| 11. | "Send Your Love" (Dave Audé remix) | 3:15 |
| Total length: | 55:20 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Shape of My Heart" (live) | 2:18 |
| Total length: | 57:38 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Like a Beautiful Smile" | 4:43 |
| Total length: | 1:02:21 | |
Personnel
- Sting – vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass (1–10, 12), Turkish clarinet
- Kipper – keyboards, programming, backing vocals
- David Hartley – piano and choir arrangements
- Jason Rebello – acoustic piano, Rhodes electric piano
- Jeff Young – Hammond organ
- Dominic Miller – guitars
- Vicente Amigo – flamenco guitar (2)
- Anoushka Shankar – sitar (9)
- Danny Dunlap – bass (11)
- Christian McBride – double bass
- Manu Katché – drums
- Vinnie Colaiuta – drums
- Rhani Krija – percussion
- Valerie Denys – castanets
- Aref Durvesh – tabla
- Levon Minassian – duduk
- Clark Gayton – trombone
- Chris Botti – trumpet
- Jacqueline Thomas – cello
- Mary J. Blige – lead vocals (3)
- Katreese Barnes – backing vocals
- Ada Dyer – backing vocals
- Lance Ellington – backing vocals
- Donna Gardier – backing vocals
- Joy Rose – featured and backing vocals
- Bahija Rhapl – ethnic vocals
- Choeur de Radio France – choir
- Philip White – associate chorus master
Technical credits
- Simon Osborne – recording, mixing
- Steve Miller – mix engineer (11)
- Peter "Hopps" Lorimer – assistant engineer
- Donal Hodgson – Pro Tools engineer and programming
- Claudius Mittendorfer – technical assistant
- Charlie Paakkari – technical assistant
- Rodolphe Plisson – technical assistant
- Dave Audé – remixing and additional production (11)
- Chris Blair – stereo mastering
- Peter Mew – 5.1 mastering
- Danny Quatrochi – personal technician
- Recorded at Studio Mega (Paris, France); The Hit Factory (New York City, New York); Capitol Studios (Hollywood, California).
- Mastered at Abbey Road Studios (London, UK).
Production credits
- Martin Kierszenbaum – A&R
- Andrea Ruffalo – A&R coordinator
- Tam Fairgrieve – production manager
- Richard Frankel – package design
- Paolo Roversi – photography
- Kathryn Schenker – management
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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