Ten Summoner's Tales

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."^[10] 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.^[11]

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" is also noted for the sophisticated playing of drummer Vinnie Colaiuta in the 5/4 time signature.

The singles for Ten Summoner's Tales give credit to Fernandes Guitars, as Dominic Miller played a Fernandes P-Project Acoustic Electric Nylon guitar throughout the album.

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 and achieved worldwide sales of 3 million by September 1993.^[12]

More information Initial reviews (in 1993), Review scores ...

Professional ratings

Initial reviews (in 1993)
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Buffalo News	[13]
Calgary Herald	B+[14]
Chicago Tribune	[15]
Entertainment Weekly	A[16]
Los Angeles Times	[17]
Music Week	[18]
Q	[19]
Rolling Stone	[20]
The Sacramento Bee	[21]
Select	[22]
USA Today	[23]

Close

More information Retrospective reviews (after 1993), Review scores ...

Professional ratings

Retrospective reviews (after 1993)
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[24]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[25]

Close

A long-form performance video of the entire album was filmed at Sting's Lake House property. The audio used is partly from the album and partly recorded as played by the band during the filming. 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.^[26]

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".

• 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