Artist: Sting
Release Date: March 5, 1993
If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven)
Fields of Gold
Heavy Cloud No Rain
She’s Too Good for Me
Seven Days
Saint Augustine in Hell
It's Probably Me (Sting, Eric Clapton, Michael Kamen)
Everybody Laughed But You
Shape of My Heart (Sting, Dominic Miller)
Something the Boy Said
Epilogue (Nothing 'Bout Me)
All songs written by Sting except where otherwise noted
As most music fans know, Sting first came to prominence as a member of the Police. While Andy Sumner and Stewart Copeland are great musicians and played important roles in the group, Sting was clearly the main force behind their success, as, aside from being the group’s vocalist and bassist, he wrote the vast majority of their songs and every one of their hits. While there are many who still consider the music released by the Police superior to anything that Sting has released as a solo artist, I don’t agree. While I do sometimes miss the compact, hard-hitting sound that the trio generated even on later, more sophisticated albums such as Synchronicity, I think that the very best of Sting’s solo material is by no means inferior to what he did with the Police. One album in particular stands out as being his best overall effort since the Police broke up, and that is Ten Summoner's Tales, which he released in 1993. While many of the songs I’d rate among Sting’s very best – such as “Fragile”, “All This Time” and “Fortress Around Your Heart” – are on other albums, Ten Summoner's Tales (the title refers to Sting's family name, Sumner, and the summoner's tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales) is his most consistently excellent release.
Ten Summoner's Tales Song by Song
If I Ever Lose My Faith in You: The opening track on Ten Summoner's Tales was also the first single from the album. I was not overly impressed with it at first, perhaps because it fell short of the very high standard set by “All This Time”, the lead single from Sting’s previous album The Soul Cages. The song grew on me, however, particularly its well-written lyrics, and I think it makes a very good opening track. I still like several other songs from the album better, however.
Love Is Stronger than Justice (The Munificent Seven): This is a clever, tongue-in-cheek tale modeled on the western The Magnificent Seven (which was in turn a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai). In Sting’s version, the seven gunfighters are brothers who are asked to save a town in return for brides for each of them, and when they learn that there is in fact only one bride, the narrator (the seventh brother) bumps off the others. Musically and lyrically, it’s one of the high quality album tracks that help make this Sting’s best album.
Fields of Gold: This was the second single off the album and is probably the most popular song on it, except perhaps for “Shape of My Heart”. It has been covered many times, including versions in many different languages. My initial impression was that it was good but not great; however it grew on me and now I’d rate it among the best songs on the album, though probably not my absolute favorite. It also has an excellent music video.
Heavy Cloud No Rain: A humorous track in which a variety of characters in desperate situations pray in vain for rain. Like “Love Is Stronger than Justice”, this is a good album track that shows Sting’s writing was at a consistently high level for this album.
She’s Too Good for Me: This song is even more humorous than “Heavy Cloud No Rain”, with some lines that are downright hilarious. I also like the dramatic contrast between the quiet bridge and the rest of the song, which is much heavier. This is one of my favorite songs on the album.
Seven Days: Another great track, and one that received considerable airplay (it was released as a single in some places and has been included on some greatest hits compilations). Like the songs preceding it, it has witty, humorous lyrics (Sting was seemingly in a cheerful mood when he wrote much of this album, in contrast to the much darker mood seen in his songs on The Soul Cages), and these clever lyrics combined with a very good melody and a great arrangement make it perhaps my favorite song on the album, though there are a few other contenders.
Saint Augustine in Hell: This is another one of my favorites. Like “Mad About You” from The Soul Cages (which was based on the story of David and Bathsheba), it tells of the lustful side of a famous Judeo-Christian religious figure. It features an excellent arrangement, performed to perfection by Sting’s band, and the break in the middle with the Devil enumerating the inhabitants of Hell – including of course music critics – is great (the music playing in the background of this part is the bridge section from "I Miss You Kate", an instrumental B-side to "All This Time").
It's Probably Me: This song had been previously released on the Lethal Weapon 3 soundtrack in version featuring Eric Clapton, but Sting rerecorded it for this album. It’s not clear what Clapton and Kamen’s contributions were to the writing of the song, but the lyrics were probably mostly or entirely Sting’s. It’s a very good song regardless of who wrote what.
Everybody Laughed But You: This song was apparently not included on the original North American release of the album, though it was on the later reissue. While it can’t equal the tracks that preceded it, it is nevertheless a solid album track. Sting wrote an alternate set of lyrics to the same music and released that version as a B-side on two singles from the album under the title “January Stars”.
Shape of My Heart: This song, along with “Fields of Gold”, has become the best known song from the album, with numerous artists doing covers of it. It has also become a popular sample in hip hop and what’s known as “contemporary R&B”. Ironically, the music for this song was not written by Sting but by his guitarist Dominic Miller, though Sting wrote the excellent if slightly abstruse lyrics. This is another one of my favorites from the album.
Something the Boy Said: This song tells a very dark tale about an expedition that was slaughtered as prophesied by the son of their captain. While quite different in mood from the songs that make up the bulk of the album, it fits in quite well after “Shape of My Heart” and makes a solid album track.
Epilogue (Nothing 'Bout Me): The final track on the album is a brilliantly written riposte to all the critics and writers who try to analyze Sting (and for that matter anyone) on the basis of his work and other publicly available information. The dry wit of the lyrics is matched with an excellent, upbeat tune. This track is another contender for my favorite on the album, with only “Seven Days” and possibly “Saint Augustine in Hell” and “Shape of My Heart” equaling it. It certainly closes the album on a high point, and along with “Fortress Around My Heart” (from The Dream of the Blue Turtles) and “Brand New Day” (from Brand New Day) is one of the best closing tracks on any Sting album.
No comments:
Post a Comment