Ten Summoners’ Tales (1993)
Sting keeps knocking it out of the park with his fourth solo album, Ten Summoner’s Tales. After opening up and getting deeply personal on his last record, he swings back to writing fantastic pop/rock/jazz fusion songs. He’s soaring as high as he ever has here, staying relevant through the 1990s while music was going through a major style change.
Ten Summoner’s Tales is as dynamic as anything Sting has released. You’ve got your conventional radio-hit pop songs like If I Ever Lose My Faith in You that beg to be sung along to. Then comes the bouncy, lyrically fun Love Is Stronger Than Justice, which sets the tone for the rest of the album with its heavy hammond organ and upbeat arrangements. She’s Too Good for Me and Saint Augustine in Hell follow suit with shuffling percussion and offbeat jazz drums respectively. The spoken-word middle-eight bridge in the latter is unlike anything Sting had done before. It takes the song on a complete roller-coaster ride and stands as one of the best in his catalog.
The most popular song here and the standout single, Shape of My Heart, should be a radio staple everyone knows. With its dreamy, somber atmosphere, you can feel this one working on your emotions. Bringing back the Spanish guitar from earlier singles, Sting writes a timeless love song that isn’t going anywhere.
Seven Days rides a gentle bassline and plucked guitar strings. It starts mellow, then builds into something beautiful and commanding. There aren’t enough good things to say about this track. Like the three albums before it, a few songs fall slightly short. Fields of Gold and Something the Boy Said are beautiful, well-made songs, but they don’t feel nearly as essential as the rest. You could argue they’re there to balance the record, but I don’t find myself reaching to replay them. Even so, Ten Summoner’s Tales stands as one of Sting’s greatest records to date.
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Highlight Songs:
Seven Days
Shape of My Heart
Saint Augustine in Hell
Love Is Stronger Than Justice
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Own it, Stream it, Forget about it?
Absolutely worth owning. As I said, this is one of the greatest records Sting has ever released, and it should be loved and played endlessly. Ten Summoner’s Tales is dynamic and has something for everyone. Go and get it, son!
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Overall Rating:
4.5 Stars
