Ten Summoner's Tales

Ten Summoner's Tales
Studio album by
Released1 March 1993
RecordedJune–December 1992
StudioLake House, Wiltshire, England
Genre
Length52:31
Label
ProducerSting, Hugh Padgham
Sting chronology
The Soul Cages
(1991)
Ten Summoner's Tales
(1993)
Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984–1994
(1994)
Singles from Ten Summoner's Tales
  1. "It's Probably Me"
    Released: 23 June 1992
  2. "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You"
    Released: 1 February 1993
  3. "Seven Days"
    Released: 12 April 1993
  4. "Fields of Gold"
    Released: 7 June 1993
  5. "Shape of My Heart"
    Released: 23 August 1993
  6. "Love Is Stronger Than Justice"
    Released: 24 September 1993 (EU)
  7. "Nothing 'Bout Me"
    Released: 14 February 1994
Professional ratings
Initial reviews (in 1993)
Review scores
SourceRating
The Buffalo News
Calgary HeraldB+
Chicago Tribune
Entertainment WeeklyA
Los Angeles Times
Music Week
Q
Rolling Stone
The Sacramento Bee
Select
USA Today
Professional ratings
Retrospective reviews (after 1993)
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

Ten Summoner's Tales is the fourth solo studio album by English musician Sting. The title is a combined pun of his family name, Sumner, and a character in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the summoner. Released in 1993, it explores themes of love and morality in a noticeably upbeat mood compared to his previous release, the introspective The Soul Cages, released in 1991 after the loss of both his parents in the 1980s.

This album contains two US hits; "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 while "Fields of Gold" got to No. 23.

Ten Summoner's Tales was shortlisted for the 1993 Mercury Prize. In 1994, it was nominated for six Grammy awards including Album of the Year (losing to Whitney Houston‘s The Bodyguard), winning Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("If I Ever Lose My Faith in You") and Best Long Form Music Video, while "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" was also nominated for Record and Song of the Year.

A LaserDisc and VHS of the album were released, containing live performances of all songs on the album at Lake House.

A promotional disc was made where Sting discusses some of the songs on the album. There was also an unofficial live album produced during the Ten Summoner's Tales era, entitled Meadowlands of Gold, which contained 13 tracks performed at the Meadowlands Arena on February 26, 1994, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The songs consisted of tracks from the album, and a few songs by The Police plus a cover of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life".

In February 2023, it was announced that Ten Summoner's Tales would be re-released and digitally expanded, with multiple songs not previously heard or available to download.