The Dream of the Blue Turtles

Last updated

The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Sting The Dream of the Blue Turtles CD cover.JPG
Studio album by
Sting
Released17 June 1985 [1]
RecordedNovember 1984 – March 1985
StudioBlue Wave Studio, Saint Philip, Barbados and Le Studio, Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada
Genre
Length41:40
Label A&M
Producer Sting and Pete Smith
Sting chronology
The Dream of the Blue Turtles
(1985)		 Bring On the Night
(1986)
Singles from The Dream of the Blue Turtles
  1. "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free"
    Released: May 1985 [4]
  2. "Love Is the Seventh Wave"
    Released: August 1985 (UK) [5]
  3. "Fortress Around Your Heart"
    Released: 11 October 1985 (UK) [6]
  4. "Russians"
    Released: 29 November 1985 [7]
  5. "Moon Over Bourbon Street"
    Released: 7 February 1986 [8]
  6. "We Work the Black Seam"
    Released: 9 June 1986
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [9]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [11]
Orlando Sentinel Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [12]
Record Mirror 4/5 [13]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [14]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [15]
The Sacramento Bee Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [16]
Smash Hits 6/10 [17]
The Village Voice C+ [18]

The Dream of the Blue Turtles is the debut solo album by English musician Sting, released in June 1985. The album reached number three on the UK Albums Chart [19] and number two on the US Billboard 200.

Contents

Five singles were released from the album: "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free", "Fortress Around Your Heart", "Russians", "Moon Over Bourbon Street", and "Love Is the Seventh Wave". The album earned Grammy nominations for Album of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and Best Engineered Recording; the instrumental title track was nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance.

Background and release

Sting initially worked on tracks for his debut solo album with producers Torch Song: William Orbit, Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert. [20] These sessions were more synth-driven and 'electrofunk' in nature than what eventually was recorded and released; Sting eventually decided against this direction, and instead decided to pursue more jazz-oriented music. The initial 1984 Torch Song sessions remain unreleased.[ citation needed ]

The album is named after a dream that Sting had. [21]

Although the single "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" reached No. 3 in the US, it only reached 26 in the UK, where the album's track "Russians" (about Cold War nuclear anxieties, which had peaked in the 1980s) proved more popular.[ citation needed ]

In the UK the album was kept off No. 1 in the week of its release by Marillion's Misplaced Childhood and Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen occupying the top two places. However, in the US, the album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.[ citation needed ]

The film Bring On the Night documents some of the recording work that produced this album, as well as the subsequent tour.[ citation needed ]

Songs

The songs include "Children's Crusade" (paralleling the destruction of the younger generation in World War I to the devastation brought about by heroin addiction in modern-day London); [22] a new, re-recorded version of the Police song "Shadows in the Rain" (featuring the original uptempo arrangement); "We Work the Black Seam" (about the UK miners' strike of 1984–85, and musically based on "Savage Beast", a song dating back to Sting's days in Last Exit); and "Moon Over Bourbon Street", a song inspired by Anne Rice's novel Interview with the Vampire and on which he plays double bass. [23] "Consider Me Gone" references the first quatrain of Shakespeare's Sonnet 35.

Accolades

Grammy Awards

YearNominee / workAwardResult
Grammy Award nominations for The Dream of the Blue Turtles
1986 The Dream of the Blue Turtles Album of the Year [24] Nominated
Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male [25] Nominated

Track listing

All tracks are written by Sting, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" 4:16
2."Love Is the Seventh Wave" 3:32
3."Russians"Sting / Sergei Prokofiev3:58
4."Children's Crusade" 5:02
5."Shadows in the Rain" 4:50
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."We Work the Black Seam"5:42
7."Consider Me Gone"4:20
8."The Dream of the Blue Turtles"1:18
9."Moon Over Bourbon Street"4:00
10."Fortress Around Your Heart"4:40

Singles

Personnel

Additional personnel

Production

Charts

Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales for The Dream of the Blue Turtles
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia—200,000 [46]
Canada (Music Canada) [47] Platinum100,000^
France (SNEP) [48] Platinum300,000*
Germany (BVMI) [49] Platinum500,000^
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong) [50] Gold10,000*
Italy (FIMI) [48] Platinum500,000 [48]
New Zealand (RMNZ) [51] Platinum15,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [52] Gold50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [53] 2× Platinum600,000^
United States (RIAA) [54] 3× Platinum3,000,000^
Yugoslavia—50,000 [55]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

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References

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  3. ↑ Larkin, Colin (1999). All-Time Top 1000 Albums. Virgin Books. p. 101. ISBN   0-7535-0354-9. Archived from the original on 8 October 2021.
  4. ↑ Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. p. 791. ISBN   9780862415419.
  5. ↑ "Sting singles".
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  10. ↑ Kot, Greg (7 March 1993). "Feeling A Sting". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  11. ↑ Atkinson, Terry; Damsker, Matt; Hilburn, Robert; Hochman, Steve; Hunt, Dennis; Johnson, Connie; Matsumoto, Jon; Pike, Lori E.; Pond, Steve; Strauss, Duncan; Sullivan, Dan; Willman, Chris (8 December 1985). "Stylish Cops, Urgent Pop – Shopper's Guide to the Top 40". Los Angeles Times .
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