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The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Studio album by
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 [9]
Chicago Tribune [10]
Los Angeles Times [11]
Orlando Sentinel [12]
Record Mirror4/5 [13]
Rolling Stone [14]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide [15]
The Sacramento Bee [16]
Smash Hits6/10 [17]
The Village VoiceC+ [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.

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

Year Nominee / work Award Result
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

  • "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" (1985) #3 US Hot 100, #26 UK Singles Chart
  • "Russians" (1985) #16 US Hot 100, #12 UK Singles Chart
  • "Fortress Around Your Heart" (1985) #8 US Hot 100, #49 UK Singles Chart
  • "Love Is the Seventh Wave" (1985) #17 US Hot 100, #41 UK Singles Chart
  • "Moon Over Bourbon Street" (1986) #44 UK Singles Chart [19] – with a B-side of "The Ballad of Mack the Knife"

Personnel

Additional personnel

  • Danny Quatrochi – Synclavier, backing vocals
  • Robert Ashworth – guitars
  • Eddy Grant – congas (7)
  • Frank Opolko – trombone (2)
  • Pete Smith – backing vocals
  • Elliot Jones – backing vocals
  • Jane Alexander – backing vocals
  • Vic Garbarini – backing vocals
  • Pamela Quinlan – backing vocals
  • The Nannies Chorus – backing vocals
  • Rosemary Purt – backing vocals
  • Stephanie Crewdson – backing vocals
  • Joe Sumner – backing vocals
  • Kate Sumner – backing vocals
  • Michael Sumner – backing vocals

Production

  • Pete Smith – producer, engineer
  • Sting – producer
  • Jim Scott – engineer
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering at Masterdisk (New York, NY).
  • Max Vadukul – photography
  • Danny Quatrochi – photography
  • Michael Ross – art direction, design
  • Richard Frankel – art direction, design

Charts

Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales for The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia 200,000 [46]
Canada ( Music Canada) [47] Platinum 100,000^
France ( SNEP) [48] Platinum 300,000*
Germany ( BVMI) [49] Platinum 500,000^
Hong Kong ( IFPI Hong Kong) [50] Gold 10,000*
Italy ( FIMI) [48] Platinum 500,000 [48]
New Zealand ( RMNZ) [51] Platinum 15,000^
Spain ( PROMUSICAE) [52] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom ( BPI) [53] 2× Platinum 600,000^
United States ( RIAA) [54] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^
Yugoslavia 50,000 [55]

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

References

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