The Dream Of The Blue Turtles (album)

The Dream Of The Blue Turtles
Studio album by Sting
Released:	1985-06-01 (?) (USA) 1985-06-17 (UK) 1986-01-DD (UK picture disc) 1985-06-18 (Germany) 1985-07-10 (Japan)
Recorded:	March - April 1985
Length:	41:40
Label(s):	A&M
Producer(s):	Sting & Pete Smith
Studio(s):	Blue Wave Recording Studio

Introduction

Sting recorded demos for this album at Utopia Studios on (at least) 1984-04-28, 1984-05-05 and 1984-10-31; also at AIR Studios 1985-01-04 and 1985-01-05.

In "The New York Times Magazine" from December 9, 1984 Sting is quoted with: "On my new album, I've written a couple of songs that have been influenced by Kurt Weill. I'm working with a full orchestra on those, and that wouldn't be suitable for The Police."

"Hitkrant" from January 24, 1985 mentions that Sting is busy working on his solo LP on Montserrat and would then travel to Russia to work with the Leningrad Orchestra.

"The Face" from around June 1985 Sting confirms that he originally intended to do a one-man solo record at first - mentioning possible producer names such as Quincy Jones or Gil Evans. He reconsidered and began to look for a band in mid-January 1985.

1985-06 GQ features an interview with Sting done in London on a winter day (probably late January or early February 1985. Sting mentions that a third of the album will be orchestral and that he's trying to organize the Moscow State Orchestra for that.

In 1985-06-08 Record Mirror and "Melody Maker" from June 8, 1985 Sting confirms that he intended to record Russians with the Leningrad State Orchestra in Russia, but that bureaucracy made that impossible.

A Sting interview in 1985-02 Musik Szene features a few mysterious bits. The journalist mentions the rumour that Sting's new album will be produced by Torch Song. Sting replies that this is not quite right. He mentions that The Police (!) recorded a song for the upcoming movie "Youngblood". He confirms that he asked Torch Song for help, but nothing was recorded yet. It's just that Torch Song also happens to contribute to the "Youngblood" soundtrack.

1986-01 International Musician And Recording World - NAMM Special sheds more light to the Torch Song connection: Sting gave his demos to Torch Song to produce. He said to call him when it was time to do the vocals...

The first song Sting and his band recorded on Barbados was Shadows In The Rain - played in a similar style as his original 1980 demo. Children's Crusade was recorded during the second night of recording. The next night Sting taught the band Consider Me Gone which was recorded with Eddy Grant and the president of Guyana being present. After they left Sting and band jammed in various styles, including a reggae that would be the foundation for Love Is The Seventh Wave. The next week they would record Fortress Around Your Heart, Russians and We Work The Black Seam, also adding vocals and a new keyboard line for If You Love Somebody Set Them Free.

Personnel

• Sting, guitar, vocals, double bass on "Moon Over Bourbon Street", bass on Fortress Around Your Heart and Love Is The Seventh Wave
• Omar Hakim, drums
• Kenny Kirkland, keyboards
• Darryl Jones, bass
• Branford Marsalis, saxophones and miscellaneous percussion
• Dolette McDonald, backing vocals
• Janice Pendarvis, backing vocals
• Pete Smith, Sting, Danny Q, Elliot Jones, Jane Alexander, Vic Garbarini, The Nannies Chorus, Rosemary Purt, Stephanie Crewdson, Joe, Kate, Michael Sumner, additional backing vocals
• Eddy Grant, congas on "Consider Me Gone"
• Frank Opolko, trombone on "Love Is The Seventh Wave"
• Sergei Prokofiev, theme on "Russians"

Track listing

All songs written by Sting unless otherwise indicated.

1. "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" 4:14
2. "Love Is the Seventh Wave" 3:30
3. "Russians" (Prokofiev, Sting) 3:57
4. "Children's Crusade" 5:00
5. "Shadows In The Rain" 4:56
6. "We Work The Black Seam" 5:40
7. "Consider Me Gone" 4:21
8. "The Dream Of The Blue Turtles" 1:15
9. "Moon Over Bourbon Street" 3:59
10. "Fortress Around Your Heart" 4:48

Singles released

• "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free"
• "Russians"
• "Fortress Around Your Heart"
• "Love Is The Seventh Wave"

Variants, special editions and re-releases

In mid-January 1986 a picture disc was released in the UK (while Sting was touring there).

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Country	Position
YYYY	CHART	COUNTRY	POSITION REACHED

Singles

Year	Song	Chart	Country	Position
YYYY	SONG	CHART	COUNTRY	POSITION REACHED

Awards, nominations, and certifications

Awards

This section needs more information.

Year	Winner	Award	Category
YYYY	WINNER (album, song, producer, etc.)	AWARD (Grammy, People's Choice, etc.)	CATEGORY

Nominations

This section needs more information.

Year	Nominee	Award	Category
YYYY	NOMINEE (album, song, producer, etc.)	AWARD (Grammy, People's Choice, etc.)	CATEGORY

Certifications

This section needs more information.

Country	Certifier	Classification	Certification
COUNTRY	CERTIFIER (RIAA, IFPI...)	CLASSIFICATION (Album, singles, foreign artist...)	CERTIFICATION (Gold, Platinum, Diamond...)

Quotations and trivia

UK ads:

German ad:

Japanese ads:

Australian ad:

Argentina ad:

See also

• 1985-08 Musician
• 1986-01 International Musician And Recording World - NAMM Special

External links and reviews

This section needs more information.

References

• Sting. Discography, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles.
• Sting. The Dream Of The Blue Turtles. (1985) [Audio recording], A&M Records.
• Wikipedia. The Dream Of The Blue Turtles
• 1985-08 Musician
• 1986-01 International Musician And Recording World - NAMM Special
• UK ads (picture disc)