The Dream of the Blue Turtles explained

The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Type:studio
Artist:Sting
Cover:Sting The Dream of the Blue Turtles CD cover.JPG
Border:yes
Released:17 June 1985[1]
Recorded:November 1984 – March 1985
Studio:Blue Wave Studio, Saint Philip, Barbados and Le Studio, Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada
Genre:
Length:41:40
Label:A&M
Producer:Sting and Pete Smith
Next Title:Bring On the Night
Next Year:1986

The Dream of the Blue Turtles is the debut solo album by English musician Sting, released on June 17, 1985. The album reached number three on the UK Albums Chart 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

The album is named after a dream that Sting had.[4] He initially worked on tracks for his debut solo album with producers Torch Song: William Orbit, Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert.[5] 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.

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.

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. In the US, the album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

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

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);[6] 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.[7] "Consider Me Gone" references the first quatrain of Shakespeare's Sonnet 35.

Accolades

Grammy Awards|+Grammy Award nominations for The Dream of the Blue Turtles| style="width:35px; text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|1986 || rowspan="2"| The Dream of the Blue Turtles || Album of the Year[8] || |-| Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male[9] || |-

Singles

Personnel

Additional personnel

Production

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for The Dream of the Blue Turtles!Chart (1985–1986)!Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report[12] 1
Austrian Albums Chart[13] 13
Canadian Albums Chart[14] 4
Dutch Albums Chart[15] 1
German Albums Chart[16] 4
Japanese Oricon LP Chart[17] 9
New Zealand Albums Chart[18] 4
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[19] 4
Swedish Albums Chart[20] 5
Swiss Albums Chart[21] 6
UK Albums Chart[22] 3
US Billboard 200[23] 2

Year-end charts

1985 year-end chart performance for The Dream of the Blue Turtles!Chart (1985)!Position
Australian Albums Chart18
Canadian Albums Chart[24] 12
Japanese Albums Chart71
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[25] 14
Swiss Albums Chart[26] 27
UK Albums Chart37
US Billboard 200[27] 50
1986 year-end chart performance for The Dream of the Blue Turtles!Chart (1986)!Position
Australian Albums Chart7
Canadian Albums Chart[28] 71
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[29] 28
UK Albums Chart[30] 41
US Billboard 200[31] 33

Decade-end charts

Decade-end chart performance for The Dream of the Blue Turtles!Chart (1980–1989)!Position
Australian Albums Chart32

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Brit certifications for Sting.
  2. The Dream of the Blue Turtles. Pareles. John. 17 June 1997. Rolling Stone. 24 June 2014. 7 November 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20071107091128/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/sting/albums/album/241577/review/6067991/the_dream_of_the_blue_turtles. dead.
  3. Book: Larkin, Colin. All-Time Top 1000 Albums. https://archive.org/details/alltimetop1000al0000lark_d7o0/mode/1up. 1999. October 8, 2021. Virgin Books. 0-7535-0354-9. 101.
  4. Web site: Sting: The Dream of the Blue Turtles . 2 January 2012 . The title of the album came from a dream that woke me up on my first night in Barbados. I dreamed I was sitting in the walled garden behind my house in Hampstead, under a lilac tree on a well manicured lawn, surrounded by beautiful rosebushes. Suddenly the bricks from the wall exploded into the garden and I turned to see the head of an enormous turtle emerging from the darkness, followed by four or five others. They were not only the size of a man, they were also blue and had an air of being immensely cool, like hepcats, insouciant and fearless. They didn't harm me but with an almost casual violence commenced to destroy my genteel English garden, digging up the lawn with their claws, chomping at the rosebushes, bulldozing the lilac tree. Total mayhem. I woke up to the sound of Branford in the room upstairs, riffing wildly on his tenor sax, followed by his unmistakeable laughter. . https://web.archive.org/web/20130705161835/http://sting.com/discography/index/album/albumId/20/tagName/Albums . 5 July 2013 . dead .
  5. Connelly, Christopher: Random Notes, Rolling Stone Issue 433, 25 October 1984.
  6. Web site: 2021-08-01. sting-the-police-the-dream-of-the-blue-turtles-july-1985-cover-story/.
  7. Web site: Sting Discography Moon over Bourbon Street, 12-inch.
  8. Web site: GRAMMYs' Best Albums 1980–1989 . grammy.org . 2011-11-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110830143245/http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/news/grammys-best-albums-1 . 30 August 2011 .
  9. News: Picking The Grammy Nominees Of 1986. Los Angeles Times. 1986-01-05. 2011-11-01.
  10. Sting Chart History . 26 April 2024 . Billboard . en-US.
  11. http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/sting/ Sting in the UK Charts
  12. Book: Kent, David. Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book. St Ives, NSW. 1993. 0-646-11917-6.
  13. Web site: austriancharts.at Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles. Hung Medien. de. ASP. 2011-10-21.
  14. https://web.archive.org/web/20140116124749/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.0562&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062 Library and Archives Canada.
  15. Web site: dutchcharts.nl Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles. MegaCharts. Hung Medien. ASP. 2011-09-12.
  16. Web site: Album Search: Sting. de. Media Control. 2011-09-12.
  17. Book: Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Oricon Entertainment. Roppongi, Tokyo. 2006. 4-87131-077-9.
  18. Web site: charts.nz Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles. Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. ASP. 2011-10-21.
  19. Web site: norwegiancharts.com Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles. Hung Medien. VG-lista. ASP. 2011-10-21.
  20. Web site: swedishcharts.com Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles. ASP. sv. 2011-10-21.
  21. Web site: Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles – hitparade.ch. de. Hung Medien. ASP. Swiss Music Charts. 2011-10-21.
  22. Web site: The Official Charts Company – Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles . . PHP . 2011-10-21 .
  23. Sting Chart History: Billboard 200. Billboard. 2023-06-18.
  24. RPM Top 100 Albums of 1985. RPM. 2011-10-03. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140116124832/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.0618&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=c6btf3r8hs459qqt5ln3o3dcv5. 16 January 2014.
  25. Web site: Top Selling Albums of 1985 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart. Recorded Music New Zealand. 3 February 2022.
  26. Web site: Hitparade.ch – Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1988. Hung Medien . 2011-10-17.
  27. Billboard.BIZ – Year-end Charts – Billboard 200 – 1985. Billboard. 2011-10-24.
  28. RPM Top 100 Albums of 1986. RPM. 2011-10-03.
  29. Web site: Top Selling Albums of 1986 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart. Recorded Music New Zealand. 5 February 2022.
  30. Web site: Complete UK Year-End Album Charts . 2011-09-12 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120111074744/http://chartheaven.9.forumer.com/a/complete-uk-yearend-album-charts_post21.html . 11 January 2012 .
  31. Billboard.BIZ – Year-end Charts – Billboard 200 – 1986. Billboard . 2011-10-24.

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