The Dream of the Blue Turtles

The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Studio album by
Sting
Released17 June 1985[1]
RecordedMarch – April 1985
StudiosBlue Wave Studio, Saint Philip, Barbados and Le Studio, Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada
Genres
Length41:40
LabelA&M
ProducersSting 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: August 1985 (US)[6]
  4. "Russians"
    Released: November 1985[7]
  5. "Moon Over Bourbon Street"
    Released: February 1986[8]
  6. "We Work the Black Seam"
    Released: June 1986

The Dream of the Blue Turtles is the debut solo studio album by the English musician Sting, released on 17 June 1985. The album reached number three on the UK Albums Chart[9] 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.

A digital-only special expanded edition of The Dream of the Blue Turtles was released on 11 July 2025 to celebrate its fortieth anniversary. The version includes B-sides such as "Another Day" and "The Ballad of Mac the Knife", as well as remixes of "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free", "Love Is the Seventh Wave", "Moon Over Bourbon Street" and "Fortress Around Your Heart".[10][11]

Background and release

The album is named after a dream that Sting had.[12] He initially worked on tracks for his debut solo album with producers Torch Song: William Orbit, Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert.[13] 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.

Thus, in January 1985, he began assembling his backing band after holding auditions for jazz musicians in New York, including the likes of Omar Hakim, Branford Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, and Darryl Jones. Subsequently, he rehearsed the material with his band for a week before three surprise concerts at The Ritz in New York in late February; Sting's idea was for a "baptism of fire" to help consolidate the band's identity before recording began in early March.[14][15] Seven weeks were spent recording the songs at Eddy Grant's Blue Wave Studio in Barbados, followed by mixing at Le Studio in Quebec.[16]

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", which was demoed at AIR Studios on a 48-track machine. The song relates to the destruction of the younger generation in World War I.[16] "Shadows in the Rain" had originally appeared on Zenyatta Mondatta by the Police and was re-recorded for The Dream of the Blue Turtles.[17] "We Work the Black Seam" was 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. Sting played double bass on "Moon Over Bourbon Street, which was inspired by Anne Rice's novel Interview with the Vampire.[18] "Consider Me Gone" references the first quatrain of Shakespeare's Sonnet 35.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStar[19]
Chicago TribuneStarStarHalf star[20]
Los Angeles TimesStarStarStar[21]
Orlando SentinelStarStarStarStarStar[22]
Record Mirror4/5[23]
Rolling StoneStarStarStarStar[24]
The Rolling Stone Album GuideStarStarStarHalf star[25]
The Sacramento BeeStarStarStarStar[26]
Smash Hits6/10[27]
The Village VoiceC+[28]

The Dream of the Blue Turtles received critical acclaim, although both rock and jazz purists objected to the two genres being mixed together.[29] Creem critic Richard Riegel described it as a modest, intelligent album and "a welcome and probably deliberate retreat from all the superstar hysteria that had been building up around the Police the past few years."[30] Pete Bishop of The Pittsburgh Press felt the album "borders on brilliant", praising the songs, musicianship, production and Sting's vocals, "full of feeling from pain to exuberance".[31] Rolling Stone critic Jon Pareles praised Sting for making a solo album of "brilliantly enlightened self-interest" rather than a Police-style record, praising the young jazz musicians for avoiding "pop-jazz clichés" and Sting for being able to swing, although noting that, except for three tracks, "the Blue Turtles is a pop record above all. It's only a jam session between the lines, where Marsalis answers Sting's voice with slyly ubiquitous fanfares and curlicues and epigrams."[24] Eurotipsheet later named it the best debut album of 1985, further grouping it among "the most exciting solo albums that have come out this year and one that crossed the rigid borders between pop and jazz".[32]

In a mixed review, Smash Hits critic Ian Cranna felt that many songs were spoilt by Sting shoehorning "awkward attempts to show you can be rich and still care into uncomfortably simplistic lyrics – exactly the kind of thig that gets 'political' pop a bad name", but he nonetheless praised the energetic production, the woodwind orchestral parts and the more personal songs.[27] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice felt that not since Paul Simon had a pop star "made such a beeline for the middlebrow cliché", adding that "[by] displacing the Police's sere dynamics we have bathtubs full of demijazz, drenching this self-aggrandizing and no doubt hitbound project in a whole new dimension of phony class."[28] In a review named "Sting's Blue Turtles poses as art outside the mainstream", Rick Shefchik of The Daily News considered it superior to any Police albums because the jazz musicians "are better at disguising Sting's exotic poses as art", but lamented that only few of the songs let listeners "find out what kind of a guy [Sting] really is". However, he singled out the Kurt Weill-esque "Moon Over Bourbon Street" as a promising exception.[33]

Retrospectively, AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine opines that, while the critical shorthand of Blue Turtles being "Sting's jazz record" is partly true, it is more accurate to say Sting relied on revivalist musicians who were still developing their own style, "and then had them jam on mock-jazz grooves – or, in the case of Branford Marsalis, layer soprano sax lines on top of pop songs." Erlewine felt that, "with every measure, every verse, Sting cries out for the respect of a composer, not a pop star, and it gets to be a little overwhelming when taken as a whole."[19] Noting that Sting abandoned "mere rock" to work with highly-skilled American jazz players, Ira Robbins of Trouser Press writes: "The auteur sounds like he's having a bloody fine time jamming with such cool cats, but the results mainly point up the narrow possibilities of his singing. And despite the illustrious company and his switch from bass to guitar, Sting alone is still like Sting in the Police: smug and pretentious."[34] Pieter de Bruyn Kops of Music & Media contended that the album "showed that Still was still searching for a true direction."[29]

Among reference books, Colin Larkin wrote in The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1997) that Blue Turtles found Sting developing "the more cerebral lyrics" found on the Police's Synchronicity (1983),[35] whereas Martin C. Strong of The Great Rock Discography (2006) describes the album as "an endearing set of jazz-influenced, infectiously off-kilter pop songs".[36] Blue Turtles is named one of Sting's best albums in The Rough Guide to Rock (1999), where Jonathan Holden calls it "[an] enjoyable jazzy record, if a touch ponderous in places."[37] In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), J. D. Considine writes that "it's the balance between the melodic appeal of [Sting's] songs and the improvisational fire of his band that gives The Dream of the Blue Turtles its character. How that works varies somewhat from song to song, but for the most part it's a matter of mood in which the arrangements set the emotional context for each song."[25]

Accolades

Grammy Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1986The Dream of the Blue TurtlesAlbum of the Year[38]Nominated
Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male[39]Nominated

Track listing

All tracks are written by Sting, except "Russians", which is written by Sting and Sergei Prokofiev.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."If You Love Somebody Set Them Free"4:16
2."Love Is the Seventh Wave"3:32
3."Russians"3:58
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) No. 3 US Hot 100, No. 26 UK Singles Chart[40][9]
  • "Russians" (1985) No. 16 US Hot 100, No. 12 UK Singles Chart[40][9]
  • "Fortress Around Your Heart" (1985) No. 8 US Hot 100, No. 49 UK Singles Chart[40][9]
  • "Love Is the Seventh Wave" (1985) No. 17 US Hot 100, No. 41 UK Singles Chart[40][9]
  • "Moon Over Bourbon Street" (1986) No. 44 UK Singles Chart[9] – with a B-side of "The Ballad of Mack the Knife"

Personnel

Additional personnel

  • Danny Quatrochi – Synclavier, backing vocals
  • Eddy Grant – congas (track 7)
  • Frank Opolko – trombone (track 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 CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia — 200,000[62]
Canada (Music Canada)[63] Platinum 100,000^
France (SNEP)[64] Platinum 300,000*
Germany (BVMI)[65] Platinum 500,000^
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[66] Gold 10,000*
Italy (FIMI)[64] Platinum 500,000[64]
New Zealand (RMNZ)[67] Platinum 15,000^
Spain (Promusicae)[68] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[69] 2× Platinum 600,000^
United States (RIAA)[70] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^
Yugoslavia — 50,000[71]

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

References

  1. ↑ "BRIT Certified". Bpi.co.uk. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  2. ↑ Pareles, John (17 June 1997). "The Dream of the Blue Turtles". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 7 November 2007. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  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. Canongate Press. p. 791. ISBN 9780862415419.
  5. ↑ "Sting | Discography | Love Is The Seventh Wave, 7"". Sting.com. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  6. ↑ "Sting | Discography | Fortress Around Your Heart, 7"". Sting.com. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  7. ↑ "Sting | Discography | Russians, 7"". Sting.com. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  8. ↑ "Sting | Discography | Moon Over Bourbon Street, 7"". Sting.com. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sting in the UK Charts Archived 15 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Official Charts.
  10. ↑ Sinclair, Paul (14 June 2025). "Sting expanded deluxe editions up for pre-order in Japan – SuperDeluxeEdition". Super Deluxe Edition. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  11. ↑ Schube, Will (11 July 2025). "Sting Celebrates 40 Years Of 'The Dream Of The Blue Turtles' With Expanded Edition". uDiscover Music. Retrieved 15 July 2025.
  12. ↑ "Sting: The Dream of the Blue Turtles". Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 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.
  13. ↑ Connelly, Christopher: Random Notes, Rolling Stone Issue 433, 25 October 1984.
  14. ↑ Garbarini, Vic (July 1985). "Sting's swing shift - A Policeman becomes a private eye..." Musician. Retrieved 13 June 2025 – via sting.com.
  15. ↑ "Sting". Sting.com. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  16. 1 2 "Sting: Our 1985 Cover Story". Spin. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
  17. ↑ Gabel, Christopher (2009). The Words and Music of Sting. United States: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-275-99360-3.
  18. ↑ "Sting | Discography | Moon Over Bourbon Street, 12"". Sting.com. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  19. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Dream of the Blue Turtles – Sting". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  20. ↑ Kot, Greg (7 March 1993). "Feeling A Sting". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  21. ↑ 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.
  22. ↑ Defendorf, Richard (30 June 1985). "Sting". Orlando Sentinel.
  23. ↑ Levy, Eleanor (22 June 1985). "Sting: The Dream of the Blue Turtles". Record Mirror. p. 16.
  24. 1 2 Pareles, Jon (18 July – 1 August 1985). "Sting: The Dream Of The Blue Turtles". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 7 November 2007. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  25. 1 2 Considine, J. D. (2004). "Sting". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 783–784. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  26. ↑ Macias, Chris; Barton, David (30 July 2000). "On the Sting beat: The Police and beyond". The Sacramento Bee.
  27. 1 2 Cranna, Ian (19 June – 2 July 1985). "Sting: The Dream of the Blue Turtles". Smash Hits. Vol. 7, no. 13. p. 20.
  28. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (25 June 1985). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  29. 1 2 de Bruyn Kops, Pieter (17 October 1987). "Nothing Like the Sun - Moody and Meaningful". Music & Media: 24.
  30. ↑ Riegel, Richard (October 1985). "Sting: The Dream Of The Blue Turtles (A&M)". Creem. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  31. ↑ Bishop, Pete (14 July 1985). "Sting's 'Blue Turtles' Borders on Brilliant". The Pittsburgh Press: H6. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  32. ↑ "Sting: Debut Album of the Year (A&M)" (PDF). Eurotipsheet: 22. 23 December 1985. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  33. ↑ Shefchik, Rick (21 July 1985). "Sting's 'Blue Turtles' Poses as Art Outside the Mainstream". Daily News. Jacksonville, North Carolina: 5E. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  34. ↑ Robbins, Ira. "Sting". Trouser Press. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  35. ↑ Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). "Sting". The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 1,141. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  36. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2006). "Sting". The Great Rock Discography. Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1,051. ISBN 1-84195-827-1.
  37. ↑ Holden, Jonathan (1999). "Sting". In Buckley, Jonathan; Duane, Orla; Ellingham, Mark; Spicer, Al (eds.). The Rough Guide to Rock (2nd ed.). London: Rough Guides. pp. 955–957. ISBN 1-85828-457-0.
  38. ↑ "GRAMMYs' Best Albums 1980–1989". grammy.org. Archived from the original on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  39. ↑ "Picking The Grammy Nominees Of 1986". Los Angeles Times. 5 January 1986. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  40. 1 2 3 4 "Sting | Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  41. ↑ Bashe, Philip (July 1985). "Sting: This is Gordon Sumner". International Musician And Recording World. Retrieved 13 June 2025 – via muzines.co.uk.
  42. 1 2 3 4 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  43. ↑ "austriancharts.at Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  44. ↑ Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 2011-10-20
  45. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles" (ASP). Hung Medien. MegaCharts. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  46. ↑ "Sting: The Dream Of The Blue Turtles" (in German). BVMI. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  47. 1 2 Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
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  49. ↑ "norwegiancharts.com Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles" (ASP). Hung Medien. VG-lista. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  50. ↑ "swedishcharts.com Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles" (ASP) (in Swedish). Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  51. ↑ "Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles – hitparade.ch" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  52. ↑ "The Official Charts Company – Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles" (PHP). Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  53. ↑ "Sting Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  54. ↑ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1985". RPM. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  55. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 1985 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Recorded Music New Zealand. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  56. ↑ "Hitparade.ch – Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1988". Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  57. 1 2 "Complete UK Year-End Album Charts". Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  58. ↑ "Billboard.BIZ – Year-end Charts – Billboard 200 – 1985". Billboard. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  59. ↑ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1986". RPM. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  60. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 1986 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Recorded Music New Zealand. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  61. ↑ "Billboard.BIZ – Year-end Charts – Billboard 200 – 1986". Billboard. Retrieved 24 October 2011.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  62. ↑ Baker, Glenn A. (15 November 1985). "Pacing the Majors..." Billboard. p. A-6. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  63. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles". Music Canada.
  64. 1 2 3 "European Gold & Platinum Awards 1986" (PDF). Music & Media. 27 December 1986. p. 33. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  65. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Sting; 'The Dream of the Blue Turtles')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  66. ↑ "IFPIHK Gold Disc Award − 1988". IFPI Hong Kong. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  67. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  68. ↑ Fernando Salaverri (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. p. 920. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  69. ↑ "British album certifications – Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2 September 2022. Select albums in the Formats field. Type The Dream of the Blue Turtles Sting in the "Search:" field.
  70. ↑ "American album certifications – Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles". Recording Industry Association of America.
  71. ↑ "Yugoslavia - Small Labels Emerging In Major-Dominated Market" (PDF). Billboard. 24 November 1990. p. 69. Retrieved 18 November 2020 – via World Radio History.
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