The Dream of the Blue Turtles

The Dream of the Blue Turtles is the debut solo album by English musician Sting, released on 17 June 1985. The album reached number three on the UK Albums Chart^[19] and number two on the US Billboard 200.

The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Studio album by Sting
Released	17 June 1985[1]
Recorded	March – April 1985
Studio	Blue Wave Studio, Saint Philip, Barbados and Le Studio, Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada
Genre	Pop rock[2] jazz rock[3]
Length	41:40
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
"If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" Released: May 1985[4] "Love Is the Seventh Wave" Released: August 1985 (UK)[5] "Fortress Around Your Heart" Released: August 1985 (US)[6] "Russians" Released: November 1985[7] "Moon Over Bourbon Street" Released: February 1986[8] "We Work the Black Seam" Released: June 1986

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Chicago Tribune	[10]
Los Angeles Times	[11]
Orlando Sentinel	[12]
Record Mirror	4/5[13]
Rolling Stone	[14]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[15]
The Sacramento Bee	[16]
Smash Hits	6/10[17]
The Village Voice	C+[18]

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".^[20][21]

Background and release

The album is named after a dream that Sting had.^[22] He initially worked on tracks for his debut solo album with producers Torch Song: William Orbit, Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert.^[23] 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.^[24][25] Seven weeks were spent recording the songs at Eddy Grant's Blue Wave Studio in Barbados, followed by mixing at Le Studio in Quebec.^[26]

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. 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", 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.^[26] "Shadows in the Rain" had originally appeared on Zenyatta Mondatta by the Police and was re-recorded for The Dream of the Blue Turtles.^[27] "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.^[28] "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

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
1986	The Dream of the Blue Turtles	Album of the Year[29]	Nominated
		Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male[30]	Nominated

Track listing

All tracks are written by Sting, except where noted.

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"If You Love Somebody Set Them Free"		4:16
2.	"Love Is the Seventh Wave"		3:32
3.	"Russians"	Sting / Sergei Prokofiev	3:58
4.	"Children's Crusade"		5:02
5.	"Shadows in the Rain"		4:50

Side two

No.	Title	Length
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^[31][19]
• "Russians" (1985) No. 16 US Hot 100, No. 12 UK Singles Chart^[31][19]
• "Fortress Around Your Heart" (1985) No. 8 US Hot 100, No. 49 UK Singles Chart^[31][19]
• "Love Is the Seventh Wave" (1985) No. 17 US Hot 100, No. 41 UK Singles Chart^[31][19]
• "Moon Over Bourbon Street" (1986) No. 44 UK Singles Chart^[19] – with a B-side of "The Ballad of Mack the Knife"

Personnel

• Sting – vocals, guitars, bass guitar (tracks 2 and 10),^[32] double bass (track 9), arrangements
• Darryl Jones – bass guitar
• Kenny Kirkland – keyboards
• Branford Marsalis – soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, clarinet, percussion
• Dominic Muldowney – additional arrangements (track 10)
• Dolette McDonald – backing vocals
• Janice Pendarvis – backing vocals
• Omar Hakim – drums

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

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for The Dream of the Blue Turtles Chart (1985–1986) Peak position Australian Kent Music Report[33] 1 Austrian Albums Chart[34] 13 Canadian Albums Chart[35] 4 Dutch Albums Chart[36] 1 German Albums Chart[37] 4 Japanese Oricon LP Chart[38] 9 New Zealand Albums Chart[39] 4 Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[40] 4 Swedish Albums Chart[41] 5 Swiss Albums Chart[42] 6 UK Albums Chart[43] 3 US Billboard 200[44] 2

Year-end charts 1985 year-end chart performance for The Dream of the Blue Turtles Chart (1985) Position Australian Albums Chart[33] 18 Canadian Albums Chart[45] 12 Japanese Albums Chart[38] 71 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[46] 14 Swiss Albums Chart[47] 27 UK Albums Chart[48] 37 US Billboard 200[49] 50 1986 year-end chart performance for The Dream of the Blue Turtles Chart (1986) Position Australian Albums Chart[33] 7 Canadian Albums Chart[50] 71 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[51] 28 UK Albums Chart[48] 41 US Billboard 200[52] 33 Decade-end charts Decade-end chart performance for The Dream of the Blue Turtles Chart (1980–1989) Position Australian Albums Chart[33] 32

Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales for The Dream of the Blue Turtles

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia	—	200,000[53]
Canada (Music Canada)[54]	Platinum	100,000^
France (SNEP)[55]	Platinum	300,000*
Germany (BVMI)[56]	Platinum	500,000^
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[57]	Gold	10,000*
Italy (FIMI)[55]	Platinum	500,000[55]
New Zealand (RMNZ)[58]	Platinum	15,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[59]	Gold	50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[60]	2× Platinum	600,000^
United States (RIAA)[61]	3× Platinum	3,000,000^
Yugoslavia	—	50,000[62]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.