The Soul Cages is the third full-length studio album by English musician Sting. Released on 21 January 1991, it became Sting's second No. 1 album on the UK Albums Chart.

It spawned four singles: "All This Time", "Mad About You", "The Soul Cages" and "Why Should I Cry for You". Both "All This Time" and "Why Should I Cry for You" were included on Sting's 1994 compilation album Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984–1994; "Mad About You" was also included on the international version of the compilation. The title track won the first Grammy Award for Best Rock Song at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards in 1992. The Soul Cages was also mixed with QSound, a technology that creates 3D audio effects on stereo sound systems.

On 15 January 2021, an expanded version of The Soul Cages was released to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Along with the original nine tracks, this new edition includes 13 bonus tracks that consist of remixes, extended mixes and a pair of songs sung in Spanish and Italian incarnations.

Concept The Soul Cages is a concept album focused on the death of Sting's father Ernest Sumner. Sting had developed a writer's block shortly after his father's death in 1987; the episode lasted several years, until he was able to overcome his affliction by dealing with the death of his father through music. Most of the songs have motifs related to sailing or the seas; Sting wrote in his autobiography Broken Music that his father had always regretted not becoming a sailor. There are also references to Newcastle, the part of England where Sting grew up.

Given his experience of writer's block, Sting did not have any finished songs or arrangements upon entering the studio, unlike previous albums. After two weeks of rehearsing his existing song ideas with his line-up of musicians – Dominic Miller on guitar, Kenny Kirkland on keyboards and Manu Katché on drums – together they moulded these ideas into proper songs in the studio, either through arranging them or recording jams that could be edited into a song. They spent six weeks doing the basic tracks at Studio Guillaume Tell in Paris, before hiring the Le Voyageur II mobile studio for overdubs and vocals in Villa Salviati in Migliarino, Italy.

In an interview with Charlie Rose that aired on 10 December 2010, Sting mentioned that he was working on a "mood piece", a musical project and book in collaboration with Pulitzer winner Brian Yorkey. The work would be based on an album he released many years ago concerning the loss of his father, growing up in Newcastle and witnessing the passing of the shipbuilding industry there. He admitted being scared of the prospect of pulling it all together but expressed confidence in it working out. This project has since been confirmed as the musical The Last Ship.

Release At the time this album appeared, the music industry was primarily using CD longboxes for packaging in North America. The original shipments of the album were packaged in a longbox containing a multi-panel Digipak. Between 200,000 and 300,000 copies of the album were distributed in this package, which according to an executive for A&M Records roughly cost the company "an additional $50,000 - $75,000."

From 1 February 1991 onwards, A&M Records instead placed the album in packaging developed by AGI Inc. known as the Digitrak, a form of packaging similar to the Digipak that protected the contents of the album with shrink wrap on the exterior and two plastic tracks within the paperboard panels. This format had been reviewed by the National Recycling Coalition through a study on alternative packaging for the music industry. AGI was unable to distribute the album in this packaging any earlier than 1 February due to logistical issues in manufacturing a sufficient number of plastic tracks for the Digitrak. As Sting's tour was started to begin that month, A&M Records decided against delaying the album entirely and settling on longbox packaging for the initial shipment of records. Certain music retail chains, including Music Plus, had originally planned on not carrying the album if it had been exclusively packaged in a jewel case.

Studio Brussel promoted the album in Belgium by featuring all ten of the album's tracks on its radio programs over a five-day period and also airing an interview with Sting. The cover painting was created by the Scottish artist Steven Campbell.

Until the release of Symphonicities in July 2010, The Soul Cages was the only studio album by Sting not to feature a photograph of himself on the front cover, although he does appear on the back cover of both albums.

Track listing

Personnel Adapted from the album's liner notes. Sting – lead vocals, bass, Synclavier, mandolin, arrangements Kenny Kirkland – keyboards David Sancious – keyboards Dominic Miller – guitars Manu Katché – drums Skip Burney – percussion Ray Cooper – percussion Munyungo Jackson – percussion Vinx De'Jon Parrette – percussion Bill Summers – percussion Tony Vacca – percussion Branford Marsalis – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone (3, 4, 8) Paola Paparelle – oboe Kathryn Tickell – Northumbrian smallpipes

Production Produced by Hugh Padgham and Sting QSound production assistants – Brian Cowieson and Scott Willing Engineered and mixed by Hugh Padgham Assistant engineers – Simon Osbourne, Yves Jaget, Bruce Keene, Al Stone, Brian Scheuble, and Efren Herrera Technical assistant – Danny Quatrochi Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk (New York City, New York) Mixed at The Town House (London, England) and A&M Studios (Hollywood, California) Design – Richard Frankel and Len Peltier Front cover painting and inside illustrations – Steven Campbell Photography – Guzman

Singles "All This Time" (1990) – No. 5 US Billboard Hot 100, No. 1 US Mainstream Rock, No. 1 US Modern Rock, No. 9 US Adult Contemporary, No. 22 UK Singles Chart "Mad About You" (1991) – No. 56 UK Singles Chart "Why Should I Cry For You" (1991) – No. 32 US Mainstream Rock "The Soul Cages" (1991) – No. 7 US Mainstream Rock, No. 9 US Modern Rock, No. 57 UK Singles Chart

Charts

Weekly charts +Weekly chart performance for The Soul Cages Chart (1991) PeakpositionAustralian ARIA Albums Chart3Ö3 Austria Top 40 Longplay3Canadian RPM1001Dutch Album Top 1001French SNEP Albums Chart7German Media Control Albums Chart1Japanese Oricon Albums Chart4New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart4Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart2Spanish PROMUSICAE Albums Chart 4Swedish Sverigetopplistan Albums Chart4Swiss Hitparade Albums Top 1001UK Albums (OCC)1US Radio & Records AOR Albums Chart 2 US Billboard 2002

Year-end charts +1991 year-end chart performance for The Soul Cages Chart (1991) PositionAustrian Albums Chart26Canadian Albums Chart10Dutch Albums Chart30French Albums Chart36Japanese Albums Chart85Swiss Albums Chart19UK Albums Chart82US Billboard 20046

Certifications and sales

References