Around The World Restored & Expanded
The original Around The World release followed The Police on their 1980 tour of the Far East (as broadcast on the BBC as Police In The East) with added material of the 1980-1981 Zenyatta Mondatta Tour. This page is about the 2022 re-release with various cuts.
| "Around The World Restored & Expanded" | |
|---|---|
| Artist: | The Police |
| Directed by: | Kate Burbidge, Derek Burbidge |
| Produced by: | Kate Burbidge, Derek Burbidge |
| Edited by: | Jim Elderton, Paul Edmunds |
| Filming location(s): | around the world |
| Initial release date: | 2022-05-20 (worldwide) |
| Running time: | 65:15 minutes |
| Label: | Mercury Studios |
Contents
Video summary
This movie presents a selection of live performances, behind the scenes material and The Police filming promotional videos - filmed between February 1980 and January 1981.
This re-release of Around The World promotes its improved picture and sound quality with the "restored & expanded" label, but fails to mention that various parts of the original release are cut.
Throughout the new release the credits have been changed and most of the slow-motion effects have been replaced with moving images.
The following scenes appeared in the original release - cuts on the 2022 release are mentioned:
- Intro - the original credits have been replaced
- in the very first scene the profile shots of Andy Summers and the garden lady and one garden shot are replaced with band scenes
- Next To You (Kyoto - 1980-02-20) - one "woohoo" after the announcement is missing, the guitar solo including band shots at the train station are cut (including Stewart Copeland's comments about "little porcelain dolls")
- Light Changes - new "him killer dog" audio at the start; at the end about 35 seconds with Andy and Stewart talking are cut
- Bring On The Night (soundcheck)
- Walking On The Moon (Kyoto - 1980-02-20) - slow-motion effects are replaced with additional shots of Sting signalling the end of the fight and Andy being whirled around / Stewart's comments "should be a pushover - the guy's fat" - cut
- Guitar Man (dressing room) - the dressing room argument at the end is cut
- early Canary In A Coalmine jam (soundcheck) - one slow-motion effect replaced with moving images
- tailor scene - "he's a very famous person - with The Police" / bribing the tailor with what's probably a The Police pin : cut
- Born In The 50's (Hongkong - 1980-02-27) - no more '80s video effects at the end of the song
- So Lonely (studio version) - minor changes
- Man In A Suitcase (Los Angeles - 1981-01-16) - interview with Australian kids is cut, the radio announcer and scenes with the doctor are completely gone, no more '80s effects
- sitar jam
- Can't Stand Losing You (Bombay - 1980-03-26) - the cough right before announcing the song & woman saying "thank you all for coming" : cut; one scene with costumes has been replaced; after "Alright Bombay" a few beats including an additional cough have been cut
- Sting on piano - a minor video stop effect replaced with moving image
- Bring On The Night (studio version) - Stewart Copeland "Arab" comments / Danny Quatrochi talking both cut, slow-motion effect replaced with other shots, no cheesy '80s effect in the final desert scene
- Canary In A Coalmine (studio version)
- Voices Inside My Head (studio version) - the dressing room scene right afterwards with an angry Stewart Copeland was cut
- When The World Is Running Down (studio version / Los Angeles - 1981-01-16 / studio version) - one new Sting shot singing "Don't like the food I eat" replaces a slow-motion effect; the end now features more moving images of the skyline and a short fade to black before Shadows In The Rain starts
- Shadows In The Rain (Los Angeles - 1981-01-16) - two scenes with Andy Summers and his bolos / balls are cut - about half a minute is missing
- De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da (Frejus - 1980-08-28) - completely CUT out of the new release
- Don't Stand So Close To Me (Frejus - 1980-08-28) - "young teacher" not audible anymore, slow-motion scene at the start presents more Sting movements
- Truth Hits Everybody (Frejus - 1980-08-28) - first Jools Holland is cut, so the song starts to random fan footage; the whole middle section has gone, including a Sting backstage moment
- Roxanne (Los Angeles - 1981-01-16) - the end of the Frances Tomelty interview is cut - with Sting slowly looking into the camera; bare breasts are replaced with random audience scenes
- Message In A Bottle (studio version) - end credits style has changed; background videos are different in parts
Production
In its first half this video uses material which was originally filmed for Anne Nightingale's BBC movie Police In The East - live tracks for this TV broadcast had been overdubbed and remixed at Keystone Studios in Dublin, Ireland. The second half consists of material filmed during the 1980-1981 Zenyatta Mondatta Tour - the newer material was overdubbed at Super Bear Studio in Nice, France between 1981-06-05 and 1981-06-15.
Bonus material
The Bluray features four additional live videos:
- Walking On The Moon - Kyoto - 1980-02-20
- Next To You - Kyoto - 1980-02-20
- Message In A Bottle - Hong Kong - 1980-02-27
- Born In The 50's - Hong Kong - 1980-02-27
The CD features 11 live tracks - 6 songs are from 1980-02-20, 2 are from 1979-12-18 and 3 are from 1980-02-27.
The LP features 9 live tracks - 5 from 1980-02-20, 1 from 1979-12-18 and 3 from 1980-02-27.
Release history
This section needs more information. Include a chronological list of various releases and formats for this video.
| Cover art | Release date | Label | Country | Format | Language | Special features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2022-05-20 | Mercury Studios | worldwide | Bluray / DVD | English | 4 live videos + CD or LP |
Quotations and trivia
Fan reactions on The PoliceWiki's facebook page regarding all the cuts:
- "You know, in the pantheon of releases by major artists this might be the stupidest release I have ever ever come across and for such a document that we’ve all been waiting for for decades???!!! I’m literally more than disgusted! I never wanna look at it again."
- "The more I read your post, the more I feel disgusted about all these cuts."
- "All the highlights I remember are the ones that disappeared lol."
- "So this version Is not worth buying....for all the stupid cuts."
- "The nature of the biggest problem - the edits - speaks to the biggest disappointment: That these guys have bent to the lunacy of the most hypocritical of times in which we live. ie that everybody is ok with corporations running the world, with endless wars, government sanctioned racism and misogyny etc - but if you did some stupid shit when you were a uni student, you're cancelled. The weird part of the edits is that evidently many of them have nothing to do with the innocent cultural insensitivities of our intrepid heroes in 1980 - and most likely everything to do with ego syntonic tinkering.
...and that might have been fine if the band and their corporate partners had been honest with the audience that has followed them for 45 years. Instead, they have marketed this release as "restored and expanded". Can anybody think of a single film release which was marketed like this and had footage *cut* from it, without acknowledgment from the director? This release - in how it has been formally described on the box - fleeces an important and longest dedicated part of the audience with a false claim. This is pretty poor form."
- "Can’t understand why they remove sections and sanitise the music. Please just add to it, not take elements away !!"
- "I’m returning mine to Amazon and I’ll look for a dirt cheap used copy."
- ""Expanded" it says on the cover. What a joke."
- "There's no way I'm buying this garbage ... The whole point of this release was supposed to be that it's a nice blu ray quality transfer of a legacy documentary previously only available in subpar format. ... Pretty damned sad. These guys used to be ahead of the curve."
- "I am blown away by how much has been taken out. So glad I didn’t buy it."
- "I wouldn't have minded as much if we were told in advance that it had been re-edited rather than expanded! The sound & picture quality is 100%, but I wouldn't have got as excited about this edition! It should have the BBC Police In The East tagged on, that'd made me feel a bit better!!!"
- "This is really an outrage! As it has been mentioned the audience fight at Frejus was removed along with other gem moments! Have woke forces seized Police headquarters? Was hoping really rare stuff I mean really rare stuff! An damed insult!"
- "It’s been butchered!"
- "Is there anything actually LEFT in this release?"
- "In my opinion the BBC documentary “Police In The East” should have been amalgamated into Around The World to form a more complete and fulfilling film. Especially since the two share many scenes."
...
Thoughts about the cover, inner sleeve and booklet:
Instead of using one of the great photos they took during that tour they used a grainy screenshot from the movie itself. None of the band looks comfortable. And then there's that fourth guy on the horse - without colours...
The inner sleeve shows more screenshots from the movie, most of them grainy and dark, which gives it the appearance of an illegal fan-made item.
Andy's comments start out fine and in chronological order, but then everything goes awry: after Greece & Italy he mentions "carrying on" (but the Hammersmith Odeon and Palais event was a month BEFORE the world tour started) / about South America: "Rio de Janeiro was the first stop" (it wasn't) / "Ronnie Biggs" appeared on the scene... (to my knowledge the band met him in 1982!) / "show was in a canyon" (is he talking about Vina del Mar in 1982?) / "we flew on to Chile" (yes, but in 1982 - nothing to do with this movie) / "we went back to Rio" (well, also back in time, apparently)
See also
External links and reviews
This section needs more information.
References
This section needs more information.
