Police Around The World rumored details...

[Krokodyle]

Hello.
Only for japanese market Bluray and Dvd sets will contain a promo sticker 90mm x 80mm in a very limited edition

Wow, they really know how to make a specific market feel special...a WHOLE STICKER!

I guess I'll never understand the decisions they make for these releases.

[Jack Pozzi]

I just read an article about Stewart saying he had a bad haircut at the time. Never noticed, doesn't seem that bad

The Police - Around the world * Stereo

Still on YT ..

https://youtu.be/btej3PXqbbY

[Jack Pozzi]

Hello.
Only for japanese market Bluray and Dvd sets will contain a promo sticker 90mm x 80mm in a very limited edition

Wow, they really know how to make a specific market feel special...a WHOLE STICKER!

I guess I'll never understand the decisions they make for these releases.

You can get an All Regions DVD player on Amazon, not sure about Blu Ray though

[Krokodyle]

It has ARRIVED!

The outside sticker was upside-down, but otherwise arrived intact. A very nice booklet blurb from Andy! Excited to watch the bluray later tonight!

On a related note, it also arrived with the new Clash reissue of Combat Rock / The People's Hall...which will be another treat.

[Krokodyle]

Can it be...the audio CD actually has the original vocal audio from the performance and doesn't include the overdubs/doubling that appear in the film??? Yay!!!

My impressions on the bluray...the resolution is really excellent, but wow, the saturation level is cranked way, WAY too high. Lipstick color looks positively clownish and skin tones are inaccurate. Some post-filming video effects are not present (like Andy being slammed against the sumo practice area...in the original, there's an 'echo' effect that's not present now, and the location titles, and the "Voices in my Head" video interlude), which is fine, and the overall audio quality of dialogue scenes is much, much better.

Unfortunately, multiple scenes have been edited out of, or severely trimmed in, this new release. LIke a LOT of them. It's really disappointing just how much has been cut. Stewart's interaction with the Japanese fan with limited English skills? Gone. Remember when Sting got pissed about the fan who threw stuff? "De Do Do Do" has been totally excised from this reissue. The saucy Jools Holland intro sequence has been cut. "Truth Hits Everybody" has been cut in various spots, around the "two girls love me?" sequence. Freakin' ridiculous. Oh, and the lady boobs that briefly appear in "Roxanne" are excised.

Even when we finally get what we want, we still don't get what we want.

Edited to add: hearing the 'PAL speed' version of "Bring on the Night" is still jarring.

Overall score: C+. Removing content is equivalent to revistionist history, and that's never a good thing in the long run. Own your stuff, and admit that maybe some stuff was incorrect. It's a shame that us Nutters have to rely on home-brewed encodes of the original release, even after all these years.

The bonus features on the BluRay are pretty awesome, if only because it's the only TRULY NEW Police material released in years and years.

[TheEqualizer]

I am an idiot. Totally did not see the booklet until I saw this thread. God they were great.

[jerseyfan]

I thought this was supposed to be the expanded version of the beloved Police Around the World.

Krokodyle already went over the list of ridiculously unnecessary edits, perhaps a bow to the newly uber-sensitive 2022 BS PC. What, Sting called someone who thew dirt on him a fing bastard? Who cares? Give me a break. The other day in an interview Sting said when he was going to play Las Vegas, he was afraid the audience would be packed with MAGA-types. Who is this guy? Mr. Tax Exile with multiple estates who pretends to be socialist to impress his Hollywood and music friends is concerned about his image? He has to re-write history? Now he insults a significant percentage of the fans who have loved and supported him for decades.

What happened to all the material from Police in the East and the Nightingale interviews? They are really almost the same videos, shot by the same people. I thought they would use it all and I was excited to watch. (Was there a copyright and licensing issue?)

The big positive was the full songs. They sound so raw, clear, crisp and fresh, even 42 years later. It was like hearing them for the first time. Why in the world didn't they focus on more bonus songs? It's the highlight of the Blu-ray, especially since it was totally new to most fans. And what about more Frejus which fans have been requesting since the 80s?

[Howstupidmrbates]

Agreed - this is practically an entirely new film.

It should have been called "Revised & Reimagined."

[gary1]

Yes as good as this is and I’m grateful to have it has been butchered. The odd snippet I can handle but to remove a great version of De Do Do Do is not on. In this day and age I think most of us can handle a little swearing. And yes Police in the East could have been a separate bonus material. Just hoping now Sting has sold his music rights we get more Police stuff released asap

[Dietmar]

I bought the Bluray / CD yesterday and will make a scene by scene comparison on the PoliceWiki pages soon. So far I didn't have the time to check more than 15 minutes, but there were already a LOT of cuts... The garden lady and Andy are not shown in profile - instead there are additional Police shots. Next To You doesn't feature the guitar solo anymore. Light Changes is cut - the talking parts at the end... Andy's sumo fight without slo-mo effects, but with an additional (!) Sting shot and additional (!) Andy shots, Hongkong "herbal remedies" scene and dressing room scenes - cut .... that's when I had to leave for work ...

The four bonus tracks are great - so nice to see something "new".

The cover is bad - just a still from the movie with some random fourth guy on it. The photos inside are not better - dark grainy shots from the movie. Miles Copeland and others took so many nice photos that would have worked so much better...

The booklet text is nice, but all over the place. The chronology is good at the start, but jumps back and forth later on... not making much sense that way.

[jerseyfan]

I finally read the full liner notes written by Andy Summers. I didn't even realize there was a booklet until someone here mentioned it.

As usual, Andy's writing is interesting and witty. He's quite the raconteur. It would have been so entertaining to see video, if it exits. There are a few anecdotes. For example, Stewart spoke in court after a marijuana charge by the Police. I forget where.

When Andy was going to get arrested in Argentina after kicking the cop, Stewart was recording in the dressing room hoping to document Andy's impending disappearance and demise. Where is that video? I'm sure is sidesplitting funny... now that decades have passed.

If you missed it, it's worth the read.