Overview: On May 20th, 2022, Mercury Studios presents The Police: Around The World (Restored & Expanded) on DVD+CD, Blu-ray+CD, and DVD+LP (pressed on silver vinyl).

Originally available on VHS and laserdisc, the film is being presented on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time, with restored picture and remastered audio, as well as complete performances of four bonus songs featured in the documentary.

Additionally, The Police: Around The World (Restored & Expanded) includes never-before-released live audio on CD and LP. Boasting songs from their first two albums recorded in Japan, Hong Kong, and England, it showcases The Police playing with a frenzy and passion that would soon make them the biggest band in the world.

DVD Verdict: Embarking on their first ever world tour, The Police journeyed through six continents in 1979 and 1980. Capturing behind–the-scenes footage and candid personal moments as the band explores new terrain, The Police: Around The World (Restored & Expanded) displays the beginning of their meteoric rise to worldwide fame.

A poignant snapshot of this pivotal moment in their career, The Police: Around The World (Restored & Expanded) blends footage of the band performing live with intimate footage of Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland exploring Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, India, Egypt, Greece, France, South America, and the US. The band was filmed on and off stage as they visited local monuments, tasted foreign cuisines, and organically grew a global fanbase.

At the same time, the British band were enjoying their first chart success in the UK with “Roxanne” and “Message In A Bottle”. They were young, hungry, and ready to break big.

As Andy Summers enthuses in the liner notes, “Like Napoleon, we wanted the world. Out of the messy and fervent atmosphere in London at that time we conceived the idea to go all around the world and film the whole adventure. As far as we knew no rock band, at least, had ever done that. We had just about enough popularity to get booked around the globe. Plans were made.”

And the rest is history … beautifully captured in The Police: Around The World (Restored & Expanded).

As for a deeper dive into this quite brilliant new 2-disc release, the first thing that strikes you out of the gate is that The Police were very good at documenting themselves. I mean, this video is proof of that as being filmed over a 11-month period, it quite literally documents the entire Regatta De Blanc tour each stop along the way and then picks up on the Zenyatta Mondatta Tour.

It all starts on February 15th, 1980 at the Sun Plaza Hall in Tokyo, then goes to Australia, Cairo and Bombay (two very unusual places for a pop group to tour, then or now). Then it picks up in August of 1980 in Spain (where they seem a bit under the influence) and then we get lots of footage from the same show in France; and as already seen in Urgh! A Music War.

That said, this particular show has an extremely angry Sting cursing and baiting a member of the audience for throwing mud and stones at him and which subsequently prompts Sting to give the audience the finger!

All this takes place during the song "De, Do, Do, Do, De, Da, Da, Da" which creates kind of an unusual, surreal contrast to the song, if truth be told.

Also, Sting yelling for a roadie to pull this guy out of the audience over the piped-in background vocals of the bridge just adds another layer of surrealism to the mix, trust me! Regardless, all this undoubtedly pumped up Sting and they roll right into a rip-roaring version Truth Hits Everybody.

The film ends with a January 1981 show at The Variety Arts Theatre in LA where the audience had to be blonde (wig/spray/dye/natural) to attend the show! Preceded by silly-would-be interviews of the band with the then-just-departed from Squeeze Jools Holland, it is a right royal sight to behold, believe me!

The video is interspersed with the band making a video for Next To You with a bunch of sheep and videos for Voices Inside My Head, Canary In A Coalmine and When The World Is Running Down (all unissued from their Every Breath You Take: The Videos collections for some reason).

Now Restored and Expanded, whether or not you are a Police fan, or you are just a casual passerby of great pop rock music, do yourself a favor and pick it up today (in one of its various newly-released formats) for it is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best released footage visions of the Police in their prime that there has ever been.

DVD & Blu-ray track listing:
Features performances of:
Next To You
Walking On The Moon
Born In The 50’s
So Lonely
Man In A Suitcase
Can’t Stand Losing You
Bring On The Night
Canary In A Coalmine
Voices Inside My Head
When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What’s Still Around
Shadows In The Rain
Don’t Stand So Close To Me
Truth Hits Everybody
Roxanne
Bonus Features (Complete live performances of):
Walking On The Moon (Live from Kyoto)
Next To You (Live from Kyoto)
Message In A Bottle (Live from Hong Kong)
Born In The 50’s (Live from Hong Kong)

CD Tracks:
Walking On The Moon - Live from Kyoto
Next To You – Live from Kyoto
Deathwish - Live from Kyoto
So Lonely - Live from Kyoto
Can’t Stand Losing You - Live from Kyoto
Truth Hits Everybody - Live from Kyoto
Visions Of The Night – Live from Hammersmith
Roxanne – Live from Hammersmith
Intro
Born In The 50’s – Live from Hong Kong
Message In A Bottle – Live from Hong Kong
Bring On The Night – Live from Hong Kong

LP Tracks:
Side A:
Walking On The Moon - Live from Kyoto
Deathwish - Live from Kyoto
So Lonely - Live from Kyoto
Can’t Stand Losing You - Live from Kyoto

Side B:
Truth Hits Everybody - Live from Kyoto
Roxanne – Live from Hammersmith
Born In The 50’s – Live from Hong Kong
Message In A Bottle – Live from Hong Kong
Bring On The Night – Live from Hong Kong

www.ThePolice.com