Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (May 26, 2022)
Back before they arguably became the biggest rock band on the planet circa 1983, the Police worked to earn every fan. Across 1980-81, the then-ascendant trio embarked on a tour that took them to six continents and places most groups never visited.
Originally released in 1982, The Police: Around the World documents these travels. It opens in Japan and then proceeds through Australia, India, Egypt, Greece, Argentina, France, and Hollywood, where they played a show that required all patrons to sport blond hair.
Whereas World starts with the Police still on the road for their second album, 1979’s Regatta de Blanc, it progresses through the October 1980 release of their third record, Zenyatta Mondatta. This doesn’t mean a clear delineation between “eras”, though.
The Police “previewed” Zenyatta as far back as the March 1980 shows in Australia. That factor allows Zenyatta to be more of a presence across the 1980 concerts – and this program – than one might anticipate.
As a mix of travelogue and tour documentary, we find plenty of songs but no complete performances. Along the way, we get live versions of “Next to You”, “Bring On the Night”,“Walking on the Moon”, “Canary in a Coalmine”, “Born in the 50s”, “Man in a Suitcase”, “Can’t Stand Losing You”, “When the World Is Running Down”, “Shadows in the Rain”, “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”, “Truth Hits Everybody” and “Roxanne”.
These come in various forms of completeness, though the “travelogue” format means we find edited renditions across the board. We also sometimes hear studio versions of some songs play over live footage in places where I guess the audio wasn’t up to snuff, such as in Egypt and Greece.
In addition to the shots from concerts, we see music video footage for “So Lonely”, “Voices Inside My Head” and “When the World Is Running Down”. World fills out the rest of its running time with shots of the Police as they visit the various countries
The latter material breaks into two categories. We see some “band on the road” shots of the locations, but we also get staged “skits”, too.
This means eye-roll-inspiring elements like tiny Andy Summers’ “battle” against a sumo in Japan. Though innocuous for their era, these can seem less enchanting and more racist now.
They’re also just not very entertaining. Whenever we find ourselves stuck with these stabs at comedy, I always wish we could watch the band play live or at least see them behind the scenes on tour.
Make no mistake: World does not offer a real “tour diary”, which seems like a shame. Given the ambitious nature of the 1980 tour, I’d love to find a view of what these travels were like for the Police.
Instead, we mostly encounter promo reel material. Every once in a while, World feels more honest, but it mostly exists as a glossy puff piece.
This means we watch Summers, Sting and Stewart Copeland as they goof around and wear local costumes. Nothing truly revealing occurs.
Despite these myriad flaws, I can’t help but enjoy World as a product of its era and a slice of that particular period. 1980 found the Police in that brief span between initial success and superstardom.
Before 1980, the Police had scored some hits – mainly in the UK – but Zenyatta would become the album that really allowed them to jump to the next level, especially in the US. 1978’s Outlandos d'Amour and 1979’s Regatta cracked the top 25 in the States, but it was Zenyatta that pushed the Police to greater heights.
Zenyatta reached number 5 in the US album charts, and it spawned two top 10 singles. Since World covers the transition between Regatta and Zenyatta, it should offer a compelling view of a band on the rise.
And to some degree it does, though its superficial nature means we get few insights. Still, this period doesn’t receive a lot of documentation in general, so I’ll take what I can get.
I actually because a Police fan in this era, as I bought the “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” single back then. I saw the band live in early 1982 and stayed with them ever since then.
As such, I like World, warts and all. I’d prefer a more serious program – or at least one with complete live performances – but I still value the chance to take a peek at the Police on the cusp of superstardom.
Note that although this Blu-ray comes with the subtitle “Restored & Expanded”, it appears to run substantially shorter than the 1982 VHS version. I never owned the latter, but IMDB states it went 78 minutes, and a screenshot of a videotape claims 75 minutes.
Even if we go with the last one, that means the 65-minute Blu-ray loses at least 10 minutes of footage. I suspect this was “internal censorship”, as apparently the Blu-ray drops a scene in which Sting gets testy with an unruly audience.
Nonetheless, I find it disappointing that World omits any footage from the 1982 version, especially because it seems silly to delete material from a product that’s been seen for 40 years. Even if he comes off poorly, I think Sting’s career will survive – and it can’t be more embarrassing than the band’s racist skit in Egypt.
In any case, the deletion of footage makes this set’s claim to be “expanded” perplexing. Perhaps that alludes to the added material in the disc’s supplements and not the main program.
Hopefully I’ll get more information about these issues as we go. If I find anything, I’ll update this review.
