That was the description Amazon had posted when I ordered this DVD (probably still does.) I don't know what DVD that was written about, but it's certainly not this one. That's part of the good news, because I had a guess to what it really was when I ordered it.

Beatles "Around the World" actually contains three sections. First is what seems to be a basically complete version of the "Around the Beatles" TV broadcast from England. The theater sketch along with the music segments from all the artists (Cilla Black, etc.) and The Beatles music segment in pretty good quality (like the medley and Shout among many others.) This is the best quality overall of the 3 sections.

Next is the promo ad for theater showings of the first U.S. Washington D.C. concert program, and then the program straight through until the abrupt cut durring the next to last song. All the stage rotating and banter, along with the music is included. Watchable quality here, but not the newly found tape source that Apple used a part in Anthology.

Third segment is the 1966 Tokyo "light suits" concert. Big surprise is the very poor video quality on this. I have seen this show look almost pristeen, as does the "dark suits" show that was available on Laserdisc from Japan. The audio is acceptable, wish they would have tracked down a much better copy of this show to put out.

Tacked on the end of the disc is a throw away biography and photo gallery. Now some more good news and bad. The case says this is "region 0" not "1" so anyone can use it. The case also says in very small print "PAL." I know this release was originally from Australia, which uses the PAL system, but I figured if it was released as a domestic item here it would be done NTSC. I have two players I can put DVDs in. The first player I tried would not play this disc. I got a couple frozen images then the disc would just hang and do nothing. The menu was one of the images, but without the controls to navigate it. Weirder part is, this is my region-free all-code player that is also supposed to handle PAL discs. My Pioneer combo Laserdisc/DVD unit played this disc fine. As far as I know, it is not supposed to handle PAL discs. Is the case wrong and the disc is actually NTSC? Or is this disc PAL like the case says and I'm lucky one of my players can handle it? Be warned, it could go either way for you too.

Rare concert material here all in one place, could have used better source tapes. Moot points if you can't get it to play at all.


There's nothing magical about this mystery tour   November 27, 2006
Rhymes With Orange (USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

The other reviewers were fortunate if they received something other than what the packaging indicates. What I received was a short (10-15 minutes) collection of newsreel footage of the Beatles embarking and disembarking various aircraft at various airports around the world (heavily weighted toward Australia). This is tedious, even for a devout fan like myself. You've been warned: This DVD is a rip-off.


Not perfect, but essential for any collection!   May 22, 2005
M. Martellaro
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This has, in my opinion, one of the absolute BEST performances the Beatles have EVER done in front of a live audience. It kicks off with a Beatles TV special from 1964. First, the Beatles do a hilarous parody of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Paul isn't that bad of an actor!

Then, you see a bunch of other stars from the UK pop scene in 1964, and finally, the Beatles play. They do versions of Twist and Shout, Roll Over Beethoven, I Wanna Be Your Man, and Long Tall Sally. Everyone of them is live except for Ringo's (which is lip-synced for some reason). They're all excellent performances - some of the best ever. Then, they do an AWESOME medley of Love Me Do, Please Please Me, From Me To You, She Loves You, and I Want To Hold Your Hand, all strung together. Finally, they finish with a live version of "Shout", not the one on the Anthology, but one I'd never heard. The one that goes "You know you make me wanna shout!". It's freaking awesome. The whole DVD is worth it for this one taping.

Then, we've got the complete Washington DC concert. It's really good quality and it's not the overdubbed one - it's the actual footage of the Beatles singing live. It also has a funny little commercial from '64 advertising the concert.

The only letdown is the last section, the Budokan concert of the Beatles playing in white suits. The colors are really washed out, almost black and white at some points. I've seen much better quality videos of this performance, so I doubt this section of the DVD is taken from a master tape. Like others have said, I've seen versions of this performance in clear, crisp color.

Other than that, this DVD is 100% worth the purchase for the TV special taped on April 28th, 1964. Buy it!


wow!   February 16, 2005
Whoolhat (mo)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

this dvd met and possibly exceeded my expectations! other reviewers had said the amazon description for this item was incorrect, and i took the reviewers' word for it. i'm glad i did, because they were right! anyway, about the dvd...sure, the film isn't very clear and the sound isn't great, but i really didn't mind. besides the beatles' first u.s. show (most of it) and the beatles show in tokyo (1966), i loved seeing millie (of "my boy lollipop" fame) sing a song or two. the other singers/bands on the "around the beatles" section were at least somewhat fun to watch, too. i'd definitely recommend this dvd! (oh, it does say something about "PAL" on the back, but it played fine in my non-PAL dvd player! i'm guessing it was just labeled wrong.)


Finally   May 23, 2004
Julie A Ross (Pleasant Hill, CA United States)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

It's great to see these shows finally being officially released on DVD. I've owned the Beatles' Washington concert onb bootleg for quite some time, and here it is officially! Also there is a Ready Steady Go appearance, and a Japan show. Not great quality, but still nice to have these shows officially available.

Now the bad news: the DVD is in PAL format, which means that unless you've got a multi-format DVD player, you won't be able to play this disc. It will play in your computer if you've got a DVD player in your computer.