Concert for Bangladesh

[rusinurbe]

just got this from the beatles.com


APPLE CORPS TO RELEASE "THE CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH - GEORGE HARRISON AND FRIENDS" ON DVD

LANDMARK BENEFIT CONCERT FEATURING PERFORMANCES BY GEORGE HARRISON, RAVI SHANKAR, BOB DYLAN, ERIC CLAPTON, RINGO STARR

Apple Corps is proud to announce the autumn 2005 release of "The Concert For Bangladesh * George Harrison and Friends" on DVD and CD.

The Concert for Bangladesh was the first benefit concert of its kind in that it brought together an extraordinary assemblage of major artists collaborating for a common humanitarian cause * setting the precedent that music could be used to serve a higher cause. The concert sold out Madison Square Garden and along with the Grammy ® Award-winning triple-album boxset and the feature film, has generated millions of dollars for UNICEF and raised awareness for the organisation around the world, as well as among other musicians and their fans. It is therefore acknowledged as the inspiration and forerunner to the major global fundraising events of recent years. To quote the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, George and his friends were pioneers.

Besides George himself the concert features some of his friends, including: Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell and Billy Preston. Performances include 'Here Comes The Sun', 'Something', 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', 'My Sweet Lord', 'Just Like A Woman', 'Blowin' In The Wind' and 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall'.

During the struggle for independence from Pakistan millions of refugees fled to neighbouring India to escape hunger, disease and bloodshed. The crisis was deepened when massive floods hit the region. Alerted to the scale of the suffering by his friend Ravi Shankar, George Harrison organised The Concert For Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden on August 1st, 1971 with the proceeds going to UNICEF.

The DVD will be released by WMG (Warner Music Group) on October 25th, 2005 in the USA, and October 24th in the rest of the world, as a 2-disc package, including the original 99-minute film restored and remixed in 5.1, as well as 72-minutes of extras. The extras feature a 45-minute documentary "The Concert For Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison", about the background to the two shows with exclusive interviews and contributions from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Sir Bob Geldof. There is also previously unseen footage: "If Not For You", featuring George and Bob Dylan from rehearsals, "Come On In My Kitchen" featuring George, Eric Clapton and Leon Russell at the sound check and a Bob Dylan performance from the afternoon show of "Love Minus Zero/No Limit", not included in the original film.

Apple Corps/WMG, will also simultaneously release a special deluxe version (limited to 50,000 copies worldwide) that will feature a 64-page book and other collectibles.

The album of the concert has been remixed and repackaged as a 2-disc set, and is also released on October 25th, 2005 in the USA by Capitol Records and on October 24th in the rest of the world, by Sony BMG Entertainment. This will contain an additional track, the Bob Dylan performance of "Love Minus Zero/No Limit".

All artists' royalties from the sales of the DVD and the CD will continue to go to UNICEF.

[Ge Someone]

Strange that (a version) was already issued on DVD May 8 , 2001. I myself have a version released 2004 by FNM from Germany which has realy poor quality. Not even Dolby Digital sound, only MPEG, so it might be out of spec. This can be improved a lot upon, though I'd expect the 5.1 to be "electronically created from stereo"

[rusinurbe]

Its my understanding that the re-mix for this was done from the original multitrack recordings. Aparently George Harrison had spent a lot of time searching for all of the original source material before he passed on hence all of the extra's.