The George Harrison-led "Concert for Bangladesh" will make its DVD debut Oct. 25 via Rhino, the same day Capitol releases a remixed, remastered CD of the project. Rhino is also creating a deluxe edition set with a reproduction of Harrison's handwritten lyrics for the then-new song "Bangla Desh," a postcard set, a sticker and a print of the original show poster.

Staged on Aug. 1, 1971, at New York's Madison Square Garden, the show raised funds via UNICEF for Bangladeshi refugees caught in the middle of the country's battle for independence from Pakistan.

It featured Harrison performing alongside Bob Dylan (making a rare public appearance in the wake of a serious motorcycle accident), Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar, Billy Preston, Badfinger and Leon Russell. The event was chronicled the following year on a triple-LP set and a feature film.

Rhino's DVD restores the original 99-minute movie in 5.1 sound and tacks on a wealth of extras, including a rehearsal performance of "If Not for You" with Harrison and Dylan and a soundcheck take on "Come on in My Kitchen" with Harrison, Clapton and Russell, plus Dylan performing "Love Minus Zero/No Limit," an outtake from the theatrical release.

The DVD will also include a 45-minute documentary, "The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited 2005," which features interviews with Bob Geldof and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Here is the track list for "The Concert for Bangladesh":

"Bangla Dhun"

"Wah-Wah"

"My Sweet Lord"

"Awaiting on You All"

"That's the Way God Planned It"

"It Don't Come Easy"

"Beware of Darkness"

Band Introduction

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

"Jumpin' Jack Flash"

"Youngblood"

"Here Comes the Sun"

"A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"

"It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry"

"Blowin' in the Wind"

"Just Like a Woman"

"Something"

"Bangla Desh"

In writing this review I must complement the Harrison family and the executors of his estate for the marvellous job they have done in preserving and not diminishing George's memory. On the eve of the anniversary of his passing we have a quality product which in keeping with the man and his memory, enables us to help those unfortunate souls in the third world while enjoying this entertainment.

"My friend came to me, sadness in his eyes, told me that he needed help, before his country died". How could someone refuse such a request. This concert reissue comes only days after a major earthquake has brought untold devastation and misery to millions in Southern Asia to whom this concert was first dedicated almost 35 years ago. It is fitting that this coincident release will help some of those affected.

Much has already been said about the concert footage which is reproduced on the first disc of the set although much cleaned up and with better quality sound. It is easy to forget what a task Harrison had in assembling such a troupe of musicians at the time. The difficult separation and divorce of the Beatles added to his own inexperience being the leader and not just the member of a band, Clapton with his ongoing substance abuse problems which had driven him to being a recluse and the shyness of Bob Dylan in front of such a crowd, this in the days before arena rock became the norm rather than the exception. Despite all of this the musicians played well together although the wall of sound approach sounds a little over the top when one compares to the slimdown reunion performance of Cream recently. There is a touch of the democratic approach with most of the artists with the exception of Clapton contributing at least one song to the proceedings.

History cannot show how significant this concert was in the sense that younger viewers will not understand what the big deal was and nor will they be enlightened by this set. Save to say that without the huge efforts of George Harrison, before, during but very mainly after this concert, there would not have been any of the super benefit concerts that we see today. Perhaps one daring film-maker may try to tell the tale of all of the hoops Harrison had to go through to finally get all of the total monies raised to actually go to where it was needed and the years he spent in doing it.

The real gem of this set is the second disc which catalogues the making of the concert. Harrison is heard in voiceovers culled from interviews at regular stages. He emerges as the unassuming leader who calls upon a few palls but does not cut them any breaks if they fall down or give up on them. It includes some footage of some of the remaining participants as well as a brief comment from Kolfi Annan about the importance of this musical event bringing the world's attention to this serious problem in Bangladesh. There are three snippets too which will delight Harrison and Dylan fans the best of which is the duet between the two of "If Not for You" with the contrasting voices and approaches of the two men making for a superb historical and musical gem.

There are many worthy causes out there right now even some in our own backyard worthy of your money and attention. As we approach the season of goodwill this is one excellent way to enjoy great music from the man who brought some light to the world and to help others in the process.

This is one DVD I can heartily recommend.

it's about time the concert for bagladesh came out on dvd. even better is the deluxe edition, which i bought. besides the outstanding quality of the concert dvd, the additional disc, with interviews and bonus tracks is just great. (although it's a pity, isn't it a shame that bob dylan didn't do an interview). then there's the packaging, which is beautiful. the dvds in its own case, and the great booklet. the poster is great for framining and hanging on your wall. postcards are cool, and the apple sticker is ok. this is how older material should be presented, as opposed to the latest lennon "collection". skip the regular dvd edition and get the deluxe.

Well, the boxed set deluxe edition of "The Concert for Bangladesh" is a thing of beauty - the package is almost identical to the classic 3-record boxed set, with no hideous bar codes marring the cover - and the visuals, the sound, and the extras on the 2nd disc are all sublime. The sticker and the postcard remind me of being a kid in the 70s, 'cause when you bought a Wings or an Elton John album, for example, there would be lots of cool stuff inside - of course that doesn't happen now. Fun things could still be made to fit inside well-designed CD packages, but ours is a disposable culture and the the record companies are just to cheap.

Of course, George Harrison's oeuvre was/is the antithesis of "cheap" and "disposable," and this concert, following his now-stone-classic solo debut "All Thing Must Pass," was his finest hour. It's good to at long last see and hear Bob Dylan's performance of "Love Minus Zero/No Limit." But where is George's performance of "Hear Me Lord" from the afternoon show? It's nowhere to be found on either the remastered DVD or CD? His equally gospel-fueled "Awaiting On You All" sounds amazing, so it's hard to think that his performance of the stirring "Hear Me Lord" would be anything less than stellar. So why wasn't that included in either package? I'm assuming that all this was done under the supervision of Harrison, and then his family following his untimely demise. The ommission of "Hear Me Lord" is as glaring as the ommissions on "The Dark Horse Years" boxed set. Very annoying. I'm also annoyed that Dylan didn't appear in the commentaries along with Ringo, Eric, Ravi et al. Of course being a Dylan fan does mean putting up with the man's eccentric quirks (which George evidently did very well). One of the nicest bonuses is seeing and hearing Bob and George dueting on "If Not For You" at the rehearsals, looking at each other each time they sang "if not for you" - very sweet, and their deep friendship and mutual admiration is obvious. Sometimes in our star-struck culture, we need to be reminded that icons are human beings who need refuge from their fame and maybe can seek solace in each other. That said, where is "Hear Me Lord?"

I've not bought the remastered CD. Based on the reviews that I've read here, I'm not sure if I will. Who cares if the gospel voices sounds "dated"; hence the "need" for them to be muted? That sounds suspiciously racist and culturally biased to me. For those of us who have the original LPs and the CDs, we grew up with the asides and ovations that seem now to be deleted. I have no problem with the new cover featuring George - this has always been the iconic Harrisonian image, both Christ-like yet Rasputin-esque in visage - so long as the original cover and art is inside. Starvation is not a pleasant thing to look at, not then and not now, but designer Tom Wilkes made the poor Bengali child sympathetic and universal. I realize the Harrison-the-dead-icon (who, like Lennon, the critics routinely shat upon while they were still living only to cry sanctimonious tears upon their deaths) will sell more copies than a starving Bengali child (Madison Avenue probably figured the people who would buy the "deluxe edition" were the older, hard-core fans who associate the 60s and 70s with now-dead idealism), but let's not forget the WHY of why George organized this pioneering event in the first place.

The Botton Line : Dylan himself, in his encomium to Harrison, called his friend "the sun, the flowers, and the moon." If you love the music of either of these men or both (as I do), you owe to your inner fan to have this DVD in your collection.

The Concert for Bangladesh was shot on 16mm film with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (4:3). When it came time to release it theatrically, it was matted (which is kind of the opposite of pan-and-scan) and blown up to 70mm. Reportedly, the theatrical experience was very poor. Pixels were said to be the size of ping pong balls on the screen. That being said, this DVD lavishly presents the concert in the aspect ratio in which it was filmed, nothing is compromised. It was not an uncommon practice in the 60's and 70's for film-makers to film in 1.33:1 and then crop out the edges of the composition to make it "widescreen-shaped." The benefit in doing this is that it allowed the director to construct 2 shots, 1 for the theatre (widescreen) and 1 for the TV (full-screen), without losing vital information in either version. Stanley Kubrick filmed many of his later films using this technique. In the case of Bangladesh, as most of the shots are perfectly framed for 1.33:1, it's doubtful that the widescreen release was something that was planned from the beginning.