Help! For Japan

Tracks
01. Help!
02. Help! (Tommy Heart Version)
03. Help! (Guitar Version)
04. Help! (Extended Version)


Band:
Don Airey - keys, piano
Leo Leoni - Guitar
Neil Murray - Bass
Hena Habegger - Drums
Tobias Sammet, Bob Catley, Andi Deris, Torstein Flakne, Marc Storace, David Readman, Claus Lessmann, Oliver Heartmann Bernhard Weiss, Michael Kiske, Ralf Scheepers, Tony Mills, Carsten "Lizard" Schultz, Tommy Heart - Vocals
Cede Dupont, Kyoji Yamamoto, Helge Engelke, Rold Grapow, Leo Leoni, Helly Wolter, Robert R. Rodrigo - Guitar solos


Discography:


Guests:


Info:
Produced & Mixed by Tommy Heart, Tommy Remm & Rene Schostak
Vocal arrangement by Tommy Heart
Masterig by TMM/Tom Müller Berlin Germany
Cover artwork by Kai Swillus
All income from sales to the Japanese Red Cross

Released 9/3-2012
Reviewed 7/3-2012

Links:
helpforjapan1.wordpress.com
avenue of allies



Japan is the fourth biggest economy in the world with a GDP of almost 5000 trillion dollars, I think that is a lot. Take Ethiopia a random african nation, they have a GDP just short of 95 billion dollar and is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa despite having problems with just about everything, half the people is illiterate and the average life span for a man is 56 years and a woman 60 years, in Japan the average lifespan is 83.5 years. People starve in many african nations, they try to make run down former european colonies work and that leads to dictators and all of those other troublesome consequences. In Japan, one of the richest nations in the world where tsunamis are commonplace and has happened many times, it is a japanese word for crying out loud, there is no readiness at all for tsunamis. I think that is strange and why build nuclear power plants in a place where tsunamis occur, aren’t the japanese supposed to be amongst the brightest in the world? And even though the disaster could have been prevented if people had pushed for building protective measures against the inevitable, musicians are releasing works where proceeds goes to help people who suffered the consequences of this tsunami, why? I don’t see anyone releasing albums for charity to help those oppressed by dictators, starving, suffering from poverty who has never had a chance to decide to stick their heads in the sand and become surprised when the inevitable happens. So for me this EP is not really supporting a worthy cause, Japan has enough money to help itself and its people, if they don’t people need to add pressure to the government rather than taking aid that could have a much better use. I would say that it is better to give the same amount of money to an organisation who supports a worthy cause.

The song itself is a Beatles cover, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon and it is a pop song made by a gang of metal guys, it has a bigger sound than the original song and is sung by several vocalists. The album also features a version where Tommy Heart the initiative behind the thing sings alone and there is an instrumental and elongated version of the same song, so four versions of the same song is what you get. It is an EP so it is not very long but something of a diversity in the different versions of the song.

Some of you might now think I am insensitive to the japanese people and believe that I don’t care anything for this whale and dolphin torturing people who likes to feed their school children mercury enriched dolphin meat. But you are wrong, it is tragic what happened and I feel for them but it was avoidable and it can’t have come as a surprise unless they were sticking their heads in the sand opting for shorter gains. That is why I think there are more worthy causes to make charity for and as Japan one of the worlds richest nations should be able to take care of their own and the people elect what kind of governing they want and what happened is a consequence of that choice so they have only themselves to blame. It is harsh but that is how it is. What happened can also be described as jumping off a skyscraper and then be surprised that you die when you land, it is inevitable just like tsunamis in Japan. So even though I think this is a quite good EP and the song is good in all versions I still cannot recommend it when there are causes that should be addressed way ahead of this. So give the same amount of charity to some organisation helping people in real distress and maybe then you can think about buying this record.

HHHHHHH

 

Label: Avenue of Allies/Germusica
Three similar bands: Beatles/Soul Doctor/Fair Warning
Rating: HHHHHHH (3/7)
Reviewer: Daniel Källmalm

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