Introduction
Well well, this is it then... another mystery solved! For many years
these songs were only known as an entry in the "Spheric list", but now
the cat's out of the bag, the words have materialised into music :-)
"Humanity" is the name of a one-time ensemble, a cooperation between Vangelis, Robert Fitoussi, Argyris
'Silver' Koulouris and Michael Haubrich.
According to an account by Robert Fitoussi "we recorded "Bird of love" (a
universal peace hymn) and "The Pawn" (a session just for fun, where Vangelis
plays drums) at the same time as "Earth"..."
Tracklist and Credits
Side A: "Bird of love"
Composed by Richard Broadbacker.
Lyrics by Michael Haubrich.
Side B: "The pawn"
Composed by Robert Fitoussi.
Lyrics by Michael Haubrich.
The name "Richard Broadbacker" is an acknowledged pseudonym of
Vangelis.
"Bird of love" with 4:13 minutes in length is the longest of the
two, a slow ballad with vocals singing to slow guitars and Vangelis' typical
"Apocalypse"-style organ. Wait a minute, this sounds familiar! Could
it be? Yes indeed, this song we already know by a different name, in fact as
"NA M'AGAPAS"
(Na m'agapas) This song is a part of Stavros
Logaridis' album "Se alli gi" (1980), which means that it is in
fact Stavros Logaridis who covered "Bird of
love" on his album...
"The pawn" clocking in at 3:15 minutes in length is a short and
rhythmic song, totally different from "Bird of love", with funky
guitars and piano.
The vocal parts on both songs are all sung by Robert Fitoussi, even "The
Pawn" which contains two vocals (confirmed by Robert Fitoussi).
The guitar solos in both songs resemble parts of "666" and
"Earth" so I guess that Argyris Koulouris is playing here, which
places these songs closely to the ones released on the "Earth" album.
Discography
Single
1973 Bird of love / The pawn Polydor
2056246 France
1975 Bird of love /
The pawn Philips 6060218
Greece/Italy/Portugal/Brazil (as
"Umanity")
1975 Bird of love /
The pawn White Label Test Pressing Philips Greece (as
"Umanity")
LP
1975 Various Artists - "Hit Parade no.9" Philips 6300122
Greece
(contains "Bird of love")
Recording Studio
According to
Robert Fitoussi the songs of this single are
recorded and mixed in the Parisian "Studio des Dames".
Lyrics
For the lyrics of "Bird of love" and "The pawn", go to
Vangelis
and Humanity lyrics
Miscellania
 | Robert Fitoussi is known for his contribution to Vangelis' album
"Earth" in 1973. Also around that time Robert wrote the song
"Who", which was first released in 1974 under the pseudonym "Odyssey"...
Robert and Vangelis met shortly after Vangelis broke up with Aphrodite's
Child, in a record company named "La Compagnie", where Vangelis
had stocked all his equipment. Vangelis played something and Robert sang to
it, they started working together and became friends. |
| Michael Haubrich has worked with Robert Fitoussi on many occasions,
including Vangelis' Earth-album. He confirms to be the second voice singing
with Robert on both "He-O" and "Let it happen". |
| Argyris Koulouris is known as the "fourth" member of
Aphrodite's Child, who only made it just in time to France to work on their last
album "666". After that he also contributed to
an obscure single by "Alpha Beta", Vangelis' albums "The Dragon" (1971), "Earth" (1973) and "See you later" (1980),
as well as Demis Roussos' album "Reflection" in
1984... |
| Although this is not the first time that we see Vangelis use his pseudonym
"Richard Broadbacker", this certainly is one of the first times that he used it...
The same pseudonym is also used for Vangelis' contributions to
the Yumas-single (1973), Chrisma's single "Amore"
(1976) and also appears on the Mama 'O-single (1978). |
