HelenBanksFrontIntroduction

Helen Banks (real name Helen Bank) is an American singer and lyricist, known for writing dozens of song lyrics since the early 1970s. One of her first song lyrics for ‘My Reason’ by Demis Roussos helped the song become a major hit in 1972, after which she continued writing lyrics for many other artists.

In 1973 Helen tried her luck as a singer, releasing two 7” singles in France with the help of Vangelis. Curiously the credits on the singles do not reveal Vangelis’ input, and the clue that linked Vangelis to this music was the listing of the song titles ‘Do You Know’ and ‘Hazy Day’ in the catalogue of Vangelis’ publisher “Spheric”. The other single, ‘Starlight’ b/w ‘Very Deep, Very Dark' is not included in the publisher’s list, but when listening carefully it is clear that Vangelis was also involved in the production of those songs.

  • ‘Do You Know’ with 4:34 minutes in length is the longest song, starting out with African drums and Helen's vocal, then slowly developing into a throbbing, hypnotic and psychedelic track, with bells (similar to ‘Sex Power’), guitars, cymbals and more drums. At the end the monotonous drum is accompanied with Vangelis' vibrating synth, and a flute.
  • ‘Hazy Day’ clocking in at 2:30 minutes in length is a short but lovely ballad, Helen's vocal singing to slow guitars and Vangelis' typical organ sound. An instant favourite!
  • ‘Starlight’ (4:09) is a simple sing-along-song with a slow drumbeat, similar to what Vangelis used in "L'Apocalypse Des Animaux" . Also prominent is clapping, a steel guitar and electric piano.
  • ‘Very Deep, Very Dark’ with 2:33 is a short song with driving drums and piano, later accompanied by crashing cymbals and a forceful guitar solos.

At some point Helen Banks made a newly arranged version of ‘Do You Know’ which she released by the name ‘Ipso Facto’ titled ‘Hey Do You Know’. Vangelis was not involved in this production.

StarlightFrontHelen Bank is currently active as music producer for “Pennybank Tunes” in France.

 

Tracklist and credits

  1. ‘Do You Know'
  2. ‘Hazy Day’
  3. ‘Starlight’
  4. ‘Very Deep, Very Dark’

All songs written by Helen Banks, both composition and lyrics. There are no other credits, but based on the music it is clear that Vangelis is playing on all songs. Probably he also produced and arranged the songs, though uncredited. Possibly Argyris Koulouris is playing the guitars (also uncredited) as Vangelis and Argyris more often worked together in this period.

 

HelenBanksRadioPromoFrontDiscography

7” single

On the regular single releases the song ‘Do You Know’ is included in its full version. The  promotional single contains a shorter edit of ‘Do You Know’, with over a minute of the final part missing. Both versions have the same version of ‘Hazy Day’.

These songs were never issued on CD.


StarlightLabelDoYouKnowLabelRecording studio

It is not clear where exactly the songs with Helen Banks were recorded, possibly the Parisian Europa Sonor studio was used where Vangelis also recorded his solo albums “Fais Que Ton Rêve Soit Plus Long Que La Nuit” (1972), and later also “Earth” (1973).

 

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