HumanityFrontIntroduction

"Humanity" is the name of a one-time ensemble, a cooperation between Vangelis, Robert Fitoussi, Argyris Koulouris and Michael Haubrich. In 1973 the band recorded two songs together, ‘Bird Of Love’ and ‘The Pawn’ and released the songs on a 7” single.

Robert Fitoussi explained: "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"..."

  • ‘Bird Of Love’, with 4:13 minutes in length, is a slow ballad with vocals singing to slow guitars and Vangelis' typical organ sound.
  • ‘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 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" (1972) and "Earth" (1973), which suggests guitarist Argyris Koulouris is playing here, uncredited.

The 7” single was first released in France by the name “Humanity”, yet two years later singles followed in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Brazil by the name "Umanity".

 

UmanityITracklist and credits

  • ‘Bird Of Love’
     Composed by Richard Broadbacker.
     Lyrics by Michael Haubrich.
     
  • ‘The Pawn’
     Composed by Robert Fitoussi.
     Lyrics by Michael Haubrich.

The name ‘Richard Broadbacker’ is a confirmed pseudonym of Vangelis.

 

Discography

7” single

LP

  • 1975 Various Artists - "Hit Parade no.9" (Philips 6300122) Greece (contains ‘Bird Of Love’)

These songs were never issued on CD.

 

Recording studio

According to Robert Fitoussi the songs of this single are recorded and mixed in the Parisian "Studio Des Dames".

 

UmanityPMore info

  • Robert Fitoussi is also known by his artist name "F.R. David", and made fame with the hit single ‘Words’ in 1981. Apart from his contributions to the “Earth” album, he also wrote the song ‘Who’, which was released in 1974 under the pseudonym "Odyssey". Robert and Vangelis met shortly after Vangelis broke up with Aphrodite's Child, in a music shop named "La Compagnie", where Vangelis had stored 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 Fitoussi on both ‘He-O’ and ‘Let It Happen’ (uncredited).
  • Argyris Koulouris is mostly known as the 'fourth' member of Aphrodite's Child, who re-grouped in France with the band just in time to work on their final album "666". After that he als contributed to Vangelis' albums "The Dragon" (1971), "Earth" (1973) and "See You Later" (1980), as well as Demis Roussos' album "Reflection" in 1984.
  • ‘Richard Broadbacker’ is a confirmed pseudonym of Vangelis. The same pseudonym is also used for Vangelis' contributions to the “The Yumas” single (1973), Chrisma's single ‘Amore’ (1976) and the “Mama 'O” single (1978).
  • In 1980 the Greek singer Stavros Logaridis released the song ‘Na M'Agapas’ on his album "Se Alli Gi". The song is a cover of ‘Bird Of Love’, which was originally composed by Vangelis...

 

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