PILOT for Beebs

Country:
Scotland
Genre:
Rock
Style:
Soft Rock; Pop/Rock; AM Pop; Sunshine Pop

Members:
David Paton (vocals, bass, acoustic guitars)
William 'Billy' Lyall (keyboards, vocals)
Stuart Tosh (drums, vocals)
Ian Bairnson (guitars, vocals)
Steve Swindells (keyboards)

VIDEO
"Magic"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41UIiEH53QY

THE ALBUM OF THE SAME NAME (1974) posted by Osetrik

Credits:
Produced by Alan Parsons

Tracklist:

01 Just A Smile
02 Magic
03 Lucky For Some
04 Girl Next Door
05 Lovely Lady Smile
06 Sooner Or Later
07 Don't Speak Loudly
08 Over The Moon
09 Never Give Up
10 High Into The Sky
11 Auntie Iris
12 Sky Blue

Link to download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/51130880/Pilot.rar

pass: 147741

Product Description
A magical collection. The Scottish trio Pilot had their biggest hit in 1975 when their song "Magic" went all the way to #5 on the Pop charts. They followed it up with "Just a Smile" and "January" (all produced by Alan Parsons) and you can hear them at their most magical on this collection of their best.

"Catchy, Catchy, Catchy tunes. Sure the lyrics are simple...sometimes downright silly(see "Auntie Iris") BUT you'll never find a 70s band with songs with more hooks. Also, David Patons vocals are so unique and very captivating. Not only do you get all of the fingersnappin' gems from Pilots first album, this special release includes 3 songs from "Second Flight" and 2 from "Morin Heights" their only other US releases. Both recommended if you can find them!"Obviously the group was tremendously influenced by the Beatles but there is certainly nothing wrong with that! Especially when you pull it off the way these guys did! "

"Before disco dominated the airwaves in the 1970's there was a brief window where power pop was God. Badfinger, the Raspberries, 10cc, Queen all provided a rich tapestry full of great guitar licks, hooks that wouldn't quit and great harmonies. Pilot despite their status as 1 hit wonders managed to hold their own with the aforementioned groups. Their first and only major hit Magic echoes Badfinger's(who were in turn influenced by the Beatles)No Matter What with its tight construction and rich melody. The rest of this CD doesn't quite live up to that single but most of the material is still fairly strong. I've often thought of Pilot as Badfinger or 10cc light; their music lacked the wit and lyrical ambition of Badfinger and the sardonic humor of 10cc (that would be the Godley & Creme era 10cc). Regardless, they managed to put together a trio of albums full of rich melodic fluff. I'd describe Pilot as the Pooh Bear of pop music bands.While the songs are fairly routine lyrically and about as deep as a cup of coffee, the melodies, harmonies and arrangements make this confection go down relatively smooth (provided you don't gag when you eat cotton candy).Interestingly, Pilot's drummer Stuart Tosh toured with 10cc as a drummer (so that 10cc's drummer could focus on singing) and eventually joined the band when Lol Creme and Kevin Godley left 10cc. He plays drums on Deceptive Bends and a couple of other albums as well."

"Perhaps the most underrated band ever, Pilot played a great mix of powerpop with falsettoed lyrics, blazing guitar harmonies, and those great handclaps. Get into them, you won't regret it!"

"There's definitely some Beatles coursing through the veins of Pilot, but the influence I recognized (and really enjoyed) was Queen. Check out the guitar licks in Magic. This is the kind of high-octane pop from the 70s that could only be the result of 3 boys from Scotland. (Especially endearing is when the brogue breaks through, like in Canada or Just a Smile.) If you want a CD that exists simply for the purpose of making you feel good, this is the one. If you are a product of the 70s (the NINETEEN 70s) like me, then this CD will feel like an old Scottish friend who sings charming pop songs to you. Oh Oh Oh, It's Magic. "

"I am a fan of well-constructed pop music. Pilot, working under the sure and steady hand of Alan Parsons at Abbey Road studios, delivered five or six examples of fantastic power pop, as clean, melodic, harmonic, and effortlessly joyful as any top-flight Beatles tune. And that's saying a lot. Is it a crime to fail to deliver such excellence over 15 or so songs? I say not, not with such pop gems as "January," with its irrestible chorus and harmonies, the hit "Magic" of course, with echoes of Badfinger and early Paul solo songcraft, or "Just a Smile," a ringing piece of power pop candy. Throw in some respectable ballads, such as "Lovely Lady Smile," (which could have come off of Band on the Run), and the bouncy "Girl Next Door," and you have some satisfyingly top-notch power pop, in the latter Beatles, Badfinger, Ram-era Paul idiom. Parsons' production work and the Abbey Road sound certainly contributes to the overall quality of the results. That Pilot could not sustain such brilliance over an entire album is understandable, and I say we should take what we can get. If you love strong power pop, with a bright and shiny sheen, you could do far worse than Pilot. Enjoyable from start to finish."

"The beatles+Alan Parsons+Creativity+Prettiness+Good taste=Pilot."

More review:
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:axfuxqt5ldse

SECOND FLIGHT (1975)

Tracklist:

01 Your're My No. 1
02 Love Is
03 Call Me Round
04 55° North 3° West
05 To You Alone
06 Do Me Good
07 Heard It All Before
08 Bad To Me
09 You're Devotion
10 January
11 Passion Piece

12 Dear Artist

Link to download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/63204592/second_flight_192_kbs.rar.html

"This album is full of classic pop/rock records. Some people may say the material is lightweight but the quality of the music is of a very high standard. David Paton and Ian Bairnson are outstanding musicians. One of my favourite albums of all time and I'm a Yes, Rush, Genesis fan ! "

"Although producing two very good albums, Pilot sounds to have lost the focus in this one. Despite Bairnson and Paton efforts, I had the impression that they ran out of ideas here. The songs are not as great as those from the first album and it's hard to define which direction they tried to follow.In my opinion, "Do Me Good" is the only track worth here, but you'll find it in the re-issue of the first album, which is obviously a much better buy.I only recommend this album for those who, like me, are really interested in having the complete discography of the band."

"Whoever hears to Alan Parsons Project should have this cd. It is a really must. I mean reaaaaally must. This is where it all started. Not liking this cd is a mistake..... terrible mistake.So go ahead buy this cd,...now...now....nooooooowwwwwww !!!!! "

MORIN HEIGHTS (1976)

Credits:
produced by Roy Thomas-Baker

Tracklist:

01 Hold On
02 Canada
03 First After Me
04 Steps
05 The Mover
06 Penny In My Pocket
07 Lies And Lies
08 Running Water
09 Trembling
10 Maniac
11 Too Many Hopes

Link to download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/63198330/morin_heights_192_kbs.rar.html

"Brilliant production that is clean yet strong, teamed with classic pop song writing that comes together in one of the few truley classic 1970's albums. Every track is a refreshing part of the whole. A must listen from start to finish. An experience that doesn't come along that often in rock music these days."

"This is definitely one of my Desert-Island-Disks. A must for anyone who enjoys great harmonies and pure melody. Remember music lovers, David Paton and Ian Bairnson of Pilot have been ( and Ian still is!) the core of the creative genius behind the Alan Parsons Project. Morin Heights is Pilot's Abbey Road!"
"david paton is the most under rated songwriter he ranks next to macca. his bass guitar works and ian bairnsons guitar solo on penny in my pocket is a blinder"



















TWO'S A CROWD (1977)

Tracklist:

01 Get Up And Go
02 Library Door
03 Creeping Round Midnight
04 One Good Reason Why
05 There's A Place
06 The Other Side
07 Monday Tuesday
08 Ten Feet Tall
09 Evil Eye
10 Mr. Do Or Die
11 Big Screen

Link to download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/63417553/crowd_192_kbs.rar.html

"Two's a crowd and two's a good band altho there are a drummer and a keyboard player too. brilliant voice of david paton and extraordinairy guuitars by ian bairnson"

"Two's a Crowd was David Paton's and Ian Bairnson's last effort as Pilot before disbanding and eventually regrouping at the beginning of the new millennium. Produced by Alan Parsons, Two's a Crowd is full of unique songs and brilliant compositions, even though the album never received the success it deserved. Paton and Bairnson - both contributor's to an endless string of highly successful The Alan Parsons Project albums - displayed their talent and the fact that these two were basically what the idea of PILOT was about. Commercially oriented, yet musically gifted and sophisticated Two's a Crowd continues to be a joy to the attentive listener."



















BLUE YONDER (2002)

Tracklist:

01 Get Up And Go
02 Library Door
03 Creeping Round Midnight
04 One Good Reason Why
05 There's A Place
06 I Wonder
07 Monday Tuesday
08 Ten Feet Tall
09 Evil Eye
10 When The Sun Comes
11 Hold Me (live in 1975)

Link to download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/63206986/yonder192_kbs.rar.html

David and Ian have decided to re-issue the last official album "Two's A Crowd" from 1977. This decision was also initiated by lots of fans all over the world (among others also by myself). Title of the new album: "Blue Yonder". You will here mostly of the "old" songs with a new arrangement and some new songs.

"During the 1970s, Pilot crafted some very artful pop albums, replete with lovely harmonies and catchy, if dangerously sweet, songs. Their final group album, released in 1977, has been nearly impossible to find in the U.S., so group members Paton and Bairnson, have taken matters into their own hands and rerecorded much of the original album, with several additional cuts. I admit to having been suspicious of this approach. How likely would it be that the pair could recapture of the sound and spirit of a quarter-century ago? And how would their voices have aged?
Having the disc in hand, I can happily report that the sound is very good and the voices indistinguishable from the group at zenith. This is a solid album, very much consistent with the Pilot of old. The production is a bit more cushy, less sharp than the old albums; more like the ride of a Caddy than a BMW. But this will be noticeable only to the most demanding Pilot fan.
I can think of no reason at all why someone who liked the "old" Pilot would not be pleased with this album. it's almost as if time has stood still, or that this was the original album. For fans of pure pop, this is a welcome surprise."


















A'S B'S & RARITIES (2004)

Tracklist:

01 Magic
02 Just Let Me Be
03 January
04 Never Give Up
05 Call Me Round
06 Do Me Good
07 Just A Smile
08 Don't Speak Loudly
09 Are You In Love
10 You Are My No 1
11 High Into The Sky
12 Sooner Or Later
13 Lady Luck
14 Dear Artist
15 Running Water
16 First After Me
17 Canada
18 Mover
19 Penny In My Pocket
20 Steps
21 No Ties No Strings (David Paton solo)
22 Stop And Let Go (David Paton solo)

Link to download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/63192638/br_1.rar.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/63200260/br_2.rar.html

"I know most of you will look at this because you are already a fan of Pilot...and will therefor know this, but for you Pilot "newbies" you should know that their first album ( with thier big hit "Magic") was produced by Alan Parsons. In fact the members Pilot became the intial core of the Alan Parson's Project. David P. is a one of a kind vocalist and Ian B.is one of the best, most tasteful gutarists around. If you enjoy good pop music with great tunes and catchy hooks...buy this CD today. "

"Stuart Tosh, William Lyall and David Paton oddly enough hit upon the name Pilot by taking the first letters of their last names and adding a couple of vowels to them. They were from Edinburgh but found a recording contract at EMI and added Ian Bairnson from the first sessions. "Magic" of course their one big hit in North America but they had more success in England and Australia. This isn't a bad compilation, its just a matter of becoming familiar with the songs. We could really use some samples here on Amazon so that those who have never heard of many of Pilot's songs can sample them"

"People speak of Pilot as one hit wonders, but here in Australia "January " was also a big hit, endlessly topping the Countdown charts week after week in 1975. I hadn't ever heard any other Pilot songs, but I was feeling nostalgic for some quality pop and so I bought this CD, as it contains Magic and January. I set the CD player to "shuffle" and was very disappointed that the first 3 songs were lamely written, lamely arranged, and had high-pitched harmonies that sounded like a nightmare combination of the Bee-Gees and the Muppets. Immediately I made a mental note to put the CD up on Ebay for some other mug to buy ! Fortunately, it seems my CD player has a sense of humour, it had picked the 3 worst tracks out of the 22 to play first, thereafter everything I heard was quality pop. Whew, what a relief"

"On receiving this album I was transported back to 1975! None of the songs have lost their charm and I always felt that pilot were one of the most under-rated talents of the 1970's.From the mega hits 'magic' and January' to personal favourites like'call me round' and 'just let me be' it was a sheer delight to hear from these old friends and this album will be played again and again as I re-aquaint myself with a time when life was a little easier!!many thanks to EMI as our 12'' vinyl did not stand the test of time."



Biography:
Pilot was a pop rock group formed in 1973 in Edinburgh, Scotland by former Bay City Rollers members David Paton and Billy Lyall.Joined by Stuart Tosh and Ian Bairnson, the band recorded several demos over the course of 1973 and 1974, eventually catching the attention of EMI Records.The 1974 single "Magic" from their debut album was a #11 UK and #5 U.S. hit and remains a pop classic. The simple but catchy pop ditty "January" gave them their biggest hit in the UK, securing the number one spot in the UK Singles Chart in January 1975.The band's other single chart hits were "Call Me Round" and "Just A Smile" (both 1975). By the time 1977 came around only Paton and Bairnson were left from the original foursome, and they recorded Pilot's final album (the aptly entitled Two's a Crowd) alone.By 1978, all of Pilot's members had moved on to other projects, notably Tosh, Paton and Bairnson becoming core members of the Alan Parsons Project, and Tosh also working with 10cc.Lyall died of AIDS-related causes in 1989. In 2007 their hit single "Magic" was used in a televised commercial by The Pillsbury Company.Paton and Bairnson reconvened in 2002, to re-record the original Pilot album Two's a Crowd. The subsequent issue was entitled, Blue Yonder (see above).(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_(band))

Detailed bio:
http://come.to/pilotmusic

Some about the connection between Alan Parsons and Pilot:

"The full Pilot band got to play and essential role in The Alan Parsons Project. Both on Tales and later albums they would be the foundation of The Project, playing as the base band (bass, drums, keys and guitar). Bass player David Paton: "At the time it wasn't a big deal, it was just Alan saying, 'I'd like to do an album of my own, would you like to play on it ?' On the first album it was all the members of Pilot, and we were quite excited about it, we thought he really had something great. It really was great and it was a wonderful thing to be involved in." Most important of the band members would be Ian Bairnson, who continued to play lead guitar on every Parsons album since. Bairnson would also play on albums by Paul McCartney (Mull of Kintyre), Chris DeBurgh, Kate Bush (The Kick Inside & Lionheart), Jon Anderson (Song of Seven), Kenny Rogers, Michael McDonald, Mick Fleetwood, Sting, Tom Jones, Jon Anderson, Bucks Fizz (for whom he also wrote some songs) and many more, as well as a range of German and Japanese artists and live sessions with Beverly Craven. Ian also played in the Project spin-off band Keats (with Paton, Colin Blunstone, Stuart Elliot and Peter Bardens)and would help out some other project members like Andrew Powell, Lenny Zakatek, Chris Rainbow and co-Pilot member David Paton on their own projects. David Paton himself would play on all Parsons albums up to and including Stereotomy, as well as doing lead vocals on the tracks What Goes Up, I'd Rather Be A Man, Children of the Moon and Let's Talk About Me. Paton would also work with Camel (The Single Factor and backing vocals on Dust & Dreams), Keats, The Pretenders, Kate Bush, Chris DeBurgh, Fish (1991-1995) and Elton John (o.a. bass on the hit single Nikita). In 1991 David released a solo album called Passion Cry, of which some songs were re-recorded for his 1997 album Fragments. Stuart Tosh, Pilot's drummer, would be replaced by Stuart Elliot (whom Alan knew from sessions with Cockney Rebel and Al Stewart) after two Project albums, while Billy Lyall, Pilot's keyboard player, would be replaced by Eric Woolfson on keys. Stuart Tosh would continue playing with 10CC while Billy Lyall left Pilot in 1976 to pursue a (not very successful) solo career. He died of Aids in 1989. Pilot would disband after 4 albums because of problems with their management. However, 25 years after their last album Paton & Bairnson have got together again and have just finished recording and mixing a brand new album under the name Pilot!"
(http://www.dprp.net/proghistory/index.php?i=1976_02)

Albums
1974 From the Album of the Same Name
1975 Second Flight
1976 Morin Heights
1977 Two's a Crowd
2002 Blue Yonder
2004 A's B's & Rarities
2007 The Craighall Demos 71:76

More info:
http://come.to/pilotmusic

http://www.firstfoot.com/good%20scottish%20pop/pilot.htm

http://www.ztv.ne.jp/web/hseko/pilot/index.html

http://alexgitlin.com/pilot.html

http://yokohama.cool.ne.jp/january/index.html

http://www.davidpaton.com/

http://www.ianbairnson.com/

http://www.shetland-music.com/prominent_artists/artistes/ian_bairnson_(pilot_and_alan_parsons_project)/

http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/stuart-tosh/

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=41023106 site of Steve Swindells

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Swindells

http://members.shaw.ca/therollers/bio/biolyall.htm some about Billy Lyall

Thanks to Osetrik for the share!!