Music Reissues Weekly: Pilot - The Singles Collection

"It was really strange. Really quite conflicting, the sort of thing most bands didn't have to deal with. At the front, we'd have the kids who'd come along to scream and at the back were the people who'd come along to hear the music. We didn't know whether to talk to the kids at the front or to speak over their heads to the other people.”

While speaking to Melody Maker in September 1976 after the release his band’s third album Morin Heights, Pilot’s guitarist Ian Bairnson recognised a difficulty: that their hit singles had attracted one audience, and that another audience was also interested in them. On one hand, charting with “Magic,” “January,” “Call me Round” and “Just a Smile” (in a re-recorded form to that initially issued in 1974) had established them – as a single’s band; a pop group – but they wanted to push off elsewhere. “Running Water,” their then-recent single, issued in April 1976, was akin to a Paul McCartney power ballad were it filtered through a 10cc lens.

Of “Running Water,” that issue of Melody Maker said it was “about as opposite as any previous Pilot single as black is to white, [and] was the track chosen as the single to emphasise the band's ‘change of emphasis,’ but the change was too drastic and the song flopped.”

Pilot had a hard log to roll. Typecast by the early hit singles, the band limped on into 1977 when a last single was issued that November. Signed by EMI around the same time as Cockney Rebel and Queen, they found themselves on the Arista label in 1977 for three final singles. The Singles Collection tells the story from the seven-inch perspective over two CDs. All 13 Pilot singles are supplemented by one released under the name Scotch Mist (oddly, it appeared on EMI between the debut Pilot single and first hit “Magic” – did the label have confidence in the band?) and solo 45s by band members Billy Lyall and David Paton along with an album track which materialised on a Record Mirror flexi-disc.

The Pilot story is intriguing, and dominated by the timeless magnificence of the powerpop classics “Magic” and “January,” and that the former went US Top Five in October 1975. Amongst the curious aspects is that the American success of “Magic” was a one-off. No other Pilot singles hit the Top 30 there.

Founder members Billy Lyall (keyboards) and David Paton (guitar) had been in a late Sixties version of The Bay City Rollers. In 1973, they worked together on an album titled Bless This House which was credited to The Loreburn Singers. They both played on it. Paton, who had been in a band called Christyan, also sang. Lyall was the studio engineer (he already a raft of experience working with Scotland-recorded releases, including a 1972 Billy Connolly album). Subtitled Hymns And Sacred Songs For All The Family, the album was released by the EMI imprint One-Up. Pilot would be next for Lyall and Paton.

With drummer Stuart Tosh on board, the trio signed with EMI in 1974. “Just a Smile,” the first single, came out in June that year. It’s fantastic: a little bit like Badfinger, with a solid Paul McCartney vibe. B-side “Don't Speak” wasn’t as strong and, despite its bubblegum feel, was analogous to what Todd Rundgren’s band The Nazz had been up to around 1969. Next, as Scotch Mist, the euro-stomper “Ra-Ta-Ta,” a pointless cover of a song that had been a hit in Germany in 1970. Not great. Then, with second guitarist Ian Bairnson on board, “Magic.” Wondrous pop. B-side “Just Let me be” confirms Pilot had a lot to offer.

After this “January,” released in January 1975, was the next hit. A little less melodic, the Rundgren-esque follow-up single “Call me Round” still sounded like a hit. It was, albeit charting lower than “Magic” and “January.” In September 1975 came a revamped version of debut 45 “Just a Smile.” Again, a minor hit and not a smash. November 1975’s “Lady Luck” was the next single. Despite the hopeful title, no chart action.

Up this this point, Pilot were produced by EMI staffer Alan Parsons. “Running Water,” the seven-inch after “Lady Luck” was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, who was also working with fellow EMI band Queen. As Melody Maker said, “Running Water” was a change in style and a miss. There were two more OK Baker-produced EMI singles and then, in 1977, the move to Arista, the oddly Queen-ish final single “Ten Feet Tall” and the split.

If anyone had been looking in 1976, it would have been clear Pilot had an in-built shelf life. July 1976 single “Canada” was planned as a David Paton solo release, but issued as by Pilot. In September that year, Billy Lyall released a solo single. There was also a solo album.

Also in 1976, Paton played and sang on Alan Parsons’ Tales Of Mystery And Imagination - Edgar Allan Poe album (all four of Pilot were on Alan Parsons Project releases). Pilot was winding down. When that happened, for the still-active Paton there would be more work with Parsons, a contribution to Paul McCartney/Wings’ “Mull of Kintyre” and credits on the first two Kate Bush albums. He also worked in the studio with Chris de Burgh and Chris Rea. Guitarist Ian Bairnson, who died in 2023, trod a similar path and became a much-called upon session player: his credits also include Kate Bush – it is his guitar solo on “Wuthering Heights” – and Chris de Burgh, as well as Bucks Fizz, Elaine Paige and, on stage, Eric Clapton and Sting. Billy Lyall – who died in 1989 – returned to his pre-Pilot role as a studio engineer and producer, and was integral to records by Hi-Tension, Dollar, Sheena Easton and more. After Pilot, drummer Stuart Tosh also had a well-honed path through the music business with, amongst others, Roger Daltrey and 10cc, who he joined. At various times, members of Pilot recorded with each other.

“Magic” and “January” will forever, inescapably, define Pilot. But a little digging reveals that this was a self-starting band sporting members who knew what they doing and how to achieve their goals in the studio. They were not the creation of and beholden to a manager. When the hits stopped coming, each of the four members of Pilot settled into roles which exploited their individual talents. “Magic” and “January,” as wonderful as they are, do not tell the full story.

• Next week: The Sonics - High Time. The heavy sound of the Pacific Northwest in the Sixties is celebrated over seven seven-inch singles in a box
• More reissue reviews on theartsdesk
• Kieron Tyler’s website

@kierontyler.bsky.social