Pilot (band)

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Pilot was a British pop band from the 1970s, whose greatest successes are the singles Magic (1974) and January (1975).

Band history

The group was founded in 1973 by singer and bassist David Paton, flautist , pianist and singer Billy Lyall and drummer Stuart Tosh. The band name Pilot emerged from the first letters of the surnames of the three musicians by adding two vowels.

Paton and Lyall were previously members of the Bay City Rollers, which was not yet successful at the time . The session guitarist Ian Bairnson completed pilot before the publication of the debut album From the Album of the Same Name in 1974. The extraction Magic placed in Germany in the Top 40, missed in England just under the top 10 and got into the United States up Fifth place.

With January , which later appeared on the album Second Flight , the band occupied the top position in the English charts for three weeks in February 1975. In Germany and Austria , the song made it into the top 20. In the same year, Call Me Round , another track from the album Second Flight , and Just a Smile , which was released in 1974 and has now been published again, two smaller hits.

Producer of most recorded music was Alan Parsons , only in Morin Heights , the third album, 1976 he took over Roy Thomas Baker this task. On the 1977 album Two's a Crowd Lyall, who had already released his solo album Solo Casting in 1976 , was replaced by Steve Swindells. Then Lyall went to dollars. In December 1989 he died of AIDS .

The Pilot group disbanded in 1977. Bairnson, Paton and Tosh then formed the musical core of The Alan Parsons Project . However, Stuart Tosh soon got out and switched to 10cc . Bairnson and Paton continue to work as studio musicians , including with Kate Bush , and in 2014 released an album called A Pilot Project , which only contains pieces from the Alan Parsons Project .

Band members

  • Ian Bairnson (born August 3, 1953 in Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland) - guitar
  • Billy (William) Lyall (born March 26, 1953 in Edinburgh, Scotland, † December 1, 1989) - vocals, synthesizer, piano, flute
  • David Paton (born October 29, 1949 Edinburgh, Scotland) - vocals, guitar, bass
  • Stuart Tosh (born September 26, 1951) - drums
  • Steve Swindells - vocals, synthesizers, glockenspiel (came for Lyall in 1977)

Discography

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT UK UK US US
1974 From the Album of the Same Name / Pilot (US) - - - US82 (? Where)
US
Producer: Alan Parsons ,
Recording: Abbey Road Studios , April to July 1974
1975 Second Flight / January (US) - - UK48 (1 week)
UK 		-
Producer: Alan Parsons, Recording: Air Studios , London
Mastering : Abbey Road Studios

More albums

  • 1976: Morin Heights (Producer: Roy Thomas Baker )
  • 1977: Two's a Crowd (Producer: Alan Parsons, Recording: Abbey Road Studios, January to June 1977)
  • 2002: Blue Yonder
  • 2014: A Pilot Project (Japan only)

Compilations

  • 1980: The Best of Pilot
  • 1997: Magic
  • 1997: Magic: A Golden Classics Edition
  • 2004: A's, B's & Rarities

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT UK UK US US
1974 Magic
From the Album of the Same Name 		DE39 (3 weeks)
DE 		- UK11 (11 weeks)
UK 		US5
gold
gold

(20 weeks)US
First published: September 20, 1974
1975 January
Second Flight 		DE15 (12 weeks)
DE 		AT16 (4 weeks)
AT 		UK1
silver
silver

(10 weeks)UK 		US87 (6 weeks)
US
First published: January 17, 1975
Call Me Round
Second Flight 		- - UK34 (4 weeks)
UK 		-
First published: April 4, 1975
Just a Smile
From the Album of the Same Name 		- - UK31 (4 weeks)
UK 		US90 (5 weeks)
US
First published: June 7, 1974

More singles

  • 1975: Lady Luck
  • 1976: Running Water
  • 1976: Canada
  • 1976: Penny in My Pocket
  • 1977: Get Up and Go
  • 1977: Monday Tuesday
  • 1977: Ten Foot Tall
  • 2014: Eye in the Sky (Promo, Japan only)

swell

  1. ^ Official website of A Pilot Project
  2. ↑ a b Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
  3. ↑ a b Gold / Platinum databases: UK US

Web links