Pilot - A's B's & Rarities (2004) @ Flac

 Group Members:

David Paton, Ian Bairnson, Billy Lyall, Stuart Tosh, William Lyall, Peter Oxendale, Steve Swindells

Biography by Greg Prato

Scottish soft rock band Pilot was formed in 1973 by David Paton (bass and vocals), Billy Lyall (synthesizer, flute, and vocals), and Stuart Tosh (drums). They added a few members along the way, including two chaps who were former members of teeny boppers the Bay City Rollers, plus session guitarist Ian Bairnson, before issuing their self-titled debut in 1974. The album spawned a Top 20 hit with "Magic," but it was their 1975 single "January," off their sophomore effort Second Flight, that proved to be the biggest success of the group's entire career, rocketing to the number one spot. Further albums followed (1976's Morin Heights and 1977's Two's a Crowd), as did a few more moderate-sized hit singles ("Call Me Round," "Just a Smile") before Pilot folded. Tosh soon resurfaced as part of 10cc, as both Paton and Bairnson concentrated on studio work, playing on Kate Bush's 1978 debut, The Kick Inside, as well as on recordings for Alan Parsons, who had produced their first, second, and fourth albums. Lyall issued a solo album, Solo Casting (which featured his fellow Pilot bandmates), and later joined the group Dollar, before passing away in December of 1989 from an AIDS-related illness. Paton and Bairnson returned in 2002 with Blue Yonder. Twelve years later, they brought Tosh back into the fold for A Pilot Project: A Return to the Alan Parsons Project -- a set of covers recorded in tribute to Parsons' creative partner Eric Woolfson.

A's, B's and Rarities Review by Dave Thompson

It seems strange to see the output of Mickie Most's RAK label finally being taken seriously by record labels as well as collectors, 30-plus-years after the imprint established itself as the epitome of disposable pop tunes. Yet EMI's ongoing A's, B's & Rarities series offers nothing less than the same thorough treatment that any other, more hallowed, label could expect. The format is essentially the same throughout: a gathering up of every RAK single (A-sides and B-sides) released by a given band, with the remainder of the CD filled with choice outtakes and oddities. Sadly, whereas other entries in this series -- Mud, Arrows, CCS, Hot Chocolate, Suzi Quatro -- can effortlessly address that criteria, Pilot really should have been saved for some future "best-of the rest of" set. The fact is, despite the four U.K. hits they racked up in a year (including the Top Ten "Magic" and the chart-topping "January") they really weren't that great a band, the missing link between Smokie and 10cc, with a shot of Fox thrown in for good measure. Yet A's, B's & Rarities avoids many of the pitfalls that this set should have laid bare, by virtue of some genuinely cunning programming. The original (non-hit) version of "Just a Smile" is replaced by a remix; 1975's "Lady Luck" single makes its CD debut, alongside David Paton's scarcely known 1980 solo single "No Ties No Strings," while the sequence of flop 45's that led up to Pilot's departure for Arista are all brought together. And the stuff does grow on you, to the point where even "January" doesn't sound quite so annoying as it used to. This remains the weakest link in the A's, B's & Rarities series so far. But maybe it isn't as redundant as one originally thought.

Pilot - A's , B's And Rarities 2004  (22 / 1:17:39)

Track 2, 9, 13 and 22 appear on this CD for the first time

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 01. Pilot - Magic 

 02. Pilot - Just Let Me Be 

 03. Pilot - January 

 04. Pilot - Never Give Up 

 05. Pilot - Call Me Round 

 06. Pilot - Do Me Good 

 07. Pilot - Just A Smile 

 08. Pilot - Don't Speak Loudly 

 09. Pilot - Are You In Love? 

 10. Pilot - You're My No. 1 

 11. Pilot - High Into The Sky 

 12. Pilot - Sooner Or Later 

 13. Pilot - Lady Luck 

 14. Pilot - Dear Artist 

 15. Pilot - Running Water 

 16. Pilot - First After Me 

 17. Pilot - Canada 

 18. Pilot - The Mover 

 19. Pilot - Penny In My Pocket 

 20. Pilot - Steps 

 21. David Paton - No Ties No Strings 

 22. David Paton - Stop And Let Go 

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