One-U.S.-hit wonders back up the hit with a solid debut album

The Scottish light-rock group Pilot is known to US listeners by exactly one song: the million-selling 1975 hit single, “Magic.” Produced by Alan Parsons and featuring former Bay City Rollers David Paton and Billy Lyall, the single has a memorable vocal hook (which itself has been used in many commercials) and an arrangement that brings to mind Marmalade, Edison Lighthouse and Badfinger. The album is finely sung, with lead vocals that reach into the high-notes of Ray Davies and Jon Anderson, and finely crafted arrangements that combine sunshine- and soft-pop with moments of Steely Dan-like jazz-prog-rock. It’s no surprise that the musicianship is top-notch, as three members of the band would work with their producer as part of the Alan Parsons Project two years later. The album cuts are catchy, though not as catchy as the single, which may explain Pilot’s disappearance from the American charts. Their next album, Second Flight, yielded the UK hit “January,” but the single flopped in the US, barely inching its way onto the bottom of the Hot 100. Among the bonus tracks is the original, slower version of “Magic,” which provides a good example of just what a producer adds to a hit single. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]