Customer Reviews

Magic

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

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!

At least one of the most beautiful pop/rock recordings. Finally I got this CD and am enjoying right now. Still I got a chill! Best $15 I spent on Ebay. Oh, I found the bonus tracks (total 5) are really cool too. If you encounter this CD somewhere, please check the back of jacket (or back of CD). Three happy guys are running, smiling. This is what exacly you will get from this wonderful musicians and their music.

Believe me and order a copy right now!!!!
If you'd like a description,
The beatles+Alan Parsons+Creativity+Prettiness+Good taste=Pilot.

The Beatles inspired so many great pop groups to form and carry on the McCartney-esqe vocal style and arrangement. PILOT flies over teenage bedrooms and sprays them with seventies pheromones. "Over The Moon" and "Lucky For Some" make today's version of power pop seem like a bad Steely Dan jam. In the end...I choose PILOT!

Why did I pick this up at the small used record shop 15years ago? I don't know, maybe because of its cute cover? The band had no reputation in Korea at those days. But when I played this pretty album, I was amazed. Especially, I loved the song called "lucky for some" as well as others. If you want some lovely and emotional music, this is yours. Ah, how beautiful and pleasing 'just smile' is!

You wanna know why I made the decision to give this album a chance? I actually had a dream about it last week. In the dream I was walking around listening to "Magic". Upon waking up I immediately wondered what the rest of the album is like. Curiosity got the best of me, so I had to further investigate! Well, it turns out it's a great album from start to finish.

Here's another thing I feel like sharing. Nowadays kids would laugh and mock music like this. Yes, the music of Pilot is completely stuck in the time period of the mid 70's. There's no denying that. But here's the thing that's most interesting- whenever I hear a new band on the radio that's supposed to be fun, 90% of the time it's nowhere in the same league as the music of Pilot. I'm totally serious.

The music scene of today is usually also missing the songwriting chops, the interesting guitar playing and drum work to enhance the replay value, and totally missing the mark when it concerns sincere quality. By "sincere quality" I mean the music feels really commercialized in a way that completely lacks feeling and emotion.

Now get this- Pilot is another example of an obvious attempt to become a well-known commercial band (at least, for one or two hits) but a REALLY BIG difference between this band and the commercial bands of todays generation is that you really feel like the band members of Pilot went out of their way to make a quality and honest record with Magic (or rather, From the Album of the Same Name- whichever title you believe is more appropriate).

Does this mean commerical music today isn't nearly as good as the bands from the 70's? In my opinion, yes.

Anyway, some of these songs completely floor me. I seriously wasn't expecting to hear some rather solid songwriting skills, especially from certain reviews that tried convincing me "Magic" is the only good song they ever made. By now I pretty much realize those supposed one-hit wonders from the 60's and 70's offer a heck of a lot more than they often get credit for. It happened with King Harvest, Norman Greenbaum, and now Pilot. Don't believe these artists only have one good song (the hit) because in most cases, it's simply not true.

"Sky Blue" makes me cry. I don't care that it sounds completely dated in a "It's a rainy day- Benji and Tiffany, come home!" kind of way. The arrangements are simply marvelous. Alan Parsons sure knew what he was doing when he produced all those albums from the 70's. Heck, the Alan Parsons Project is a fine example of his creative talent and production techniques alone. Great band they were too.

Anyway, to add some more thoughts to "Sky Blue", you will *never* hear a song like this released today. Wanna know why? Because this is clearly an example of a song completely locked into the 70's vault. It has that dramatic atmosphere written all over the guitar playing and the atmosphere itself, and if you've heard as much 70's music as I have, you'd know that's a *very* distinct part of the 70's spectrum. You'll never hear anything like this ever again, I guarantee it. Don't tell me bands nowadays have the technology to re-create anything they want either- that argument doesn't work with a song like this, trust me. The atmosphere simply can't be touched or matched.

"Sooner or Later" is a really upbeat pop song similar to something from... Sweet! Yes, the pop/rock band that did "Fox on the Run" and "Love is Like Oxygen"- this song seriously reminds me of the legendary masters of pop hooks, Sweet (or THE Sweet, if you will).

By the same token, "Don't Speak Loudly" resembles Sweet as well. Perhaps the only difference between Pilot and Sweet is that Sweet is more likely to dazzle us with a splendid guitar solo or riff, whereas Pilot doesn't really focus on one musical instrument in particular (even though the guitar playing is definitely quite good most of the time). Perhaps a total coincidence, but sometimes I believe the song is preparing to morph into Elton John's "Take Me to the Pilot". Maybe it lifts some ideas from that classic Elton John track, who knows.

You already know what "Magic" is like. There's a reason this song never faded away despite being a product of the times- it's memorable to the max.

"Lucky for Some" has a great downbeat vocal melody. It's really good music to hear while walking through a steady rain beating down on the sidewalk, and I mean that as a compliment. The surprise choice of adding flutes is a nice feature.

"Girl Next Door" is a bouncy pop song with memorable vocals. Honestly, these vocals are growing on me the more I hear it. This is definitely a sign of a fantastic band. Reminds me of Leon Russell a little bit during the piano playing.

"High Into the Sky" is a lost classic. You're simply not human if you don't find that vocal melody incredibly fun. It's actually borderline Beatles quality in the melody department, along with the humorous "Auntie Iris" (which reminds me of "Polythene Pam" thanks to the background vocals). "Just a Smile" has a REALLY good vocal melody. Simply put, Pilot is great at the vocal melodies. Nobody can deny that.

Please, don't assume Pilot should be forgotten just because they're 35 years old. Memorable pop music is memorable pop music no matter HOW old it is.

Pop, as a genre, is widely derided by music purists, yet it is as difficult to do well as great jazz, classical, or other artistic composition. There are certain conventions and limitations, and to create great art within those limitations is difficult indeed. That's why, to me, the singular superiority of the Beatles in that regard cannot be overestimated.

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 Scottish band Pilot had one memorable U.S. hit: 1975's "Magic." Their follow-up, "January" was a success in the UK, but stalled at the bottom of the American chart. This two-song MP3 collection by Purple Pyramid (not to be confused with the CD by Collectables, which has been incorrectly cross-linked in the Amazon catalog) may feature the original lead vocalist, but these are not the original hit recordings. Don't be fooled by the vintage "Dynamic Stereo" banner, which itself predates these mid-70s hits by fifteen or twenty years. If you want the original hits, you can find them on the legitimate reissues of the band's first two albums From the Album of the Same Name and Second Flight, or on their compilation A's B's & Rarities. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]