The Intro

Scottish pop-rockers Pilot are best known for their single Magic, yet it was this timely ode to January that earned them their only number 1. Except that happened in February. Ah well, better late than never.

Before

Pilot were formed in 1973 by singer and bassist David Paton and keyboardist Billy Lyall. Both had been members of the Bay City Rollers before they became big – Paton from 1969-70, Lyall from 1969-71 – so it was ironic they became stars in their own right during the time of ‘Rollermania’. After recording demos with drummer Stuart Tosh, they signed a management contract with John Cavanagh and Nick and Tim Heath, the sons of famous bandleader Ted. Soon they were signed with EMI Records, and after recording their debut LP, From the Album of the Same Name (clever), session musician Ian Bairnson joined officially as their guitarist. The album featured string arrangements by Richard Hewson, who had worked on The Beatles’ The Long and Winding Road. It was produced by Alan Parsons.

One of England’s most famous rock producers, Parsons was born 20 December 1948. He began work as an assistant engineer at Abbey Road Studios in 1967, aged 18, and his first credited work was on Abbey Road in 1969. He was then an engineer on Wings’ first album, Wild Life in 1971, and Red Rose Speedway two years later. But most famously, he helped engineer Pink Floyd’s legendary The Dark Side of the Moon, that same year.

It’s fair to say Parsons had the magic touch, and that was certainly the case when Pilot’s second single (the first, Just a Smile failed to chart), Magic, was released in 1974. That killer chorus must have made Paton and Lyall a fortune in royalties over the years, as this song has been used countless times on TV and film. I was surprised to see it only reached 11 in the UK charts, but five in the US (it was their sole hit there).

January was the first material released from Pilot’s next LP, Second Flight. Paton wrote this one alone, and said it wasn’t about the month – his inspiration came from a character in a book his wife was reading at the time.

Review

January has an excellent opening, with Parsons showing his skills off nicely. Those epic guitars sound really ahead of its time, and the soundscape makes you sit up and take notice. So it’s a bit of a disappointment when the actual song takes over. Not that January isn’t any good. It’s a nice little pop song. It just doesn’t live up to the admittedly lofty expectations set up by the intro. January’s been telling lies and driving Paton mad, but despite that, he’s pleading ‘Don’t go/Don’t go’ and longing for her to go see him. It then changes tack lyrically, with Paton apparently singing about how the success of Magic had opened doors for Pilot. His lyrics here don’t really make that clear, although ‘I can glow/I can show’ is quite effective. Other than that, it’s a bit vague. The intro returns again though to keep you interested.

I found myself singing ‘January/Sick and tired, you’ve been hanging on me’ for days afterwards, so job done. It’s certainly better than anything I’ve heard by the Bay City Rollers. A great idea to put the idea in the minds of record-buyers to buy a single called January in the quietest commercial month of the year too, when singles historically have found it easier to climb the charts. Yet it was on 1 February that January made it to the top, and it stayed there for three weeks.

After

Call Me Round and a new version of Just a Smile couldn’t crack the top 30 after January. Morin’ Heights, their third album in 1976, got nowhere, and by the time of their fourth, Two’s Company (1977), only Paton and Bairson remained, working with session musicians. They had other projects on the go at this time though, namely, The Alan Parsons Project. Parsons’ progressive rock outfit had a revolving door of contributors, and they were long-standing members, with Paton helping from 1975-85 and Bairson from 1975 until 2002, on and off. Tosh was also involved from 1975-78, and Andrew Powell, who had arranged January, would work on orchestral elements between 1975 and 1986.

Apart from Lyall, who died of AIDS-related causes in 1989, everyone involved would have future number 1 success. Powell produced Kate Bush’s debut album The Kick Inside, and her chart-topper Wuthering Heights (1978) featured Paton and Bairnson. Tosh became an official member of the second phase of 10cc that year, when Dreadlock Holiday was their last of three number 1s. Parsons achieved the rare feat of two number 1s by two separate artists in a row when Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel’s Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) toppled January.

The Outro

Paton and Bairnson returned to Pilot in 2002 with the album Blue Yonder. Between 2003 and 2006 they co-wrote Westlife’s hits Obvious and Amazing, which peaked at three and four respectively. In 2014 they reamed up with Tosh once more to release A Pilot Project. Bairnson, who suffered with dementia in later years, died in 2023, aged 69.

The Info

Written by

David Paton

Producer

Alan Parsons

Weeks at number 1

3 (1-21 February)

Trivia

Births

18 February: Footballer Keith Gillespie/Footballer Gary Neville

Deaths

8 February: Nobel Prize organic chemist Robert Robinson
12 February: Director Bernard Knowles
14 February: Biologist Julian Huxley/Writer PG Wodehouse

Meanwhile…

11 February: Margaret Thatcher, who had served as Edward Heath’s Education Secretary, defeated him in the Conservative Party leadership election to become the first female leader of a major British political party. To say she would become one of the most divisive figures in British history would be putting it mildly.

13 February: Britain’s coal miners accepted a 35% pay rise offer from the government.