Written by: David Paton & Billy Lyall Produced by: Alan Parsons South African record label (unless otherwise stated): EMI
Hit number for artist
1
Peak position
11
Weeks
6
Biggest climber awards
0
Star rater climbs
1
Biggest faller awards
1
Top 20 points
35
Overall Top 20 points ranking
=1777
Top 20 points ranking for the artist
1
Top 30 Points
95
Overall Top 30 points ranking
=1858
Top 30 points ranking for the artist
1
Annual ranking:
1975
87
Other chart success:
Australia
12
Belgium
11
Canada
1
Germany
39
Ireland
6
Netherlands
11
Norway
4
UK
11
US
5
SA Radio charts:
LM Radio
7
Alan Parsons who produced the track, would go on to fame as the leader of The Alan Parsons Project. He would produce 2 further SA chart hits in the form of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel’s ‘Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)’ and Al Stewart’s ‘Sand In Your Shoes’. The Alan Parsons Project would, however, never make our charts.
The band formed in 1973 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The founding members were David Paton and Billy Lyall who had both been in an early (pre-success) incarnation of The Bay City Rollers. They recorded a number of demos and came to the attention of EMI records. Their first album, ‘From The Album Of The Same Name’, would contain their first 2 hits, ‘Just A Smile’ which made it to 49 in Australia and ‘Magic’ which peaked at 11 in the UK and 5 in the US as well as getting to 12 in Australia and toping the Canadian charts. Their biggest hit came with ‘January’ which topped the UK, Australian and Irish charts. In total they would manage 4 UK charting hits (with just the 1 chart topper) and 3 US chart hits (with ‘Magic’ giving them their best peak). Paton would go on to work with Kate Bush, Elton John and Alan Parsons (who had produced their hit, ‘Magic’). Lyall would also work with Alan Parsons as well as Sheena Easton. Ian Bairnson, who played on the hit ‘Magic’ as a session musician would join the band as a full member after their first album.
Billy Lyall is credited with playing on Sheena Easton’s album which features the hit ‘9 to 5 (Morning Train)’ while Ian Bairnson is credited with playing on Bucks Fizz’s album containing their hit ‘making Your Mind Up’. I have not been able to verify if they actually played on the hits mentioned and one may argue that Bairnson was not a full band member when Pilot had their hit mentioned above. However, if you want to include the 2 songs that they may have played on the involvement stats read 6 hits and 47 weeks with no additional number 1’s.