Search - Pilot :: Magic

The Majick of PILOT...Own this disc!

Rick Summers | Oak Park, MI. | 01/23/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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!"

It's Hard to Write Consistently Great Pop Music

Todd and In Charge | Miami, FL | 06/20/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."