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]

Gems sparkle on obscure mid-60s UK film soundtracks

Gonks Go Beat and I’ve Gotta Horse were low budget British musical films released in 1965, with soundtrack albums even more obscure than the celluloid from which they sprang. A DVD of Gonks Go Beat turned up in 2007, and the film’s soundtrack now appears on this two-fer CD. For better or worse, an official DVD of the companion I’ve Gotta Horse is still to be produced. Both films were intended as cheapy cash-ins, with Gonks the more successful in corralling artists such as Lulu, Graham Bond and the Nashville Teens to provide some mid-60s relevancy.

I’ve Gotta Horse, on the other hand, was a vehicle for pop star Billy Fury, and the purpose-written songs are in league with Elvis’ lesser film works (“Do the Clam,” anyone?). As the liner notes explain, this was the “alternative to change in 1965.” In addition to thematic songs expressing Fury’s love of animals, there are string-laden ballads, offensively inoffensive harmonies from The Bachelors, and stagey show tunes “Do the Old Soft Shoe,” “Dressed Up For a Man” and “Problems.” This may be fun for the whole family, perhaps even passable filler at a variety show, but it’s hardly the sound of ’65. The album’s one rock ‘n’ roll tune is the Gamblers’ garage-blues “I Cried All Night,” which sounds remarkably out of place amidst the rest of the soundtrack.

In contrast, Gonks Go Beat splits its time between rock and ballads, much as the film’s story line pits the inhabitants of Beat Land against those of Ballad Isle, with a Romeo and Juliet subplot that weaves in elements of The Wizard of Oz and It’s a Wonderful Life. The soft pop of Ballad Isle is mostly forgettable, but even the softies manage the excellent country-tinged folk of Elaine and Derek’s “Broken Pieces.” Better are the soundtrack’s opening salvo of Lulu’s go-go “Choc Ice” and Graham Bond’s blues-drenched “Harmonica.” The Titan Studio Orchestra offers up a galloping guitar-and-sax instrumental, and a quartet of skinsmen compete in the epic “Drum Battle.” Lulu returns for the soulful “The Only One” and the Nashville Teens show they had more than “Tobacco Road” with the rave up “Poor Boy.”

The film’s ballads play better on film (where the colorful sets and pretty faces provide distraction), but the pop, rock and blues cuts from Gonks are simply terrific on CD. Kieron Tyler’s liner notes provide a short history of British pop cinema, suggesting these films were sadly within the tradition and that A Hard Days Night was the artistic aberration. Gonks Go Beat is not as unwatchable as reviews suggest, and the opportunity to see Lulu, Graham Bond and The Nashville Teens (and their vintage instruments and amplifiers) is worth a rental. This soundtrack two-fer (mono for Gonks, stereo for Horse) is a must-buy for the handful of superb tunes from Gonks and the charmingly banal tunes by Billy Fury. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

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