I was fortunate enough to discover music under my own steam just as Glam Rock was taking over the UK. I say fortunate because although Glam had spent a good while since being laughed at, there was no better time to become enthralled in the joy of music and Glam Rock was about the joy and fun. It was singles led, but it concentrated on choruses, great Pop with big riffs. You could sing along, pretend to play the guitar and be taken into another world away from the grim reality of the council estate. By 1974, albums had started to take me in other directions via the likes of Sparks and Mott The Hoople, but then I heard a single by a band that looking back, probably made the biggest mark on my music fandom.
That band was Pilot and that single was Magic. It was quickly followed by January and I was completely hooked. I can look back now and acknowledge that the Power Pop and Pop Rock that I write about to this day. Both songs were incredibly catchy, but it was that guitar sound and the riffs of Ian Bairnson that affected me most, particularly that intro to January. I instantly became a Pilot fan, something that stays with me to this day. Getting news and information on bands wasn't that easy in those days. I wasn't led to Alan Parsons Project by the Pilot connection, instead it was via the John Miles connection, but I was delighted to discover that David Paton and Bairnson were heavily involved.
The Project was exactly that a collaboration of musicians, but Bairnson was the only musician who played on every APP album, his guitar work lighting up the concept albums. I'm currently in the middle of reviewing The Turn Of A Friendly Card album and the closing solo on the reprise of the title track is worth the admission alone. Bairnson was also a part of Kate Bush's first four albums and played that wonderful closing Guitar solo on Wuthering Heights. In the Eighties, he also became involved with Bucks Fizz, co-writing If You Can't Stand The Heat and Run For Your Life. Adding to his songwriting canon for both Pilot and Alan Parsons Project.
He remained an in demand Session player sprinkling Guitar gold dust on albums from the likes of Joe Cocker, Neil Diamond and Jon Anderson. He was a brilliant live Guitarist and also played Live with Eric Clapton, Sting and many more, It was announced by his wife Leila in 2018 that Ian was suffering from a degenerative neurological condition that meant that his public playing days were over and this has resulted in his untimely death, 69 is no age. I personally thank him for all the musical enjoyment that he has given to me for almost five decades. Those Pilot albums are never far from my reach. But most of all, I thank him for what I do now and what hearing Magic for the first time meant to me.
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