After signing with EMI in April 1974 as a trio with Stuart on drums, PILOT immediately began recording From the Album of the Same Name in Abbey Road Studios. David picked ALAN PARSONS to produce the album from a list of 10 staff house engineers offered by EMI who were ready to move up as producers. David was familiar with his engineering work with Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd. PILOT first recorded Just a Smile, which was released as a single on June 7, 1974, but failed to chart. While recording Just Let Me Be, the band just knew they needed the person who played on the demo to do the guitar work. So they convinced IAN BAIRNSON to come into Abbey Road to add his guitar to the track. While finishing up recording and mixing the album, they realized they needed someone to play either bass or guitar especially for touring. They auditioned bass players and did not find a suitable match. Then while they were auditioning guitar players, Ian came by Abbey Road to see how they were coming along. He asked David what he was doing. David replied auditioning guitar players. In response to Ian’s “Why didn’t you ask me?”, David replied “I didn’t think you would be interested.” Next thing you know, PILOT had its fourth member as the band was ready to take off with the release of its first album, a critically acclaimed tour supporting SPARKs, and of course more than a little bit of MAGIC!