When Thunderclap Newman released their single 'Something in the Air' it was one of the most popular songs of 1969. Sadly, although critically acclaimed, their one and only album, 'Hollywood Dreams' released the following year faded into oblivion.
John 'Speedy' Keen used to be a chauffeur for The Who. He wrote 'Armenia City in the Sky' for the Who album 'The Who Sell Out'. On the strength of that Pete Townshend wanted to get a band together to promote Speedy's songwriting. He got a friend of his from art college, Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman who was playing jazz piano in pubs and a 15 year old kid, Jimmy McCulloch, to play guitar. With Speedy on drums and vocals he brought them all together at his home studio and the first time they met they recorded Speedy's composition 'Something in the Air'. Taking Andy's nickname as a name for the group, 'Thunderclap Newman' came into being. One addition for this recording (and the album) was bass guitarist Bijou Drains - otherwise known as Pete Townshend himself. Townshend also produced their recordings.
Their album was made up of mainly Speedy Keen's songs, the exceptions being an instrumental 'Hollywood Dream' by Jimmy and Jack McCulloch and, surprisingly, Bob Dylan's 'Open the Door, Homer' which was at that time still a pretty obscure title, recorded along with the famous 'Basement Tapes' but in 1970 relatively unknown and unheard by most people.
They did release a few more singles, 'Accidents' from the album and a couple of nondescript throwaways, but essentially they were destined to be one-hit wonders.
They also reluctantly did some touring, despite not having a lot of material or any cohesive act. They did get better, with some changes and additions to the line-up and more songs and covers in the shows and even supported people like Deep Purple and Leon Russell, but by 1971 the band broke up.
Speedy went on to be a session musician but passed away in 2002 aged 56.
Jimmy McCulloch had his own band for a while, then from 1974-77 he played along with McCartney as part of Wings. After Wings he hooked up with the reformed Small Faces for a bit but in 1979 he was found dead in his flat from heart failure. He was 26.
Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman tried a brief solo career but then went back to life as an electrician. In 2010 he put together a new version of Thunderclap Newman, recorded an album 'Beyond Hollywood' and played some live shows as well as the 2012 Isle of Wight Festival. Andy passed away in 2016 aged 73.
Thunderclap Newman had a brief time in the sun and left just one album, but if you get a chance it's worth a listen. It tends to be a bit musically naïve in parts, gimmicky in others (the overuse of a kazoo!) but there are glimpses of what could have been.
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