Career
In 1969, Pete Townsend created the band to showcase songs written by the former Who chauffeur, drummer/singer/guitarist John "Speedy" Keen (miscredited as "Keene" on the single's label). Keen wrote the opening track on The Who Sell Out album, "Armenia City in the Sky". Townshend produced the single, played its bass guitar under the pseudonym Bijou Drains, and hired for it GPO engineer and Dixieland jazz pianist Andy "Thunderclap" Newman (born Andrew Laurence Newman, 21 November 1942, Hounslow, Middlesex) and the fifteen-year-old Glaswegian guitarist Jimmy McCulloch.
Keen, Newman, and McCulloch met each other for the first time, in December 1968 or January 1969, when they got together in Townshend's home studio to record "Something in the Air". Before then, Townshend had planned to work on projects for each of the musicians, but Kit Lambert prevailed upon Townshend, who was working on what became the rock-opera Tommy, to save time by coalescing the three musicians into the collective project that became Thunderclap Newman.
"Something in the Air", which Keen wrote for the film, The Magic Christian, was number one in the UK Singles Chart for three weeks, holding off Elvis Presley and the Beatles' "Ballad of John and Yoko" in the process. Originally titled "Revolution", but later renamed because the Beatles had released a song of that name in 1968 (the B-side of "Hey Jude"), "Something in the Air" captured post-flower power rebellion, marrying McCulloch's majestic electric rhythm and lead guitars, Keen's powerful drumming and falsetto, Newman's legendary frostbite-in-boxing-gloves piano solo and Townshend's (uncredited) electric bass. By December 1969, the single was awarded a gold disc for world sales of more than a million.
"Something in the Air" appeared on the soundtracks of the films The Magic Christian (1969) and The Strawberry Statement (1970), the last having helped the single reach number 25 in the United States. The song also appeared in the deluxe edition of the Easy Rider CD. In the UK and US, a follow-up single, "Accidents", came out only in May 1970, and charted at No. 44 for only a week, but not charting at all in the U.S. An album, Hollywood Dream, again produced by Townshend and released the previous year, peaked in Billboard 200 chart at No. 163. "Something in the Air" was also a memorable musical moment from the film Almost Famous (2000) and is featured on the soundtrack. It was also used in a 2008 television episode of "My Name Is Earl."
Critic Nathan Morley described "Accidents" as the band's masterpiece. “One would," he wrote, "have to listen to Wagner in a funeral parlour for something even more morbid than Thunderclap Newman’s ‘Accidents’, which chronicles the deaths of various hapless children who all meet a very nasty end – Poor Mary falls in a river whilst waiting for the Queen to sail by and little Johnny is killed by a speeding car. That said, the song, orchestration and performance are simply brilliant. It is captivating and without doubt their best recording.”
Thunderclap Newman had not planned to undertake live performances, but the band relented when, to their collective surprise, "Something in the Air" became a chart success. The trio, augmented by Jim Pitman-Avery (bass) and McCulloch's elder brother Jack (drums), undertook a 26-date tour of England and Scotland in support of Deep Purple from July 1969 to August 1969. Thunderclap Newman's live setlist then typically included the following songs: "Lady Madonna", by the Beatles; a twelve-bar jam; "Wilhelmina"; Water music, by Andy Newman; and "Something in the Air". On 8 August, Pitman-Avery and Jack McCulloch announced their intention to quit the band. Within weeks, they had formed the country-rock band Wild Country with Terry Keyworth (guitar) and Stuart Whitcombe (keyboards). That year, the band appeared in television programmes in Britain (How Late It Is, Top of the Pops) and Germany (Beat-Club).
In October 1970, Thunderclap Newman released its critically acclaimed album, Hollywood Dream. That year, they released three singles: "Accidents/I See It All", "The Reason/Stormy Petrel" and "Wild Country/Hollywood Dream". On 7 November, they appeared on Ev (a.k.a., The Kenny Everett Show). In early 1971, the founding trio reformed with Australian musicians Roger Felice (drums) and Ronnie Peel (bass).
On 6 March 1971, the New Musical Express reported the band's personnel change: “Thunderclap Newman has finally settled down into a five-piece group, with two new members being brought in — although on certain dates, the outfit may be augmented by a brass section. Permanent line-up now comprises Newman (piano), Speedy Keen (rhythm guitar and vocals), Jimmy McCulloch (lead guitar), Ronnie Peel (bass) and Roger Felice (drums). Dates include University of Sussex (tomorrow, Saturday), Sheffield University (March 12) and Nelson Imperial (14). A Scottish tour is being set for the end of April”.
With its new line-up, from January 1971 to April 1971 Thunderclap Newman supported Deep Purple during a 19-date tour of England and Scotland. Their live setlist then typically included the following: "Look Around", "The Reason" and "Wild Country", plus cover songs written by other artists. Sometime during those months, the band supported Leon Russell during a tour of Holland and they had supported Deep Purple during a tour of Scandinavia. They played the club circuit and had avoided playing in ballrooms. That year, Thunderclap Newman made a cameo appearance in the British movie, Not Tonight, Darling!
Thunderclap Newman broke up circa 10 April 1971 — days before they were scheduled to start a tour of Scotland and weeks before they were scheduled to be part of a package tour with Marsha Hunt and others during The Who's 12-week tour of the U.S.
The members of the band had little in common with each other. In a 1972 NME interview, Newman said that he got on with Keen's music but not with Keen personally, while the exact opposite was true with regard to McCulloch.
In 2008, Jack McCulloch and Andy Newman appeared on an episode of the British television programme Those Were The Days to comment upon the night of the first Moon Landing, when Thunderclap Newman had performed an almost-nightlong concert.
Read more about this topic: Thunderclap Newman
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