Re-Thunderclap Newman

I know what you're talking about. The day that song doesn't stir my blood and whisk me back to the Time is the day you can turn off the ventilator. The signature chords on the euphoric upsweep of the key change, Jimmy McCulloch's gentle ascending lines..."Something In The Air" is a rush, from a time when a rush was something beautiful.

Berton Averre

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So sad....Something In The Air is one of the greatest songs ever.

Leigh Goldstein

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Thanks for this one.
Something in the Air was and is one of my top favorites. It was high on my playlist when I was a d.j. and music director at my college radio station, WRUV-FM, Burlington, VT.
I'm thrilled whenever I hear it. The song is timeless, both musically and lyrically. And I didn't even know that Tom Petty covered it.
thanks again,

Robin Sloane Seibert

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Beautifully put. Thank you Bob.

Mike Greggs

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Oddly Thunderclap Newman had been on my mind the last few months, before Andy's passing. I still have my original 1970 vinyl, on Polydor, here in Canada. And I had an early CD issue that, like most of them, sounded like crap. So I went looking for it in iTunes and on the streaming services and like you noticed it wasn?t there, which I found curious. My label is in the Universal system and my buddy Warren Stewart is the catalog guy. I pointed out the digital hole and he's running it down but the 1991 Bill Levenson CD reissue is still in print in Canada so I just recently grabbed a copy. That reissue comes with single edits of three songs. Nostalgic waxing geezer alert: that period - maybe call it '70 -'74 was particularly loaded with great records, largely insignificant commercially, but titanic artistically - Dave Mason's Alone Together, Leon Russell's Carney, Nick Drake, Dan Hicks, Richard and Linda Thompson and
many many more of course, and Hollywood Dream resonates down the decades with the best of them. But you know and champion all that, for which we thank you.

Kim Cooke

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I know what you're talking about. I bought the album when it came out based on Pete Townsend's involvement and the fact Jimmy McCulloch was playing guitar. Hadn't even heard Something's In The Air yet but there was a buzz in the underground music press ahead of it so I grabbed it. The whole record didn't grab me but the single sure did. I was over the moon when Petty faithfully covered it and a whole whack of people heard the song for the first time. Sad to hear of Andy's passing (didn't know until I read your post) but great to be reminded of that killer tune.

Mike Campbell

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Great article. Thanks. Agreed TP did honor the song well but I still remember the feeling of awe relating to the feel and words of the song. It really was original in both ways and stood out from the other songs on the radio. Sorry it's just a passing memory compared to now. Peace.

Jeff Booth

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Sorry to hear about Andy. I loved his music.

Kevin Sutter

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A big like on this. Well said.

Greg Stephens

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Nice,Bob.I got that album from a record club.

Ted Keane

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You kill me with my past. Promo man at atlantic song on atlantic / track records from England. Still have gold record Keep teaching these new music kids.

Jerry Greenberg

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Yes! "Letting Go" -- a GREAT track!

Rob Meurer

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I was wondering when you'd get to Andy Newman's passing. I love Thunderclap Newman! They had a lot of spins on the local progressive fm station, LAV-FM. For those who don't know them here is a link: https://youtu.be/k8zmkzshUvE

Hope all is well.

Mike Busch

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Excellent tribute to a wonderful song, and the people and spirit behind it. Excellent!

Bill Hunt

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McCartney has so many obscure gems. I absolutely love Beware My Love, and She's My Baby- a masterpiece of pop minimalism.
Not to mention Little Lamb Dragonfly, or Big Barn Bed. it's as if they don't even exist....

Always loved Something in the Air, though knew nothing of the artist.
It just has that organic, realness that we miss so much today.

Thanks Bob.

Timothy Sullivan

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bravo,

Andrew Loog Oldham

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That's the most iconic song of our generation

Wasn't the song in the Magic Christian too?
Oy

Regards
Amy Krakow

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A masterpiece of a record
Jeff Laufer

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Wilco has been doing Something in the air live for years. It's the kind of song that you just feel like you heard it a million times the first time you hear it. Great tune.

Hal Cohen

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BRAVO!!

Kinnon Thomas

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I do know, Bob.
A friend and I pooled our money to buy a used promo copy we found at a head shop in Bangor, Maine. The only thing we knew was that Pete was involved. At first we were bummed because it "didn't sound like the Who", but after playing it and playing it ... wonderful songs.

Kevin Ritchie

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Wow, how that song Something In the Air kept me going that summer of 1970. Great tune . I almost named my dog that I got that summer, Thunderclap.

Best, Steve Fenster

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"Something in The Air" is a seminal 70's track. Steely Dan does a nice cover on tour. "Hand out the arms and ammo we're gonna blast our way through here" is a good descriptor of our foreign policy in the Middle East today. Andy "Thunderclap" Newman is still timeless. RIP.

Stuart K. Marvin

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Thanks Bob for the words about perhaps the greatest musician name ever...Thunderclap Newman.

I've been playing gigs for folks with brain injuries the last few months and it's been so rewarding. Out of the blue today I played my version of "Something in the air" and mentioned the artists unique name.

Thanks for the story and recognition of a great song.

RIP Andy and Merle.

Ranj Singh

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Nice shot of love to " thunderclap". Sad he isn't around to read something like this. He'd feel great and he earned at least that much for " something in the air" alone.

Bill Tibbs

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Amen

John Zambetti

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Something in the air.
Man, what memories that brings back.

Somehow, I got the soundtrack to the strawberry statement movie for cheap, and I listened to it a lot. Both Circle Game and Something in the Air were thinking pieces, the crosby stills and nash stuff was a known quantity, which is probably why I bought the album. And Give Peace a chance was a great closer.

when I finally saw the movie, it was just ok. But those songs will stay with me forever.

Makes me want to make my band learn Something in the Air. But that piano part would be hard...

---Dale Janus

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Thanks Bob.

I'm a listener, not a mover or shaker. "Something in the Air" was a huge AM radio song for me growing up.

Everything about it rang true then.
Still does to this day.

Your reminder is poignant.

Best wishes.

Paul Lancia
Turku, Finland
Fort Myers, Florida

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Love "something in the air "

Josie1000

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Good one Bob,

Maureen Droney

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Something In The Air was prominent in THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN - Peter Sellers/Ringo Starr:

Toward the end of the film, Guy fills up a huge vat with urine, blood and animal excrement and adds to it thousands of bank notes. Attracting a crowd of onlookers by announcing "Free money!", Grand successfully entices the city's workers to recover the cash. The sequence concludes with many members of the crowd submerging themselves, in order to retrieve money that had sunk beneath the surface, as the song "Something in the Air" by Thunderclap Newman, is heard by the movie's audience.

Clint Young

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I know them and I'll never forget something in the air. stay tuned this summer - the air will be thick

jht99

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Great one!!!

Brad Durham

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Loved that song. As a kid in Connecticut, I actually heard it on a.m. radio. WAVZ, WNHC out of New Haven. Loved the Tom Petty version used in Almost Famous too.

Cinzia Zanetti

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"Life's just a game, you fly a paper plane, there is no end..."

Good post Bob. I always loved that record. Who's next?

Jeff Holland

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You didn't forget and you showed respect to Andy to every one of your influential and non indluential music loving readers . In death for a few minutes we remember Andy as a great piano player who made some music that still inspires .

Ted

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Well, I am a Newbie to your site ... Probably less than a month.

Sometimes I read to the end, sometimes not.

I just want to say, just the mention of anything "Paul McCartney and Wings" gets my passion burning. I remember the most in my life: 1. Being age 8 and hearing "Band on the Run" on an American radio station in Germany.

But, the documentary "Wingspan" that I saw in college was the way I always thought life was going to go ... Seriously! ?????

Clare Alexander

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I know wherof you speak.

Barry Lyons / Rent A Label

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Thank you so much for recognizing the passing of Andy Newman. Hollywood Dream has been one of my favorite albums since it was released in October 1970.

Speedy Keen first turned up on my radar when his composition Armenia City In the Sky was performed by The Who as the opening track on The Who Sell Out in 1967. Something in the Air was produced by Pete Townshend and he also played bass on the track under the pseudonym of Bijou Drains. The song was a huge hit in the UK in the summer of 1969 and late that year was featured in the Magic Christian film which starred Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers. The film's soundtrack also included the Paul McCartney composed "Come And Get It" performed by Badfinger.

The Hollywood Dream album was also produced by Pete Townshend with Bijou Drains on the bass. The album also included a fine version of the Basement Tapes song "Open the Door, Homer."

Like you I listened to this album constantly from its release in October 1970 and it is still great.

Best
Jim McElwee
Menlo Park

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great song. thanks Bob.

Owen

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One of my favorite songs of all time. Thank you for your tribute.

Jeremy Hammond

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"And I looked around, and he was gone, are we to lose?"

Thanks so much for gracefully noting the passing of Andy Newman. "Something in the Air" was brilliant, and it was just the tip of the iceberg, wasn't it?

I went to see Thunderclap Newman at Sussex University in March of 1971 on the strength of that tune, and on the strength of "Accidents", their UK follow-up that got airplay, but was too long, brilliant, weird and wonderful to chart respectably. But live, they were a revelation.

And such an odd grouping:
Vocalist Drummer John "Speedy" Keene, who, with his prominent beak, looked like the third runner-up in a Pete Townshend Lookalike contest,

Jimmy McCullough, the hot guitar player with the tiny teen-idol good looks,

and at the helm - this far-from-cool looking bearded bespectacled man, fingers flying over the keyboard, and dazzling with his virtuosity as he dove into a trunk full of instruments - glockenspiel, woodwinds, sax, flute, tin whistle, and frequently, a kazoo fixed into a megaphone, clamped to the piano top so he could tickle the ivories at the same time. Musical, inventive, unforgettable.

LPs were not cheap in those days, but I ran for my copy of Hollywood Dream. Over the years I still have never tired of "The Reason" "Something In The Air" and "Accidents". RIP Andy Newman. And thanks again Bob for remembering him.

Life's Just a Game You Fly a Paper Plane There is No End...

Michael McNamara
Toronto

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Great song. Very important to remember . Thx!

All the best,

Dave Polemeni

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The obituary from The Guardian which a a bit more about his life before and after http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/03/andy-thunderclap-newman-obituary

James Grady

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Wow. Thanks for that Bob.
I don't recall this band's name at all, but I absolutely remember hearing this song. Surprised you didn't post the YouTube link:

http://youtu.be/k8zmkzshUvE

Roy Liu

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Thanks for bringing us the news of Thunderclap Newman's passing. I saw this news nowhere.

And Medicine Jar (as well as the rest of Venus & Mars) is still in rotation at our house).

Bob Ardrey

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Yes, thanks. Of course I remember the original version, which was great, along with so much other music at the time. And then thanks, Tom Petty, for bringing it back.

marktownsmail

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Nicely put, sir. 2016 seems like the beginning of the long goodbye to the 20th century, with each of us diminished by one loss after the other. When I worked in music retail, we snickered at the folks who rushed to buy records by the recently-passed, but I've been listening to Merle, George Martin's breathtaking work with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Eagles (no 'the' out of respect to Frey), Bowie...

David Boyle

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You might be interested to know that The Polyphonic Spree has been covering "Something In The Air" for a while. I saw this particular show and although the clip doesn't show it, they played the song four times in a row. Four times in a row. And the crowd sang along.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1izbmesJ_y8&feature=youtu.be

Patti Haskins

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Thanks, Bob, for the obit on Andy "Thunderclap" Newman. That's one I didn't see in the NY Times' obits. I think Townshend produced and played bass on "Something In The Air" under the pseudonym Bijou Drains. (How'd he come up with THAT?) I'm heading to Waterloo Records on my lunch break today to search for "Hollywood Dream."

Jeff Hillery
Austin, Texas

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Beautiful! Our college eras were the same and I relate to your remembrances of those times. And you are dead on about the differences between then and now politically. I enjoy your observations every day but today really hit home.

Patti Martin

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Thank you for this Bob.

You and I must be very close in age. The early 70's were the crucible in which my little psyche was formed. And Thunderclap Newman was one of the flames hardening the steel. I remember seeing The Strawberry Statement in a theater on Miami Beach, and coming out high on adrenaline and certain we were going to change the world, which we did,,, sort of.

I've continued to listed to "Something in The Air" over the decades since. It made onto dozens of mix tapes and playlists, and I used it to try and infect my kids with a spirit of activism. But I never knew the backstory of Andy and his band until today. Thank you for this gift that I'm sure I will be thinking about in the weeks to come as I unearth some of the albums you mentioned and re familiarize myself with the hidden gems therein.

Marc Von Arx

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Thanks for the refresher on Thunderclap Newman. I didn't know that Andy had died until I read your email. But I was driving to a photography class on Tuesday evening and turned on WXPN which was in the middle of playing "Something in the Air". I thought: Wow, these lyrics are as relevant today as they were when I first heard them in 1969. Of course you said the same but you provided a much deeper analysis, as always.

Thank you for sharing your insight and intelligence with the hoi polloi. Now that I am retired and actually have time to keep up with email yours are usually the highlight of my day. Most recently I worked in IT but from '74 - '95 I was a DJ on Philadelphia radio, and often share your emails with my old radio buddies.

Best Wishes,

Gerry Hebert

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And you know it's real.........
Thanks Bob!

Jeff Greenberg

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Thanks for remembering Andy Newman - it is so true that you can make an amazing hit song and never be heard from again.

I lived in Hollywood/LA worked as a roadie for about 5yr back in the mid-70's to early 80's - 2yrs with Gary Wright around 'Dreamweaver', and '77 US/'82 European tours with Frank Zappa. Gave up my dreams and put my Caltech diploma to use, now doing software...

Regards,
Alan Barclay

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"Something In The Air" was the first single I ever bought.

Nice post, Bob. Bravo.

Hugo Burnham



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