Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It grows and grows on you!!, 9 April 2007
The only thing I knew about Thunderclap Newman was that they produced one of the best No 1 hits of the sixties in "Something in the air", and many years later when I heard the track Hollywood No 1 on a radio station I was surprised to hear it was by Thunderclap Newman. The DJ (BFBS radio 2) went on to say it was from an album called Hollywood Dream and that the album was full of similarly quirky songs. I made enquiries and bought the album on Amazon some days later.
I was rather disappointed,to say the least, on first playing, and the track Hollywood, which had originally sparked my interest didn't seem as good. Anyway, I have often found that many albums take a number of playings to get into, so I persevered, and boy am I glad I did. This, in my humble opinion,while maybe not a classic, is certainly very very good. All of the tracks are well above average and indeed quirky is a good description for most of them.
Something in the Air, Accidents and The Reason are all here in their album and single versions and are all excellent. Other notable tracks are Open the door, Homer; When I think; I see it all; and the outstanding Wilhemina plus Hollywood No 1 and No 2.
This album is really very very good and if you like Something in the air, you will enjoy the other tracks too, but, do give it a number of plays.Highly recommended.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Only stand, 31 Dec 2005
Thunderclap Newman burst onto the scene ine the Summer of 1969 with the number 1 hit 'Someting In The Air'.Another single followed 'Accidents'but it didn't have the impact and this stalled the career of this very diverse group of individuals.The album includes both singles and a highlight is the 'long'version of 'Accidents'.Producer is 'Who'songwriter Pete Townsend who also played Bass under the guise of 'Bijou Jeans'.
This album is of its time but any 50 year olds who missed it could do worse than pick it up.It is good value including 'A' & 'B'sides of all singles.Check out 'Wilhemina'it is excellent!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
End of the Hollywood Dream, 12 Oct 2009
Thunderclap Newman should have been more than one-hit wonders. Chart riding hit 'Something In the Air' kept their profile sky-high throughout the summer of 1969; they milked it admirably, but it didn't shoo-in the big time. Distracting himself from the demands of The Who, Pete Townsend built the band as a vehicle for the songwriting skills of Speedy Keen, kitting him with pint-sized teen guitarist prodigy Jimmy McCullough and middle-aged, ample amateur bar pianist and former post office engineer, Andy Newman - much given to blazers, slacks, bow ties. Given these contrasts, they made great TV. 'Hollywood Dream' is a likeable set of pop and country-infused songs with brief excursions into Bonzo-esque Palm Court territory (Newman seemingly restricted to this styling) bolstered with some blistering guitar work from McCullough. But nothing really matches 'the hit'. Misguidedly the label put out an edit of the 9-minute concept song 'Accident' and then raced another album track 'The Reason' after it, but the interest was gone. With hindsight, the flip to 'Accidents' was probably 'the one': quirky, drole, uptempo and sufficiently different from the hit to let the band develop. But Keen went solo, McCullough to Stone The Crows and later Wings (both sadly no longer with us) while Newman retrained as an electrician. While they failed to move on from being something in the air, a vestige remains: Andy is out there right now, performing as The Thunderclap Newman Band.
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