Thunderclap Newman - Old Soul Singer (2011)

John "Speedy" Keane, Pete Townshend's art college friend, who worked as a driver for his star friend, as a road manager for John Mayall, and also played in the little-known band Tomcats, tried his hand at songwriting. In 1967, he wrote The Who's song Armenia City In The Sky, which was included on The Who's Sell Out album.
In January 1969, Pete Townshend persuaded John Keane to form his own group. The composition of this trio was very unusual: in addition to Keane, who played drums and sang, it included fifteen-year-old guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and middle-aged pianist Andy Newman, who worked as an engineer at the post office. In fact, Newman, with his unusual jazz style of playing, which aroused the admiration of Townshend and Keane when they were students, became the central musical force of Thunderclap Newman.
Having signed a contract with The Who's Track label, Thunderclap Newman released the single Something In The Air, which for many became a farewell bow to an irrevocably vanished era. Thanks to Newman's quirky instrumentals and Keane's dreamily nostalgic vocals, the single instantly became a number one hit, surpassing The Who's commercial popularity.
The success of the single gave rise to invitations to television and regular tours, but the band's peculiar external image did not play into their hands; Moreover, in order to replicate the magic of Something In The Air on stage, they had to invite additional musicians - bassist Jim Avory and Jimmy's younger brother Jack on drums - to give Keane the opportunity to act as frontman.
Unfortunately, none of the band's subsequent singles replicated the success of Something In The Air; as well as the only Thunderclap Newman album - Hollywood Dream, produced by Townshend (by the way, on this disc he played bass under the pseudonym Bijou Drains).
In mid-1970 the group broke up. Newman and Keane continued to work in the studio and released solo albums, and Jimmy McCulloch became a sought-after guitarist and played with several bands in his short life, notably Stone The Crows and Wings.