[11] Thunderclap Newman, ‘Something In The Air’

The hopeful strumming and coaxing bass that opens this one-off gem is as enticing to a Noughties two-year-old as it was to any counter-cultural firebrand at the close of those Swinging Sixties. Junior plays a relaxed air guitar in true appreciation and later waltzes with her dad to the triumphant lead into the final verse – after the piano goes all honky-tonk on us.

It’s a fantastic record that appears to harness real power. I’ve no idea how much it articulated a state of mind or movement in 1969, apart, perhaps, from vestiges of hope that the new kids could change the world. Thunderclap (né, erm, Andy) Newman sounds like the sort of chap who might roll up his sleeves and spark a revolution, and a singer called Speedy Keen can only add to the fervour.

In the end ‘Something In The Air’ has soundtracked the collective spirit of people chatting on mobile phones, which is a little banal even if it is the new limit of human endeavour. We have got to get it together – now.