Tom Newman (musician)

This article is about the record producer and guitarist. For the composer, see Thomas Newman.

Tom Newman
Birth nameThomas Dennis Newman
Born (1943-05-07) 7 May 1943 (age 81)
Perivale, England
Occupation(s)Record producer, musician
Years active1960s-present

Thomas Dennis Newman (born 7 May 1943) is an English record producer and musician (rhythm guitar). In 1970 he began working with Richard Branson and helped to found The Manor Studio in Oxford for the nascent Virgin Records. There he produced the recording of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.

Career

In 1968 Newman played in a band called July whose only album was the eponymous July on UK Major Minor and US Epic. Before that he was in a British band called The Tomcats who played around London and later in Spain. In 1966, they recorded at least three EPs on Spanish Philips (436387, 436388 and 436826). Also an amateur painter, one of his paintings can be seen during the Beatles' rooftop concert behind the drum set.[1]

In 1970, Newman began working with Richard Branson and helped build The Manor Studio in Oxford. While there he met the 18-year-old Mike Oldfield who lent him a rough demo tape of what would become Tubular Bells.

In November 1973, Newman participated in a live-in-the-studio performance of Tubular Bells for the BBC.[2] It is available on Oldfield's Elements DVD.

Newman released some albums as a solo musician and produced several albums for other artists, most notably Mike Oldfield (Tubular Bells, Tubular Bells II, Heaven's Open).

Reviewing Newman's 1977 Fine Old Tom LP, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): "Tom seems to have recorded this far across the sea in 1975, but more than that even my Anglophile sources can't tell me. Analogies: Dave Edmunds (studiomania and general non-esoteric musical orientation, although Newman isn't interested in overpowering anyone), Ray Davies (vaguely but persistently, for both eccentricity and vocal approach), Eno (more precisely, not only for eccentricity and vocal approach but also for style of smarts, although Newman isn't so blatantly avant-garde). Pretty catchy."[3]

Newman also worked with young NWOBHM bands like Charlie ’Ungry.

Discography

Solo albums

  • Fine Old Tom (1975)
  • Live at the Argonaut (1975) – Never released by Virgin, except test-pressings. Only released under Voiceprint label in 1995
  • Faerie Symphony (1977)
  • Bayou Moon (1986)
  • Aspects (1986)
  • Ozymandias (1988)
  • Hotel Splendide [Live] (1997)
  • Snow Blind (1997)
  • Faerie Symphony and Other Stories (1999)
  • Tall Scary Things (1999)
  • The Hound Of Ulster (1999)
  • The Secret Life of Angels (2014)
  • The Calling (2015)
  • A Faerie Symphony II (2021)

As producer

Not a complete list

References

  1. ^ Goodden, Joe (30 January 1969). "The Beatles' rooftop concert (Apple building)". The Beatles Bible. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Mike Oldfield (with Mick Taylor, Steve Hillage and members of Henry Cow, Gong and Soft Machine) – Tubular Bells (Live BBC Video 1973)". MOG. Archived from the original on 23 August 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  3. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: N". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 8 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.