LP>Play #048 feat. Bruce Springsteen, REM, Peter Gabriel, and more
Celebrating Springsteen's notable gig in Manchester, and the discovery chimps have rhythm.
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Something’s up with the Stack though, because the usual Spotify/Substack embed doesn’t seem to be working, so it’s a button frenzy to get the music.
Listening Notes #048
REM/Jacknife Lee, ‘Radio Free Europe’ (from Radio Free Europe 2025)
REM open with a subtle and effective remix of their classic ‘Radio Free Europe’. The track is here because it’s great music, and it’s also here because the video (touch the YouTube button above) opens with a caption referencing truth. Radio Free Europe was conceived as an American bulwark against tyranny. It seems we now need Radio Free America.
Amazon Music MP3 (paid link)
The Who - ‘Song Is Over’ (from Who’s Next, 1971)
I wrote a short piece about The Who when they announced their final tour last week. The tour is called Song Is Over and this is one of the key songs of Who’s Next/Lifehouse, of which much more in due course. Originally, I planned this to be the final track of the playlist, and then Springsteen rewrote the script.
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Steeleye Span, ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’ (from Conflict out 23/05/2025)
Traditional folk songs are classified by number in the Roud Folk Song Index of about 25,000 English language songs, of which this is number 8460. Tim Hart (the heart and soul of Steeleye Span, according to the band) recorded this version in 1983, using an arrangement that firmly puts the rock into folk-rock. There are elements of Status Quo in the lead guitar (a band Span have a surprising affinity with). Folk is always with us and adapts easily into the rock and prog rock genres, being a natural home for dark stories and protest songs.
Amazon Music MP3 (paid link)
Rocking Horse Music Club ft. Tony Banks, ‘The Haunted Life’ (from The Last Pink Glow, 2025)
All RHMC members are session musicians at the Rocking Horse studios. Currently seven members form the band, creating music ranging across baroque and chamber pop, gospel, fusion, indie folk, and art rock. Mix all of that together and you get what sounds like prog rock to me, especially as this melodic song also features Tony Banks, late of Genesis. Melodically, there are elements straight from the Banks playbook, both solo and Genesis. Have a look at the RHMC website and note how much they like a guest appearance. The Last Pink Glow is an interpretation of Jack Kerouac’s unfinished novella, ‘The Haunted Life’.
Amazon Music MP3 (paid link)
Tanita Tikaram, ‘This Perfect Friend’ (from Love Isn’t a Right, out 10/10/2025)
Tanita Tikaram has signed to Cooking Vinyl, and she’s already making an impact in the run-up to her first album since Closer to the People in 2016. LIAR is the sequel to her first album, Ancient Heart, which was successful way back in 1988 on the back of the hit single ‘Good Tradition’. I’m a fan. She writes moving, thoughtful songs and sings them with her dark, expressive voice.
This first track to be released from LIAR is stunning. A beautiful melody sung over a piano hook and a string section. This is both immediately memorable and a grower. The album will be as good, if not better. It’s hard to imagine there will be a better track on it, but I think there will be.
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Suzanne Vega, ‘Chambermaid’ (from Flying With Angels, 2025)
Another artist whose big successes came years ago is back, also on Cooking Vinyl, and back with possibly the best album of her career. The melody sounds familiar, and then the penny dropped. An unconscious rewrite? On checking the credits, all was well. This is Dylan’s ‘I Want You’ (see track 7) told from the perspective of the chambermaid.
I’m now wondering if there is (or could be) a subset of songs seeing other songs from a different perspective. Bruce Springsteen has created a few characters … (If you know of any such songs, please leave a comment – there’s a playlist in this.)
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Bob Dylan, ‘I Want You’ (from Blonde On Blonde, 1966)
The next track had to be the Dylan song that is the foundation of Vega’s retelling cover. Vega leaves a section out, with Dylan’s permission.
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Amnesty International Released! Sequence
I decided to include Bruce Springsteen’s version of Dylan’s ‘Chimes of Freedom’ after his performance in Manchester a few days ago. As I had already selected a Peter Gabriel track for other reasons, a connection with the Amnesty International concert gig emerged. The finale included the full cast. So, why not find room for their tracks too? There needs to be a reason to pick songs for LP>Play and it happens each artist has added to their catalogue lately.
Youssou N'Dour, 'Tell Me What You Want’ (from Eclairer le monde - Light the World, 2025)
The former Minister of Tourism in Senegal has a new record. Youssou’s music is always worthy of attention; few compromises and always accessible.
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Tracy Chapman, ‘Fast Car’ (from Tracy Chapman - 35th Anniversary, 1988/2025)
Charity gigs helped cement Chapman’s reputation in the late ‘80s, but she only got to share a stage with the likes of Springsteen, Gabriel, and Sting because she had the songs and the stagecraft. Tracy is quietly charismatic, and if she faded from mainstream attention after her initial impact (see also Tanita Tikaram above), this song and this album continue to sound fresh.
Buy now on Vinyl | CD (original edition) (paid link)
Sting, ‘Driven to Tears’ (from Sting 3.0, 2025)
Sting shares a space in many people’s minds with U2’s Bono – worthy, sometimes outspoken, music heard everywhere. And that’s annoying if you don’t enjoy it (see also Phil Collins). This live version of ‘Driven to Tears’, first recorded by The Police, shows he can still rock. Now, when will a live album of his 2016 Rock Paper Scissors tour with Gabriel officially escape the vaults?
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Peter Gabriel, ‘Animal Nation’ (from Flotsam and Jetsam, 2019)
One of the news stories that caught my attention this week (away from the depressing behaviour of a certain orange human) was ‘Chimps’ rhythmic drumming could shed light on music’s evolutionary roots’. Peter Gabriel has experimented with making music alongside bonobo apes, and this research underlines the idea that music could have had a role to play in the development of intelligent life. Gabriel also writes, here, about a belief I’ve shared for years – that all animals are far more intelligent than we give them credit for.
“Dolphins, cats, and elephants
This is not some wild romance
Just look in their eyes and say it's not true
Look in their eyes, they're checking out you.” (Written by Peter Gabriel, 2002)
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Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N’Dour, ‘Chimes of Freedom’ (from Released! The Human Rights Concerts 1988: Human Rights Now!)
Just as I was putting the finishing touches to this playlist, Bruce Springsteen was opening his Land of Hope and Dreams Tour in Manchester with these words: “Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us. Raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring.” There was much more.
This is from the gigs he played in 1988 in support of Amnesty International. It was vital and urgent then and even more so now. I caught the tour at Wembley Stadium, and ‘Chimes of Freedom’ was the perfect ensemble piece to close the gig.
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