LP Select #069. A curated playlist with Sting, 10cc, Paul McCartney and more
LP Select (previously 'Playlist') #069. An hour of new music and a dip into the archive.
Intro
Welcome to my regular playlist, now called LP Select. This is a curation of new and reissued tracks and music from my collection that fits the sonic theme.
The next Album’s Tale essay includes details about the future of LP. Look out for it on 16 April. For now, if you’ve not yet seen it, the most recent Album’s Tale is:
Listening Guide #069
U2 ‘Scars’ from Easter Lily EP [2026]
A band reborn? Hot on the feels of the Days of Ash EP comes another one. There are albums with shorter playing times than the 32 mins. of Easter Lily. And these songs are a varied tour across some of the different versions of the band. There’s still a full album promised for later in the year.
Peter Frampton ‘Buried Treasure’ (feat. Benmont Tench) from Carry the Light [2026]
The accidental theme of this edition of LP Select is new music by long-serving musicians. Peter Frampton’s career after his impactful Frampton Comes Alive! double live album has been uneven, but he’s on good form here with guest Benmont Tench, late of The Heartbreakers. Frampton wrote this (and other tracks on the album) as a tribute to the great Tom Petty.
Van Morrison ‘Rock Me Baby’ (feat. Buddy Guy) from Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge [2026]
I reviewed the new Van Morrison album for The Progressive Aspect. Here’s another veteran paying homage to his blues roots in an enjoyable group of sessions, here with a telling guitar contribution from Buddy Guy.
Squeeze ‘The Place We Call Mars’ from Trixies [2026]
More from the fascinating new Squeeze album, based on songs they first conceived at the beginning of their career. Their story of a sleazy Soho nightclub could be based on the one at the heart of Kate Atkinson’s novel Shrines of Gaiety (aff), but that’s just in my head.
Paul McCartney ‘Days We Left Behind’ from The Boys of Dungeon Lane [2026]
This is slated to be McCartney’s looking back album. This is a promising first track, perhaps coming from the mindset installed by The Beatles’ ‘Now and Then’. It’s good to keep looking forward whatever age you are, but if you cannot look back when you’re in your eighties when can you?
10cc ‘Somewhere in Hollywood’ from Sheet Music [1974]
From the archives, inspired by the Tune Tag with @brad kyle, an early 10cc track showing how they liked to stretch out and tell stories. They could do that concisely, but some ideas are worth investing more time in. The next Album’s Tale is about the record where they pushed their story telling even further - The Original Soundtrack.
Willie Nelson ‘Dream Chaser’ from Dream Chaser [2026]
There are veterans and then there is Willie Nelson, 92 and still releasing new music. Good new music, at that.
Beth Orton ‘The Ground Above’ [single, 2026]
Hypnotic as the best Beth Orton songs are. This is listed as a single but at almost nine minutes an extended, moving, at times angry song. It’s worth taking the time to get fully into this.
Chimpan A ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’ [single, 2026]
I’ve featured Chimpan A’s innovative cover versions previously, and here’s another. One of those covers that shouldn’t work but absolutely does. Have a look at the YouTube version of LP Select for the beautiful video.
Peter Gabriel ‘Til Your Mind is Shining (Dark-Side Mix)’ from o|i [2026]
The next track from o\i has been described, by Peter Gabriel, as a pop song. It’s certainly lively but it’s not pop in the style of ‘Sledgehammer’. Four new songs in to o\i now and it’s shaping up to be a companion piece for i/o. A continuation rather than a collection of off-cuts, even if some of the tracks are based on the same sessions.
Sting, Zakes Bantwini ‘Desert Rose’ (feat. Cheb Mami) (Zakes Bantwini Extended Remix) [2026]
An outstanding Sting song, given another dimension by the vocals of Cheb Mami. The original has real momentum, and I’m wary of extended remixes because they can dilute rather than add. Not so here. Although there are now multiple remixes and versions of ‘Desert Rose’.
What was your favourite of these tracks? Is there a track you would like to hear in a future LP Select? I read and respond to all comments and I’d love to hear from you.
It had to happen, given that we are both named Ian. First, you reveal your love of XTC. Now, you reveal your love of 10CC, perhaps one of the few bands I like even more than XTC (maybe). Do you live in NYC? If so, we should try to figure out a way to connect "directly" so we can set up a coffee or something. Because this is getting really wild.
Re 10CC, my older brother brought home their first album after his first year in college. We then found the Hotlegs album, so we (my two brothers and I) had both, and listened to them regularly. By the time Sheet Music came out, we were all 10CC "freaks." We saw the original line-up live twice, and the post Godley/Creme line-up once. (I actually worked for the original line-up during the "I'm Not in Love" tour, when I was Asst. Stage Mgr of the Beacon Theater. And I have ANECDOTES! lol).
Although my younger brother "left them" when Godley and Creme left, and my older brother stuck with them through Bloody Tourists, I remained a 10CC fan all the way through their final album (Mirror, Mirror), and I was also the one who bought Consequences when it came out, and went on to buy all the G/C albums as well. (I even own the two Wax UK albums by Gouldman and Gold.)
And as a pianist/singer, I learned quite a number of 10CC's songs - including Somewhere in Hollywood (which was a BITCH to figure out), which is a favorite of both mine and my older brother. (I even learned most of One Night in Paris, though I'm missing a few parts.)
XTC AND 10CC? Highly unlikely that we would both be fans of both. We NEED to talk! :-)
A Tune Tag call-back....and shout-out! Woo-hoo! Thanks, Ian....glad it's paying content dividends for ya, too! Tune Tag.....what CAN'T it do, amiright?😁👍