A new hour of progressive music from ‘LP’ including The Beatles, Small Faces, and Joni Mitchell
LP>Playlist #062 Back to the sixties, forward to now
Intro
On BBC Radio 3 (a UK radio station focused on classical music, with small doses of world music and progressive rock added in the past few years), they have a programme called Record Review, and within that a feature called ‘Building a Library’. This programme featured strongly in my younger days because my father was an avid listener. He would make a note of the recommendations for, say, the best version of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and buy the record or CD.
I’ve long thought progressive rock music (which embraces world, fusion, folk, jazz and more) could benefit from something similar. Not to make recommendations, as such, but to dig into the remastered, remixed, or archive tracks from the super deluxe editions that continue to proliferate. In addition, keeping an ear on new releases, often from artists and bands who fly below the radar.
That’s what this playlist and listening guide, indeed, the whole of this publication called ‘LP’, is becoming. And it could be that LP>Playlist will have a podcast spin-off beginning early in 2026.
For now, here we go with the latest batch of twelve tracks.
Listening Guide #062
Small Faces, ‘Itchycoo Park’ (The Autumn Stone) 1967
Peak sixties psychedelic pop from a band was the starting point for seventies greats such as Humble Pie (Steve Marriott), the Faces (Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan), as well as Kenney Jones, who eventually joined The Who (for a while). The Autumn Stone, originally a rapidly compiled release given little support from the record company as the band fell apart, was reissued as a 3-CD set curated by Jones earlier in the year. It’s been acclaimed by some as one of the reissues of the year.
Jethro Tull, ‘Aqualung’ (Aqualung Live) [Remaster 2025]
Performed before an invited audience of about 40 in Washington, DC, in 2005. This was arranged in aid of “various charities for the homeless”, according to the cover. A rare, intimate performance now remastered and capturing the band in terrific form, even if the small audience sounds very odd in terms of our usual expectations for live albums.
The Beatles, ‘I Am the Walrus’ (Take 19) (Anthology 4) 1967/2025
Eventually, Apple saw sense and released the fourth in the Anthology series as a stand-alone set. Asking listeners to buy the whole series all over again just to get a bit extra was a doomed marketing plan. Yet the extra music is worth hearing. Usually, pseudo-Karaoke versions of tracks are best left for the depths of a super deluxe edition - the tracks you like to have as a completist but only play once. Hearing the strings and woodwind in isolation is fascinating here, though, because they are melodic, rhythmic and textured. A faint echo of the vocal remains, deep in the background, if you do want to sing along.
Nick D’Virgilo, ‘The Light Dies Down on Broadway’, (Genesis Rewired: A Tribute to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway) 2025
My dive into the world of cover versions of The Lamb continues (I’m gradually writing a piece for The Waiting Room). D’Virgilio’s album is now streaming. The strings he’s added to ‘Light Dies Down’ bring out the full beauty of the song.
Raphael Weinroth-Browne, ‘Ophidian’ (Lifeblood) 2024
Classified as ‘metal’ on Apple Music. Well, this is a heavy, dramatic and breathtakingly beautiful cello album. It’s possible to trace a lineage back to the Beatles’ (and others’) work with strings in the 60s. Strings and other ‘classical’ instruments gave some form of respectability to upstart rock musicians then. The walls between classical and rock gradually crumbled, and now albums such as Lifeblood begin to carve a new path, even if not a metal one (to my ears).
The Zombies, ‘Care of Cell 44’ (Odessey and Oracle) [Remaster 2025] 1967/2025
Another sixties band who created ripples forward in time, with the likes of Colin Blunstone, Russ Ballard and Rod Argent in their ranks. This song is from an album that didn’t make many waves at the time of release, but for which appreciation has grown ever since. Simply beautiful, bouncy, happy songwriting about a great day of freedom. The four surviving members of the band who recorded Odessey and Oracle toured it for the 50th anniversary in 2017, and now we have a sparkling remaster, wisely preserving the mono recording.
Riffstone, ‘Spirit of Danu’ (Sanctuary Sky)
This is a song about the mother goddess in Celtic mythology from Colin Powell and Dave Allen. The previous Riffstone album (their debut) was a concept about Richard III. While concepts will always have a key role to play in prog, sometimes it’s good to just let the songwriting go in whatever direction it wants to take, as in this spirited track.
Talk Talk, ‘I Believe in You’ (EP) 1988
Two tracks (the other is ‘Eden’) from the Spirit of Eden album, to coincide with a new vinyl version of the album cut at half-speed. Few bands make such a rapid change of direction from their initial leanings towards pop – classy, but pop – to what some call post-rock and some critics suggest borders on jazz. Radiohead and the Blue Nile are other reference points. As with those bands, this rewards repeated listening.
Joni Mitchell, ‘In France They Kiss on Main Street’ (Joni’s Jazz) 1975
Joni’s archive collections move into new ground with a four-hour collection of her jazzier recordings. She would explore deeper jazz territory than this, for example on her Mingus album (one of the great ‘what if’ recordings, because Charles Mingus died before the album had reached its final form). This song has a refreshing light touch, fuzzy guitar, engaging lyrics, and is originally from the brilliant Hissing of Summer Lawns album.
If, ‘I’m Reaching Out on All Sides’ (If) [2012 Remastered] 1970
This was recommended to me by subscriber Dusty Wright. If played a form of progressive rock fusion and are one of those bands I’ve heard of and know virtually nothing about. Dusty has made a strong recommendation – this is from their first album and offers more than enough to encourage further exploration. If you want to recommend a track that would be a good fit here, please leave a comment below.Dr. John, ‘Rain’ (Live at the Village Gate) 1988
A previously unissued performance from 1988 brings more progressive blues/jazz energy to this playlist from the Nitetripper.
Steve Morse Band, ‘Taken By an Angel’ (feat. Kevin Morse) (Triangulation) 2025
The first album in 15 years from the Steve Morse Band, although Morse is active in multiple projects elsewhere. This is not typical of the entire album, with a lighter feel than is to be found in many of the other tracks, and it makes for a tasty coda to this playlist.
Now: Over to you. Which was your favourite of these tracks? What’s currently playing on your audio system?
Outro
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Coming next on LP
LP>Play #063 is the Christmas special and will be with you on 15 December 2025. Before then, I’ll post the next review in ‘LP’ on 8 December.
What a wonderfully balanced set this week. I really appreciate how you continue to bridge eras—not just by choosing sixties or seventies touchstones, but by placing them beside artists who are still evolving that vocabulary today. The Jethro Tull performance is a fascinating inclusion; I’d forgotten how intimate that 2005 recording feels, and hearing it in this context highlights its quiet power.
Raphael Weinroth-Browne was a standout for me. That blend of classical lineage and cinematic heaviness scratches an itch that very few artists reach with this level of control. And pairing Talk Talk’s “I Believe in You” alongside newer material reminds me how many of these sonic paths began with a single bold shift in direction.