Logic won't play audio track unless I activate a different channel & Software instrument levels intermittently disappear

I've been having bizarre issues.

1) I have two simple Apple Software Instrument Loops on two tracks. While playing I click on one of the pair music momentarily gets garbled and audio output level meters go to zero even though it is audible. Quitting and restarting Logic temporarily fixes but it will reoccur if I click one of the Apple Loop tracks. Just basic plugin - compressor and EQ. Rebooting just a temp fix too.

2) I have a recorded audio track. Shows the waveform. No audio when I click on the track. If I click on another track, the audio on the first track can be heard, but not if I click on the track itself. If I turn OFF software monitoring, I then can hear the audio playing form the channel selected. I wonder if this is an unintended quirk where software monitoring misbehaves is there is no input selected.

To make things simple I have audio input set to "none" and output through headphones connected to my M1 Max MBP. Imperceptible CPU usage showing on the CPU meter.