anthony head

Is it best left as a mystery, or is it better to know?

I originally recorded this as a present for Sarah - she loves the song and wanted a simple, straight up version of it, the way it appears in  My Best Friend's Wedding. But every available arrangement of the song seems to be "swung" - apparently, nobody out there in recording land wanted to sing it plain and simple. So I did - with Anders Olinder laying down a beautiful piano part. Some time later, when I was putting the album together, it seemed like a no brainer to include it.

I was introduced to Stephen Allen Davis, who wrote this song, by a friend in LA. He gave me The Light Pink Album, and I instantly loved this man's music. Highway Highway resonated so strongly with me, away from my family, driving another road. When I wanted to torture myself - well, release some emotion - I would play this song in my car, and weep. It still has a profound effect on me, even now. It is a beautiful song, by a man whose music should be better known. It was originally recorded, by him, as a…Read more

I was originally going to record this as a charity single when I left Merlin - it seemed very pertinent. It was actually originally part of a musical I co-wrote some years ago, called D'Ark Secrets. Jamie Thompson and I recorded the tracks with Peter Veitch and Geoffrey Richardson at Peter's studio. I remember playing them the basic idea, and Pete throwing in the "Magic comes and goes, it grows and grows..." section - it made the song. Sadly, both Jamie and Pete are no longer with us - both died tragically…Read more

This was on my list of songs to do, when I was originally thinking of putting together an album of forties and fifties classics - my mum had given me a list of wonderful suggestions, when she heard my version of The Way You Look Tonight. Then I noticed a number of other albums being released, with similar themes, and I decided not to do that, but to build an eclectic mix of songs that suited each other - some original, some covers. A friend who co-wrote one of the other songs on the album, Geoffrey…Read more