Blending the Senses (Top 10 Videos)

Member Name: 2Quizzy

Product:	Top 10 Videos
Date:	04/03/04 (457 review reads)
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At first this sounded an easy category. There are so many great songs out there I could list a hundred rather than ten, but the more I thought about it the tougher it seemed. Yes, there are lots of great songs, but great music videos? That's not so easy. To me a really good music video has to fit certain criteria. A fantastic song can sometimes make a dull video seem memorable. On the opposite side we've all watched the incredible video that's so good you never even notice the song is utterly flat until you hear it on the radio one day and think "How did I ever think this rubbish was good?"

To be on a top ten list, in my opinion, a music video has to be an equal balance of the two. A blending of the senses - good sound and good visuals. Plus the two must compliment and enhance each other. Another thing that irritates me is the good music linked to a spectacular special effect video that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the lyrics. Unless there's a subliminal message buried somewhere this is just messy, annoying and a waste of money. The song has to enhance the visuals and the visuals have to link back to the songs message or what's the point?

So, armed with these ideas in my head I set out to pick my favourite ten.

Be warned, by music standards some of my choices are ancient. I tried to pick only those that made a big impact on me and since I haven't always had the chance to watch music videos there are large gaps in my video timetable. For many years South African TV tended to use music videos as fillers between TV shows and they often showed old ones over and over. I'm sure there are some wonderful ones not on my list. If you read my list and feel outraged that a truly great video isn't on it - write your own list and let me know! I could do with a few new good ones to enjoy watching.

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1 - "Return to Innocence" by Enigma - releas
ed in January 1994

My all time favourite. The haunting sound of a man singing a Native American song leads us into glorious countryside with a sweet faced elderly couple who clearly love each other. the beautiful spiralling melody carries us along backwards through their lives and we watch them return back to their children's births, their first days married and working the farmland, their wedding day, their growing love and passion until finally they are children playing in the fields and sleeping under the fruit trees covered in blossoms. It ends with us watching them meet for the first time as little children as a woman's voice gently narrating the final verse:

"That's not the beginning of the end,
That's the return to yourself
- The return to innocence."

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2 - "Hunting High and Low" by A-Ha - released in 1985

Most people remember the sketchy comic-book style animation when you mention the videos of Norwegian group A-ha. This one also had the same animation, but it was more arty and less cartoon comic. In this strange sweet video the subtle pencil sketch animation has a haunted quality that fits perfectly with the soulful lyrics.

In the animation lead singer, Morten is torn from his beloved and transformed into different animals. His love keeps trying to find him to set him free, but every time she reaches him he changes into a new creature and she's left lost alone and searching once again. The graphics where he morphs from a lion in the African savannah to himself and then to a shark as he flees a lion hunter by leaping over a cliff into the sea always gave me goosebumps.

Morten sings wistfully:

I'll always be hunting high and low
Hungry for you
Watching me tearing myself to pieces
Hunting high and low
High
There's no end to the lengths I'll go to
Oh, for you I'
ll be hunting high and low

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3 - "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel - released in 1986

Ah, surely this one needs no explanations? Has anyone NOT seen this video? Peter Gabriel's quirky singing style and this songs equally quirky lyrics blend perfectly with the wildly psychedelic animations in this music video. Who could ever forget the row of dancing dead chickens? Personally I liked the bits where his face became flowers and part of the roller coaster ride the best. Also the ending where the stars start outside the room seen through the window and then become the room and finally become Peter Gabriel himself.

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4 - "Agolo" by Angelique Kidjo - released in 1993

Benin born Kidjo is one of my favourite musicians and this was the first song by her I ever heard. The video
was nominated for a "Best Music Video" Grammy Award. No surprise, it's visually stunning. Literally. The colours and clarity are super-real and whack you out your seat.

In South Africa "Egoli" means "place of gold" I'd hazard a guess and say Agolo is also related to gold and it's the theme through the entire video. Angelique Kidjo sings this upbeat rhythmic song whilst surrounded by dancers and singers in fantastic gold coloured African-style costumes and mask of gold. Set in an African village hut they dance and spin around her as she is transformed into a golden African goddess. Brilliant music. wonderful powerful singing and dazzling visuals.

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5 "Cry" by Godley & Creme - released in 1985

Another classic, but worthy of every award it's won over the decades. So simple and yet so impressive, just like the lyrics. A real honest case of "less is more". Apparently they originally wanted to film ice skaters Torvill and Dean for the video. Horro
rs! I liked Torvill and Dean, but they would have ruined this song. The lyrics are raw and pared to the bone. Hardly the stuff for figure skaters!

Instead the starkly simple black and white collage of ordinary people's faces melting into each other as they mouth the lyrics is perfect. Ordinary people and ordinary emotions transformed into something extraordinary.

You don't know how to ease my pain
You don't know
You don't know how to ease my pain

You don't know how to play the game
You cheat
You lie
You make me wanna cry
You make me wanna cry
Cry...

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6 - "Kiss the Girl" by Sebastian the crab

"The Little Mermaid" was the last Disney film done using traditional hand-drawn and hand-painted methods of animation. It is considered to be a classic and it's one of my favourite Disney movies. It's a great song, even if it is sung by a small red crab, and the Disney animations to the video are both charming and magical. A song that sets your toes tapping and a video that's amusing and romantic. Who could ask for more?


The little mermaid in the boat with her Prince on a lovely summer evening whilst the entire animal kingdom tries desperately so set a romantic mood so irresistible that the Prince will finally lose his inhibitions and - "kiss the girl"!

reflections in the water set them in a sea of stars as Sebastian croons:

There you see her
Sitting there across the way
She don?t got a lot to say
But there?s something about her
And you don?t know why
But you?re dying to try
You wanna kiss the girl

But it's the rousing chorus I love. Where flamingos, frogs and fish leap and dance as they sing:

Sha-la-la-la-la-la
Don?t be scared
You got the mood prepared
Go on and kiss the girl
kiss the girl

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7 - "Orinoco Flow" by Enya - released in 1988

I remember seeing this on TV for the first time and being literally swept away by the music and the glorious visuals. The wonderful tropical colours and swirling animation as water coloured birds and flowers mixed and melted into waves and sailing ships. Enya's face in profile singing so that it seems as if her words are literally turning into humming birds, exotic beaches and lush vegetation. And the names of the places she sings about are just as magical and exotic.

From the North to the South, Ebudae onto Khartoum,
From the deep sea of Clouds to the Island of the Moon,
Carry me on the waves to the lands I've never been,
Carry me on the waves to the lands I've never seen.
We can sail, we can sail... let the Orinoco flow,
We can sail, we can sail...
Sail away, sail away, sail away!

Every time I see this video I feel this incredible longing to pack a bag and go travelling!

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8 - "Wouldn't it be good" by Nik Kershaw - released 1984

How strange life is. I haven't heard this song in years and today they were playing it on the radio. Nik Kershaw always reminded me of cyber-elf. He has this singing style that almost makes his voice sound electronic. In this video he was depicted as being some sort of alien empath trapped on earth and tormented by the darker sides of human life. In a very clever special effect the "real" lives of the people he passed were shown on his clothes so as he walks up a flat stairwell and passes closed doors you see women crying, drunken arguments and everyday miseries played out on his actual body. All the more ironic when you listen to the lyrics:

wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes
even if it was for just one day
and wouldn't it be good if we could wish ourselves away
wouldn't
it be good to be on your side
the grass is always greener over there
wouldn't it be good if we could live without a care


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~9 - "Still haven't found what I'm looking for" by U2 - released in 1990

U2 at their best in my opinion. U2 wander around Vegas at night searching for that unknown. What place on earth could better depict humanity losing the meaning of life more than Vegas? Once again the simple and subtle have the best impact. Words that echo in your soul and visuals that remind you how plastic, empty and utterly pointless a lot of human pleasures really are.

have climbed highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you

I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for


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10 - "Time after Time" by Cyndi Lauper - released in 1984

A lovely bittersweet ballad. I thought this was fantastic the first time I saw it. The meaning of the story is in the lyrics and the meaning of the lyrics is in the story. Each holds the puzzle pieces missing in the other. The video is a mini story. In cameo scenes we see Cyndi's boyfriend constantly upset and putting her down for the way she dresses, how she wears her hair, everything she is. She slowly grows to realise that she has two choices: conform and be the girl her conservative boyfriend wants her to be and lose her soul and identity in the process - or be true to herself and lose him. Either way is painful and she sings the lyrics crying as we watch the story unfold.

Sometimes you picture me -
I'm walking to far ahead
you're calling to me, I can't hear
>what you've said -
Then you say - go slow -
I fall behind -
the second hand unwinds

If you're lost you can look - and you will find me
time after time
If you fall I will catch you - I'll be waiting
time after time

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