73/100 Video - "A Criminal Mind" - Gowan (1985)

The debut single Canada's Gowan certainly grabbed my attention when I first watched it on Video Hits. 

Set in the fictional School of Reform for Budding Arch Criminals, the video is part animated comic strip and part dark musical. 

While the song was a slow burner for me, the video was bold and mind-blowing. The imagery paces well with the piano bits and other instrumentation. 

For the next few years, the vivid imagination of Gowan never failed to take us on a cool trip, with amazing singles such as "Strange Animal;", "Cosmetics" and Moonlight Desires".

#29. "Moonlight Desires" - Gowan (1987)

"A Criminal Mind" showed off Gowan's uniqueness. "Strange Animal" proof he could rock. "Cosmetics" was groovy. 

But "Moonlight Desires" is...spiritual.

Mayans. Mullets. Battlestar Galactica.

Full disclosure: I lifted that last bit from the You Tube comments but it's a fitting summary. 

"Moonlight Desires" may as well been created on another planet, a verse from another universe: it touches the soul and makes the goosebumps. 

The arrangement impeccable, the lyrics magical, the vocals haunting, the setting majestic. It's everything I love about the 80s, a reminder how fortunate to have grown up during this era.

The collaboration with Jon Anderson (YES) is a perfect harmony, a sort of Obi-Wan Kenobi character dropping in from another dimension to connect with Luke (Gowan).