Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!

[pg1067]

I also thought this song was a certainty to be on all 19 lists, once again I got that wrong...

Well...no one guessed all three, and some folks are going to be awfully surprised after tomorrow's reveal.

[HOF]

Life In Still Water, the Oklahoma State University theme song. It’s a good one though.

[Mister Gold]

Point of View - I had this at #12. Great tune, great single, and the introduction to FW to many people (not me). I always enjoy the energy of this song, and while it is not one of Fates' most complicated songs, it's a perfect cut to represent that early 90s era of Fates.

Ivory Gate of Dreams - This is my #3 song from them. To be honest, I'm not sure how any hardcore fan of FW doesn't have this in their top-5.

As for songs from newer records making top-5...The Light and Shade of Things will be. Book it.

My guess for the top-5:

The Light and Shade of Things - 5
Monument - 4
Life in Still Water - 3
The Eleventh Hour - 2
Still Remains - 1

I'd wager if anything, Still Remains and The Light and Shade of Things will be duking it out for the #4 and #3 spots, while The Eleventh Hour and Monument take the Top 2 spots.

[jammindude]

Point of View - I had this at #12. Great tune, great single, and the introduction to FW to many people (not me). I always enjoy the energy of this song, and while it is not one of Fates' most complicated songs, it's a perfect cut to represent that early 90s era of Fates.

Ivory Gate of Dreams - This is my #3 song from them. To be honest, I'm not sure how any hardcore fan of FW doesn't have this in their top-5.

As for songs from newer records making top-5...The Light and Shade of Things will be. Book it.

My guess for the top-5:

The Light and Shade of Things - 5
Monument - 4
Life in Still Water - 3
The Eleventh Hour - 2
Still Remains - 1

I'd wager if anything, Still Remains and The Light and Shade of Things will be duking it out for the #4 and #3 spots, while The Eleventh Hour and Monument take the Top 2 spots.

Monument is excellent… but NO WAY is that a top 2 song.

[Mister Gold]

Point of View - I had this at #12. Great tune, great single, and the introduction to FW to many people (not me). I always enjoy the energy of this song, and while it is not one of Fates' most complicated songs, it's a perfect cut to represent that early 90s era of Fates.

Ivory Gate of Dreams - This is my #3 song from them. To be honest, I'm not sure how any hardcore fan of FW doesn't have this in their top-5.

As for songs from newer records making top-5...The Light and Shade of Things will be. Book it.

My guess for the top-5:

The Light and Shade of Things - 5
Monument - 4
Life in Still Water - 3
The Eleventh Hour - 2
Still Remains - 1

I'd wager if anything, Still Remains and The Light and Shade of Things will be duking it out for the #4 and #3 spots, while The Eleventh Hour and Monument take the Top 2 spots.

Monument is excellent… but NO WAY is that a top 2 song.

I'd be inclined to personally agree! It's just a personal guess of mine of where this poll is going.

If I'm being honest though, my Top 2 is definitely a bit out of the ordinary for most fans.

[WardySI]

Life In Still Water #1
Yep, even before using the ranker knew this was my first just perfect in every way IMO \m/

Reading through the assumptions above, I didn't foresee Still Life making it this high tbh so very interested see how this all turns out!?

[romdrums]

Life In Still Water, the Oklahoma State University theme song. It’s a good one though.

I see what you did there. 

[Samsara]

P needs to get his ass in the office and post today's song. 

[pg1067]

P needs to get his ass in the office and post today's song. 

It's raining...it's raining...on the streets of southern California...which means everyone drives like an idiot and delays my commute exponentially!

[pg1067]

4 Still Remains (Disconnected – 3)



Appeared on 16 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 9
Highest Ranking: 1 (romdrums, Lethean, jammindude, Samsara, Puppies_on_Acid, wolfking)

This one never had a chance of being on every list because it’s not on mine.  I will confess, though that, when it started showing up as the #1 song on so many lists, I had to do a double take.  I think Still Remains is a pretty good 8-10 minute song.  Unfortunately, it’s a 16 minute song.

[Samsara]

I am very surprised this track didn't finish in the top-3. To me, it epitomizes Fates Warning as a band. proggy, heavy, atmospheric.

Anyway, #4 is no slouch, but man.

And PG - I hear ya. It was a slog up here too. I almost worked at home today, anticipating the idiots on the road. But I leave so early, it was actually a decent drive, just 10 mph less than usual.

[jammindude]

Absolutely FW’s crowning achievement. Goosebumps achievement unlocked. Just a brilliantly executed slab of pure emotion.

The day after my dad died, I went for a drive, sang along at the top of my lungs, and bawled my eyes out.

[romdrums]

Absolutely FW’s crowning achievement. Goosebumps achievement unlocked. Just a brilliantly executed slab of pure emotion.

Agreed. Brilliantly constructed, and hits right in the feels.  This is my favorite Ray performance, and for me, Joey Vera and Kevin Moore are the other MVPs on this song.  This is Fates Warning's artistic high point for me, and apparently quite a few others!  Kinda surprised this didn't make top 3, but hey, it is what it is.

[pg1067]

Absolutely FW’s crowning achievement. Goosebumps achievement unlocked. Just a brilliantly executed slab of pure emotion.

Agreed. Brilliantly constructed, and hits right in the feels.  This is my favorite Ray performance, and for me, Joey Vera and Kevin Moore are the other MVPs on this song.  This is Fates Warning's artistic high point for me, and apparently quite a few others!  Kinda surprised this didn't make top 3, but hey, it is what it is.

Well...not appearing on three lists didn't help, despite having twice as many first-place votes as any other song.

The point totals for the top 10 songs are interesting:

1. 798 points
2. 769 points
3. 751 points
4. 641 points (Still Remains)
5. 630 points (Life in Still Water)
6. 590 points (The Ivory Gate of Dreams)
7. 581 points (Point of View)
8. 526 points (Leave the Past Behind)
9. 507 points (Nothing Left to Say)
10. 489 points (The Ghosts of Home)

The 110 point gap between song #3 and Still remains is HUGE.  It's bigger than the gap between any group of TEN songs (other than the top 10).  The next biggest gap is 67 points, between From the Rooftops at #12 (484 points) and One at #13 (417 points).

[Samsara]

Agree with both of you. Ray's finest all around singing performance, IMO.

Cool live story - I got to see this performed with Frank Aresti (instead of Mike Abdow) at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco on the Darkness in a Different Light tour. Met him for the first time that night. Really great guy (as is Mike Abdow). That performance solidified my already lofty opinion of the song and my #1 ranking in their catalog. I'll never forget it.

[nick_z]

 Away for a few days this week, so I’ll comment more when I’m back…

Given my own rankings, I have no issues with this top 10 

So, unless I missed something, the top 3 songs will also be the only ones that appeared on all lists, uh?
Which (likely) means I only guessed one right…

[pg1067]

So, unless I missed something, the top 3 songs will also be the only ones that appeared on all lists, uh?

Yup.

[Dublagent66]

Still Remains was one of my favs from that album, but compared to the rest of my list, it came in at #21.

[The Realm]

4 Still Remains (Disconnected – 3)

Appeared on 16 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 9
Highest Ranking: 1 (romdrums, Lethean, jammindude, Samsara, Puppies_on_Acid, wolfking)

Still Remains - unranked. This song was a total miss for me, I am not sure what happened as I believe I had it ranked in the teens somewhere and then it somehow dropped off my list. I was thinking I was going to be the only person to not rank this so I guess I can breathe a sigh of relief....I do agree with pg though that it is a little long for me but there are some amazing moments.

Also, looks like I only guessed one of the three songs that appeared on everyone's list.

[Lethean]

romdrums, jammindude, Samsara, Puppies_on_Acid, and wolfking - glad to be joining you in choosing Still Remains as their best song.

The lyrics might be a little too much for me to listen to this song today, or maybe I'll save it for tonight.

Everything about this song is perfect.

[Glasser]

Absolutely FW’s crowning achievement. Goosebumps achievement unlocked. Just a brilliantly executed slab of pure emotion.

The day after my dad died, I went for a drive, sang along at the top of my lungs, and bawled my eyes out.

I have major goosebumps. I feel EXACTLY the same! I'm literally crying as I type this. Losing my father shattered me and this song has the same meaning. 

[TAC]

4 Still Remains (Disconnected – 3)

Appeared on 16 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 9
Highest Ranking: 1 (romdrums, Lethean, jammindude, Samsara, Puppies_on_Acid, wolfking)

I had Still Remains at #15. I so agree with Paul in that this needed to be 8 minutes and not 16. I have an edited version on my iPod. Something For Nothing, which I like more and had at #5 suffers the same, but it's not nearly as bad.

Can't say I've ever even considered the lyrics.


And my #1 um..still remains!

50  Prelude To Ruin                                          NR
49  Damnation                                                            Handful Of Doubt
48  APSOG IX (Stayed Up Late One Night)                     Chasing Time
47  Through Different Eyes                                           APSOG III
46  APSOG VIII (Instrumental)                                     White Flag
45  Leave The Past Behind                                            APSOG IV
44  Traveller In Time                                                    Firefly
43                                                                              The Destination Onward
42  Pale Fire                                                                Left Here
41                                                                              The Road Goes On Forever
40  Outside Looking In                                                 Island In The Stream
39  The Longest Shadow Of The Day                             APSOG V (Murder In Munich)
38  Face The Fear                                                        Part Of The Machine
37                                                                              Wish
36  Another Perfect Day                                               APSOG VII
35  The Apparition                                                       Seven Stars
34                                                                              Eye To Eye
33  Buried Alive                                                           At Fates Hands
32  Silent Cries                                                            APSOG XII
31  Don't Follow Me                                                     From The Rooftops
30  Giant's Lore
29
28
27  Point Of View
26
25  Valley Of The Dolls
24  And Yet It Moves
23
22  APSOG XI (Do You Think That I)
21  One
20  Pirates Of The Underground
19  The Ghosts Of Home
18
17  Exodus
16  Epitaph
15  Still Remains
14
13  The Strand
12  Life In Still Water
11  APSOG VI (Turn Back All The Years)
10  Shelter Me
9  Guardian
8  Kyrie Eleison
7
6  Down To The Wire
5  Something For Nothing
4  The Ivory Gate Of Dreams
3  We Only Say Goodbye
2  Nothing Left To Say
1

[Dublagent66]

Absolutely FW’s crowning achievement. Goosebumps achievement unlocked. Just a brilliantly executed slab of pure emotion.

The day after my dad died, I went for a drive, sang along at the top of my lungs, and bawled my eyes out.

I have major goosebumps. I feel EXACTLY the same! I'm literally crying as I type this. Losing my father shattered me and this song has the same meaning. 

You guys were lucky to have such awesome dads.

[wolfking]

Number 4 is too low.

[jammindude]

Number 4 is too low.

Totally agreed. The fact that Monument (while still being a great song) is going to beat this by such a large margin is almost disturbing.

[Lethean]

Number 4 is too low.

+1

[Zoom E]

I have Still Remains at #46. I’ll have to give it another listen. but there is really nothing on Disconnected that impresses me.

[Mister Gold]

Number 4 is too low.

Totally agreed. The fact that Monument (while still being a great song) is going to beat this by such a large margin is almost disturbing.

Just want to say that I called it.

At this rate, I'm assuming #1 will be The Eleventh Hour, while Monument and The Light & Shade of Things duke it out between the #2 and 3 spots.

[WardySI]

Damn, well done all but I did not see this making it so high. Sure its second half is great but count me in finding this one unnecessarily long and it never honestly connected (pun intended) with me like some here.

I'm going spin this a few times now and really dig into those lyrics some more.

\m/

[wolfking]

The length of the song is perfect IMO.  To me, it flies by.

[Awaken]

The length of the song is perfect IMO.  To me, it flies by.

Agreed re: the length, it doesn't feel like 16 mins to me at all. 

Still Remains was my #4 and never beat out any one of my top 3 in the other rankings I completed.  It's one of their best, though - the top 5 is just really splitting hairs for me with FW.  They have so much to love.

[WardySI]

Yeah I know it's weird as I have no issue with long songs and a few included in my own 50. But other than being a great part of the Disconnected finale, this one just felt too long. 

[pg1067]

3 Monument (Inside Out – 8)



Appeared on 19 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 11
Highest Ranking: 1 (devieira73, nick_z)

So…we’ve finally made it to the first of three songs that appeared on everyone’s list.  Not only was it on everyone’s list, with more than half of the rankers having it in their top 10, it was in the top half on all but two lists.  This song deserves every bit of the praise it got.  It’s a prog masterpiece in a concise, six-and-a-half-minute package.  Epic 7/8 bass riff as the basis of the song?  Check.  Guitar solo over an alternating 5/4, 6/4 bed?  Check.  Second guitar solo done on a nylon string acoustic over a 4/4/, 6/4 bed?  Check.  The only negative about this song is the horribly edited version used for the official video.  My #4 song.

[jammindude]

My take on the difference between the studio version and the live version:

https://youtu.be/TJdQfjaRAG0


Basically, the studio version is way too thin and lacks the intended punch. No way this song belongs in the top 5…or even top 10.

I had it at 23.

[HOF]

I didn’t do a list, but I imagine this would have been in my top 10. It’s just a really cool song with some amazing guitar work and great playing by the whole band really.