Author Topic: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!  (Read 32342 times)

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Offline Mister Gold

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #2 is Elementary
« Reply #840 on: November 10, 2022, 06:17:34 PM »
2 The Light and Shade of Things (Theories of Flight – 5)



Appeared on 19 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 13
Highest Ranking: 1 (Mister Gold)


If Jim Matheos were a Dungeons & Dragons character, there is NO question that he would be a true neutral, and the lyrics to this song (and others on TOF) make it clear.  This song is awesome.  Nice clean electric build up with a great vocal from Ray.  They kick it up to another gear around the 3:00 mark and the song doesn’t let up.  Along with From the Rooftops, this is another one of the best choruses in Fates’s catalog.  I had this song at #8 – two spots behind Rooftops for my #1 song from Theories.  And I’m a little surprised that only one person had it in the #1 spot.

As the one guy who ranks this song as Fates Warning's finest work, I'm actually pleasantly shocked that The Light & Shade of Things even made it this far! I knew that it was a modern favorite for fans of the band and I'd expected it would at least make the Top 5 or 10, but I truly had no expectations of it outranking long time favorites in the band's discography like Still Remains or Monument.

When I started from the top of my list at #1 and went down all the way to #50, both of the Top 2 songs in my list were immediately obvious to me. #2 was Guardian and #1 is TL&SOT. Which is something I always look back on a bit amusingly, since I remember being very skeptical of this song in the lead-up to Theories of Flight coming out. Two months or so before the album hit, the band released an extended preview of the whole album and included segments from each song- and I didn't vibe with the segment of Light & Shade that was included at all.

And then the reviews started coming out and hailing that particular track as "the best song the band's written since Parallels." And I refused to believe it, until I finally heard it for myself the first time one summer morning at around 4:00 am. For my money, the back half of this song's chorus ("You're nowhere now...") is the single finest vocal melody Ray Alder has ever thought up for the band. Which is crazy for me to think about, since he's largely sticking to his midrange on the song, but the way the notes all flow back and forth feel like the perfect marriage of his time with the band and even the old John Arch era.
Beyond the limits of the mortal frame
To the farthest boundary of eternity
Where I, the Cosmic Sea
Watch the little ego floating in me.

Offline nick_z

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #2 is Elementary
« Reply #841 on: November 10, 2022, 06:30:18 PM »
Some catching up to do, just before the #1 reveal!

Point of View - My rank: #9

The Ivory Gate of Dreams - My rank: #19

Life in Still Water -My rank: #5

Still Remains - My rank: #3

Monument - My rank: #1

The Light and Shade of Things - My rank: #9

I'm certainly surprised The Light and Shade of Things beat Monument to #2...I mean, I clearly love The Light (it's in my top 10!), but I didn't think it was SO universally loved in the FW catalog for it to end so high. It's pretty impressive. As is the fact that one album so late in their career has not one but two songs in the aggregate top 10. I can't think of many examples of bands with long histories where that would happen. Granted, this really is more of a "cult" band, but still. It sure is a testament to the amazing quality of ToF, and given how much I love that album, I'm happy to see that...

As for Still Remains at #4: very close to my own ranking...it's obviously one of my favorite FW songs, and I enjoy every one of its 16+ minutes  :) The reason why two songs had the edge over it in my book is just because I just happen to prefer FW's proggy deliciousness served in smaller, bite-size (more or less) portions.  My #1, Monument, embodies that idea perfectly. Pg greatly summarized the song. It's catchy, it's technical in the most creative way and everyone is at the top of their game. Inside Out is a fantastic album, and Monument simply is its pinnacle.


Offline pg1067

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #2 is Elementary
« Reply #842 on: November 10, 2022, 08:55:53 PM »
Someone or someones need to answer for SOS not making the top 50....

Hasn't made it...yet....
"There's a bass solo in a song called Metropolis where I do a bass solo."  John Myung

Offline WardySI

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #2 is Elementary
« Reply #843 on: November 11, 2022, 02:27:07 AM »
Someone or someones need to answer for SOS not making the top 50....

Hasn't made it...yet....

Cool as these results usually get posted at a time I see them of a morning and after replies by time I get to it I will jump in early and say I had SOS at #28

A fine song and def in the top half of Theories, pleased to see it take the top spot well done everyone \m/

Offline pg1067

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #844 on: November 11, 2022, 09:13:57 AM »
Well...apparently I faked out one person.  Sorry.   ;D


1 The Eleventh Hour (Parallels – 8)



Appeared on 19 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 14
Highest Ranking: 1 (TAC, Awaken)


Well...here we are.  We all knew it was coming.  The Eleventh Hour is just an amazing song, from its opening swells, to that first crash, to that iconic riff, to the amazing chorus to Ray's last "I need to explain" to the ending electric guitar swell.  THIS is the song that should have been what Pull Me Under was.  Almost exactly the same length and even more radio friendly.  And there's not even a guitar solo!  If setlist.fm is accurate (and it might not be with a band like FW), this is their most played song live and for good reasons.  Aside from being a fan favorite, it's got great sing-along parts that aren't annoying (looking at you, Iron Maiden).  It was my #2 song.  In addition to the numbers above, this song finished in the top 20 on 18 of 19 lists, with the lowest ranking being 37.

Congrats to Awaken for nailing the top 4 songs in order!  Thanks to all of you for participating.  This has been a lot of fun, and hopefully it will serve as a basis for more people to listen or listen more to what I think is the most criminally underappreciated band out there.  I'll be posting some additional statistics and information throughout the day today (since I expect things to be really slow on Vets' Day).
"There's a bass solo in a song called Metropolis where I do a bass solo."  John Myung

Offline pg1067

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #845 on: November 11, 2022, 09:52:08 AM »
FINAL ALBUM RANKINGS

1. Parallels (8 songs, 251 points):  Don't Follow Me (49T), The Road Goes on Forever (36), We Only Say Goodbye (33), Eye to Eye (18), Leave the Past Behind (8), Point of View (7), Life in Still Water (5), The Eleventh Hour (1)

2. A Pleasant Shade of Gray (9 songs, 198 points):  VIII (47T), III (43), IV (40), X/XI (28), V (27), IX (25), VII (21T), XII (16), VI (14T)

3T. Inside Out (8 songs, 171 points):  Face the Fear (49T), Down to the Wire (45T), The Strand (34), Island in the Stream (30), Shelter Me/Circles (29), Outside Looking In (26), Pale Fire (21T), Monument (3)

3T. Theories of Flight (5 songs, 171 points):  White Flag (42), Seven Stars (19), From the Rooftops (11), The Ghosts of Home (10), The Light and Shade of Things (2)

5. Perfect Symmetry (5 songs, 148 points):  Chasing Time (44), Part of the Machine (24), At Fates Hands/Fingers (17), Through Different Eyes (13), Nothing Left to Say (9)

6. Disconnected (3 songs, 102 points):  Something from Nothing (35), One (12), Still Remains (4)

7. FWX (4 songs, 76 points):  Handful of Doubt (47T), Left Here (37), Another Perfect Day (31), Wish (23)

8. No Exit (2 songs, 55 points):  Silent Cries (41), The Ivory Gate of Dreams (6)

9. Darkness in a Different Light (2 songs, 43 points):  Firefly (39), And Yet It Moves (20)

10. Awaken the Guardian (2 songs, 39 points):  Exodus (49T), Guardian (14T)

11T. The Spectre Within (1 song, 19 points):  The Apparition (32)

11T. Long Day Good Night (2 songs, 19 points):  The Longest Shadow of the Day (45T), The Destination Onward (38)

13. Night on Brocken (0 songs)


If you factor in all 114 songs (114 points for the #1 song, and so on, and with 0 points for the songs that got 0 votes), things switch up a bit:

1. APSOG
2. Parallels
3. Inside Out
4. Theories
5. Symmetry
6. FWX
7. LGDN
8. DIADL
9. Disconnected
10. Guardian
11. No Exit
12. Spectre
13. Brocken


However, the above results in a boost to albums with more songs and a hit to those with fewer.  Therefore, when you take the average points per song, the album rankings come out like this:

1. Parallels
2. APSOG
3. Theories
4. Symmetry
5. Inside Out
6. Disonnected
7. No Exit
8. FWX
9. Guardian
10. DIADL
11. Spectre
12. LDGN
13. Brocken
"There's a bass solo in a song called Metropolis where I do a bass solo."  John Myung

Offline pg1067

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #846 on: November 11, 2022, 10:10:09 AM »
COMPLETE SONG RANKINGS
(Songs not previously revealed are bolded)

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

11.   From the Rooftops (484)
12.   One (417)
13.   Through Different Eyes (414)
14T.   APSOG VI (407)
14T.   Guardian (407)
16.   APSOG XII (401)
17.   At Fates Hands/Fingers (400)
18.   Eye to Eye (395)
19.   Seven Stars (394)
20.   And Yet It Moves (389)

21T.   APSOG VII (375)
21T.   Pale Fire (375)
23.   Wish (360)
24.   Part of the Machine (354)
25.   APSOG IX (343)
26.   Outside Looking In (337)
27.   APSOG V (335)
28.   APSOG X/XI (334)
29.   Shelter Me/Circles (330)
30.   Island in the Stream (315)

31.   Another Perfect Day (313)
32.   The Apparition (309)
33.   We Only Say Goodbye (307)
34.   The Strand (297)
35.   Something from Nothing (283)
36.   The Road Goes on Forever (279)
37.   Left Here (272)
38.   The Destination Onward (271)
39.   Firefly (258)
40.   APSOG IV (252)

41.   Silent Cries (249)
42.   White Flag (243)
43.   APSOG III (236)
44.   Chasing Time (232)
45T.   The Longest Shadow of the Day (226)
45T.   Down to the Wire (226)
47T.   Handful of Doubt (223)
47T.   APSOG VIII (223)
49T.   Face the Fear (220)
49T.   Don’t Follow Me (220)
49T.   Exodus (220)

xxxxx

52.   One Thousand Fires (216)
53.   APSOG II (215)
54.   Static Acts (202)
55.   Heal Me (193)
56.   Epitaph (188)
57.   Traveler in Time (186)
58.   SOS (183)
59.   Anarchy Divine (181)
60.   Into the Black (176)

61.   Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen (175)
62.   Prelude to Ruin
63.   Giant’s Lore (Heart of Winter)
64.   Pieces of Me (143)
65.   River Wide Ocean Deep (135)
66.   The Way Home (124)
67T.   Alone We Walk (117)
67T.   Falling/Falling Further (117)
69.   Shuttered World (116)
70T.   I Am (115)
70T.   Damnation (115)

72.   Shades of Heavenly Death (129)
73.   Valley of the Dolls (112)
74.   Fata Morgana (104)
75.   O Chloroform (98)
76.   So (93)
77.   Under the Sun (92)
78.   A World Apart (85)
79.   In a Word (81)
80.   Simple Human (77)

81.   Now Comes the Rain (75)
82.   Kyrie Eleison (65)
83.   Pirates of the Underground (64)
84.   The Sorceress (58)
85T.   Afterglow (55)
85T.   Buried Alive (55)
87T.   Scars (51)
87T.   Begin Again (51)
87T.   APSOG I (51)
90.   Orphan Gypsy (46)

91.   The Arena (45)
92.   Stranger (with a Familiar Face) (42)
93.   Kiss of Death (39)
94.   Lighthouse (32)
95.   Glass Houses (31)
96.   Disconnected Pt. 1 & 2 (30)
97.   Night on Brocken (28)
98.   Crawl (24)
99.   Without a Trace (19)
100.   Kneel and Obey (18)

101.   Shadowfax (17)
102.   The Last Song (11)
103T. When Snow Falls (8)
103T. Misfit (8)
105.   Theories of Flight (6)
106T. The Calling
106T. S.E.K.
106T. Soldier Boy
106T. Time Long Past
106T. No Exit
106T. Inward Bound
106T. Sequence #7
106T. Desire
106T. Liar
"There's a bass solo in a song called Metropolis where I do a bass solo."  John Myung

Offline Dublagent66

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #847 on: November 11, 2022, 10:24:53 AM »
The Eleventh Hour at #1 is no surprise whatsoever.  Outstanding song.  It would've been my #1 if not for TIGOD.  I've been a fan since the Perfect Symmetry album.  This probably isn't my ideal list due to time constraints.  I had to pair down my list of 50 songs by selecting favorites from each included album instead of throwing them all into the ranker.  I'm sure the list would've turned out a little differently had I done the latter.  Still, these are my top 50 Fates Warning songs.  Excellent job running this pg1067.  :tup

50  One
49  Left Here
48  Glass Houses
47  Another Perfect Day
46  Pieces of Me
45  Theories of Flight
44  Shuttered World
43  Kneel and Obey
42  In a Word
41  Now Comes the Rain
40  One Thousand Fires
39  Nothing Left to Say
38  At Fates Hands/At Fates Fingers
37  The Strand
36  Outside Looking In
35  Pale Fire
34  Static Acts
33  The Longest Shadow of the Day
32  Part of the Machine
31  Anarchy Divine
30  Silent Cries
29  Firefly
28  The Ghosts of Home
27  Through Different Eyes
26  APSOG III
25  APSOG II
24  APSOG VI
23  APSOG VII
22  APSOG V
21  Still Remains
20  And Yet It Moves
19  Lighthouse
18  From the Rooftops
17  The Road Goes on Forever
16  Seven Stars
15  Don’t Follow Me
14  Island in the Stream
13  APSOG VIII
12  APSOG IX
11  Leave the Past Behind
10  APSOG X/XI
  9  APSOG XII
  8  APSOG IV
  7  The Light and Shade of Things
  6  Shelter Me/Circles
  5  Monument
  4  Eye to Eye
  3  Point of View
  2  The Eleventh Hour
  1  The Ivory Gate of Dreams

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Offline jammindude

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #848 on: November 11, 2022, 10:31:06 AM »
My top 50:

1. Still Remains
2. The Light and Shade of Things
3. APSOG XII (This Pleasant Shade of Gray)
4. Something from Nothing
5. The Eleventh Hour
6. APSOG VI (Turn Back All the Years)
7. Guardian
8. The Ivory Gate of Dreams
9. Prelude to Ruin
10. Nothing Left to Say
11. At Fates Hands/At Fates Fingers
12. Part of the Machine
13. Left Here
14. Life in Still Water
15. Damnation
16. Traveler in Time
17. The Apparition
18. The Way Home
19. Heal Me
20. APSOG VII (Stare from the Darkness/Let Nothing Bleed into Nothing Reprise)
21. APSOG II (Drifting in and Out)
22. Giant’s Lore (Heart of Winter)
23. Monument
24. Valley of the Dolls
25. Chasing Time
26. Epitaph
27. The Ghosts of Home
28. Shuttered World
29. Seven Stars
30. Pirates of the Underground
31. Shades of Heavenly Death
32. Static Acts
33. One
34. Silent Cries
35. APSOG IX (Stayed up Late Last Night)
36. So
37. Into the Black
38. Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen
39. APSOG III (Rain Falling Hours Crawling)
40. From the Rooftops
41. APSOG V Murdered in Munich
42. Anarchy Divine
43. A World Apart
44. The Sorceress
45. Eye to Eye
46. And Yet It Moves
47. APSOG X/XI (Instrumental/Do You Think That I Remember)
48. Kyrie Eleison
49. One Thousand Fires
50. Fata Morgana
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Offline Zoom E

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #849 on: November 11, 2022, 11:15:47 AM »
I had the Eleventh Hour at #10.

Kudos to TAC and Awaken for having the #1 song at #1 on their lists. Is there a prize for that?  :biggrin:

Offline pg1067

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #850 on: November 11, 2022, 11:19:53 AM »
I had the Eleventh Hour at #10.

Kudos to TAC and Awaken for having the #1 song at #1 on their lists. Is there a prize for that?  :biggrin:

TAC gets 11 internet points.  Since Awaken got the first 4 songs, he gets 11 x 4 internet points.   :biggrin:
"There's a bass solo in a song called Metropolis where I do a bass solo."  John Myung

Offline nick_z

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #851 on: November 11, 2022, 11:56:12 AM »
The Eleventh Hour - My rank: #2

This and Monument are more like #1a and #1b for me. Either could have taken my top spot, really.

What else is there to say about The Eleventh Hour? An absolute masterpiece of a song. The part starting around the 3-minute mark, after being "teased" a few times, is one of my favorite music moments ever, prog-metal or otherwise...and then what happens after "Nothing's easy anymore" somehow manages to elevate it even further. Amazing, amazing stuff. All the while, Zonder provides an absolute masterclass in drumming. I mean, how incredible are those parts? It's a composition within a composition, with DiBiase complementing them in the most perfect way. Overall, a song that manages to be melodic, sophisticated, complex and catchy, all at the same time. As I said in my yesterday's comment too, this and Monument perfectly encapsulate all I love about Fates Warning. What a band.


Looking at my list vs. the aggregate:

- If I'm counting right, 44 songs in my list were also in the aggregate. How did I do there?  ;D

- The highest-ranked song in the aggregate that I did not rank was Wish (#23)

- The songs in my top 50 that didn't rank:
   Valley of the Dolls (had it at #49)
   In a Word (#47)
   Shades of Heavenly Death (#45)
   Prelude to Ruin (#42)
   Anarchy Divine (#37)
   Static Acts (#15)

- 8 songs in my top 10 were also in the aggregate top 10. The two that weren't:
  Part of the Machine (#10 vs. #24 in the aggregate)
  Face the Fear (#7 vs. #49 in the aggregate)

Looking at the aggregate album rankings based on the songs' scores, I guess the one record that fared worse than I expected is No Exit. I wonder if it suffers a bit from being a "transitional" step within the FW discography.

Anyway - Thanks pg for the super-fun ride! I never need an excuse to revisit some FW, but doing a deeper dive for the countdown reminded me once again why I like them so much.


Offline SoundscapeMN

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!!
« Reply #852 on: November 11, 2022, 11:58:16 AM »
submitted my list.

I really didn't want to spend hours or days trying to (over) think this, especially since I listened to all 13 albums
(or 16 incl the other Arch-related records) over the last 2 months for my YouTube channel.

I also plan to make 2 other lists, 1 including APSOG as 1 song, and the other that includes those other Arch tracks, just per those seem to be  more proper, personal lists for me.

I still don't follow/agree with having APSOG as 11 separate songs. It's 1 song, period. Based on that, then we should have separated the movements of The Ivory Gates of Dreams, lol.

I also still roll my eyes at all the hate Disconnected and even FWX get. I did my review series on YouTube and then a ranking Video recently and Disconnected finished #2. That album is a stone cold bloody masterpiece as far as I'm concerned. And when it was released in 2000 and 2001, the fanbase I interacted with, namely on mp.com and some of the dt.net groups felt pretty similarly about it. But time hasn't been as kind to it I guess? ..i dunno, I find it still holds up rather well.

FWX much the same. A song like "Heal Me" is still among my favorites and I consider the best track on FWX. But that album only has a couple of songs I don't care for; Stranger (With a Familiar Face) and Crawl. The rest of that record totally works for me (including Sequence #7).

Epitaph not being on this list is a pretty massive facepalm for me. It's the crowning achievement with John Arch, and maybe sans for the Arch EP, John Arch's greatest musical work ever as far as I'm concerned.

That all being said, this is a sample size of 19 people? lol..I'd wager if the same kind of cumulative ranking list was made among some of the Facebook Groups, the results would vary more (and I suspect the majority would consider APSOG 1 song, not 11 or 12), and maybe more importantly, would be a larger sample size to really know.

But anyway, here's my LISTS...

My Voted List

50. Life in Still Water
49. At Fates Hands/At Fates Fingers
48. SOS
47. Falling/Falling Further
46. Shelter Me/Circles
45. River Wide Ocean Deep
44. Silent Cries
43. A Handful of Doubt
42. Shades of Heavenly Death
41. Guardian
40. Eye to Eye
39. Left Here
38. Seven Stars
37. Simple Human
36. One
35. Monument
34. The Road Goes on Forever
33. Through Different Eyes
32. Prelude to Ruin
31. Leave the Past Behind
30. Damnation
29. Wish
28. So
27. Fata Morgana
26. Chasing Time
25. Traveler in Time
24. From the Rooftops
23. Another Perfect Day
22. Point of View
21. Pieces of Me
20. The Ghosts of Home
19. The Apparition
18. Heal Me
18. The Eleventh Hour
17. Nothing Left to Say
16. Epitaph
15. Something from Nothing
14. The Light and Shade of Things
13. The Ivory Gate of Dreams
12. Still Remains
11. APSOG IV (Listen)
10. APSOG I (So Where Do We Begin)
9. APSOG V (Murdered in Munich/Let Nothing Bleed into Nothing)
8. APSOG IX (Stayed up Late Last Night)
7. APSOG VII (Stare from the Darkness/Let Nothing Bleed into Nothing Reprise)
6. APSOG II (Drifting in and Out)
5. APSOG VIII (Instrumental)
4. APSOG XII (This Pleasant Shade of Gray)
3. APSOG III (Rain Falling Hours Crawling)
2. APSOG X/XI (Instrumental/Do You Think That I Remember)
1. APSOG VI (Turn Back All the Years)


Top 50 Fates Warning only songs w/ APSOG as 1 song.

50. The Arena
49. White Flag
48. Don't Follow Me
47. The Destination Onward
46. Exodus
45. Static Acts
44. Falling/Falling Further
43. Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen
42. Anarchy Divine
41. Life in Still Water
40. At Fates Hands/At Fates Fingers
39. SOS
38. Falling/Falling Further
37. Shelter Me/Circles
36. River Wide Ocean Deep
35. Silent Cries
34. A Handful of Doubt
33. Shades of Heavenly Death
32. Guardian
31. Eye to Eye
30. Left Here
29. Seven Stars
28. Simple Human
27. One
26. Monument
25. The Road Goes on Forever
24. Through Different Eyes
23. Prelude to Ruin
22. Leave the Past Behind
21. Damnation
20. Wish
19. So
18. Fata Morgana
17. Chasing Time
16. Traveler in Time
15. From the Rooftops
14. Another Perfect Day
13. Point of View
12. Pieces of Me
11. The Ghosts of Home
10. The Apparition
9. Heal Me
8. The Eleventh Hour
7. Nothing Left to Say
6. Epitaph
5. Something from Nothing
4. The Light and Shade of Things
3. The Ivory Gate of Dreams
2. Still Remains
1. A Pleasant Shade of Gray

Top 50 Fates Warning + John Arch/Arch Matheos songs w/ APSOG as 1 song
50. Midnight Serenade
49. Wanderlust
48. Falling/Falling Further
47. Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen
46. Anarchy Divine
45. Life in Still Water
44. At Fates Hands/At Fates Fingers
43. SOS
42. Falling/Falling Further
41. Shelter Me/Circles
40. River Wide Ocean Deep
39. Silent Cries
38. A Handful of Doubt
37. Straight and Narrow
36. Shades of Heavenly Death
35. Guardian
34. Eye to Eye
33. Left Here
32. Seven Stars
31. Tethered
30. Simple Human
29. One
28. Monument
27. The Road Goes on Forever
26. Through Different Eyes
25. Prelude to Ruin
24. Leave the Past Behind
23. Damnation
22. Wish
21. So
20. Fata Morgana
19. Chasing Time
18. Traveler in Time
17. From the Rooftops
16. Another Perfect Day
15. Point of View
14. Pieces of Me
13. The Ghosts of Home
12. The Apparition
11. Heal Me
10. The Eleventh Hour
9. Nothing Left to Say
8. Epitaph
7. Something from Nothing
6. The Light and Shade of Things
5. Cheyenne
4. The Ivory Gate of Dreams
3. Relentless
2. Still Remains
1. A Pleasant Shade of Gray
« Last Edit: November 11, 2022, 12:04:45 PM by SoundscapeMN »

Offline HOF

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #853 on: November 11, 2022, 12:23:50 PM »
Always liked The Eleventh Hour, definitely worthy of the top ranking.

Offline pg1067

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #854 on: November 11, 2022, 12:49:08 PM »
- If I'm counting right, 44 songs in my list were also in the aggregate. How did I do there?  ;D

There's a good question.  Here's how many songs on everyone's lists made the top 50:

1. nick_z.....................44/50
2. Tomislav95..............41
3T. devieira73..............40
3T. Awaken..................40
5. Dublagent66............38
6. pg1067....................36
7T. SoundscapeMN........35
7T. Lethean..................35
7T. Samsara.................35
7T. wolfking..................35
11. WardySI..................34
12T. romdrums..............33
12T. Mister Gold.............33
12T. Puppies_on_Acid......33
12T. Zoom E...................33
16T. TAC........................32
16T. sfam2112................32
18. The Realm................31
19. jammindude..............28
"There's a bass solo in a song called Metropolis where I do a bass solo."  John Myung

Offline romdrums

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #855 on: November 11, 2022, 01:02:31 PM »
Not surprised The Eleventh Hour came in at number 1.  I had it at 21.  Really good song, though.

Here's my top 50:

50. The Destination Onward
49. Kyrie Eleison
48. Prelude to Ruin
47. One Thousand Fires
46. Kneel And Obey
45. Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen
44. The Apparition
43. Scars
42. Heal Me
41. The Way Home
40. One
39. Simple Human
38. Don’t Follow Me
37. Into the Black
36. Wish
35. Silent Cries
34. Another Perfect Day
33. APSOG II (Drifting in and Out)
32. Afterglow
31. Glass Houses
30. Life in Still Water
29. APSOG XII (This Pleasant Shade of Gray)
28. Shades of Heavenly Death
27. Chasing Time
26. APSOG VII (Stare from the Darkness/Let Nothing Bleed Into Nothing Reprise)
25. Pale Fire
24. The Strand
23. O Chloroform
22. I Am
21. The Eleventh Hour
20. Outside Looking In
19. Anarchy Divine
18. A Handful of Doubt
17. APSOG V (Murdered in Munich/Let Nothing Bleed Into Nothing)
16. Guardian
15. Something From Nothing
14. Seven Stars
13. White Flag
12. The Light and Shade of Things
11. Part of the Machine
10. The Ghosts of Home
9. At Fates Hands/At Fates Fingers
8. And Yet It Moves
7. The Ivory Gate of Dreams
6. Nothing Left to Say
5. From the Rooftops
4. Leave the Past Behind
3. Point of View
2. Monument
1. Still Remains
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Offline nick_z

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #856 on: November 11, 2022, 01:04:12 PM »
- If I'm counting right, 44 songs in my list were also in the aggregate. How did I do there?  ;D

There's a good question.  Here's how many songs on everyone's lists made the top 50:

1. nick_z.....................44/50


Ha! And how many internet points do I get for THAT?  :biggrin:

Offline pg1067

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #857 on: November 11, 2022, 01:18:08 PM »
What else is there to say about The Eleventh Hour?

One thing I thought about when listening to the song on the way into the office this morning was how well Fates uses the two-guitar lineup.  Jim and Frank almost never played the same thing, and The Eleventh Hour really epitomizes that.  Such a great bit of songwriting.


Looking at the aggregate album rankings based on the songs' scores, I guess the one record that fared worse than I expected is No Exit. I wonder if it suffers a bit from being a "transitional" step within the FW discography.

That's why I gave the full rankings and also the average song rankings.  No Exit has the fewest songs of any FW album (although, for purposes of this countdown, Disconnected only had 6 since I combined the two parts of "Disconnected"), and one of those is the 42-second title track that was almost certain to receive no votes.  If you do the average song rankings and count No Exit as a 5-song album, then its average jumps up quite a bit, but it still comes up just short of passing Disconnected for 6th place.  I was surprised Anarchy Divine didn't make the top 50 (although I only had it at 42).  It actually turned up on 12 lists, which is several more than some songs in the 41-50 range, but three of those lists had it at #50, and the average ranking for the 12 lists was only 36th.  Couple that with 7 goose eggs, and it could only muster 59th place.  In a Word and Shades of Heavenly Death only appeared on 6 and 7 lists respectively.


I still don't follow/agree with having APSOG as 11 separate songs. It's 1 song, period. Based on that, then we should have separated the movements of The Ivory Gates of Dreams, lol.

. . .

That all being said, this is a sample size of 19 people? lol..I'd wager if the same kind of cumulative ranking list was made among some of the Facebook Groups, the results would vary more (and I suspect the majority would consider APSOG 1 song, not 11 or 12), and maybe more importantly, would be a larger sample size to really know.

You know...I actually thought of posting on the FW page on FB and the FW subreddit to direct folks to the countdown.  As for APSOG being one song v. several, if Fates were on the same level of popularity as DT, we'd have had endless discussion about it.  FWIW, I've never thought of it as a single song (much like I don't think of Six Degrees as a single song, despite what the band says).  It'd be interesting to see how APSOG would've fared if we'd counted it as one song, but when the issue was raised and discussed before the countdown started, there wasn't a lot of objection to counting it as one.
"There's a bass solo in a song called Metropolis where I do a bass solo."  John Myung

Offline pg1067

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #858 on: November 11, 2022, 01:18:29 PM »
- If I'm counting right, 44 songs in my list were also in the aggregate. How did I do there?  ;D

There's a good question.  Here's how many songs on everyone's lists made the top 50:

1. nick_z.....................44/50


Ha! And how many internet points do I get for THAT?  :biggrin:

"There's a bass solo in a song called Metropolis where I do a bass solo."  John Myung

Offline nick_z

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #859 on: November 11, 2022, 01:50:39 PM »
What else is there to say about The Eleventh Hour?

One thing I thought about when listening to the song on the way into the office this morning was how well Fates uses the two-guitar lineup.  Jim and Frank almost never played the same thing, and The Eleventh Hour really epitomizes that.  Such a great bit of songwriting.


Absolutely, yes. Parallels as whole, really, has some of my absolute favorite two-guitar interplay...be it distorted vs. clean, or different chord voicings, or just different parts that fit together like the most satisfying jigsaw puzzle. The songwriting truly is stellar.



 :lol

Offline The Realm

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #860 on: November 11, 2022, 02:57:59 PM »

1 The Eleventh Hour (Parallels – 8)

Appeared on 19 of 19 entries
Top 10 finishes: 14
Highest Ranking: 1 (TAC, Awaken)



The Eleventh Hour - my number 5. Can't really add anymore than has already been said but this is a deserving number 1. A great song.

Well done pg on running the countdown.

Offline TAC

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #861 on: November 11, 2022, 03:05:23 PM »
Nice job on the countdown, Paul. I can't believe that DTF actually got this one right. ;D
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline WardySI

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #862 on: November 11, 2022, 04:13:27 PM »
Well...apparently I faked out one person. 
Sorry.   ;D


 :lol

The Eleventh Hour #14
Already well explained by others above and listening through the song again now I gotta say I'm not sure why Eleventh Hour didn't make my own Top10.  It's an absolute gem and deserving of the #1 spot. No argument from me well done folks!

I gotta say am really going miss this countdown, each reveal had become a bit of a routine with the morning coffee :)

Fates have been a favourite band of mine for a long time but  going into this still expected (and hoped) to get schooled on more of their material I hadn't warmed to like others and that has definitely proven to be the case cheers!

Thanks for running this one pg a commendable job you've done and grateful to have been a part of it. Looking forward to digging through some of the stats you've already posted above too \m/

Offline TAC

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #863 on: November 11, 2022, 04:33:49 PM »

I gotta say am really going miss this countdown, each reveal had become a bit of a routine with the morning coffee :)

Or my after lunch routine. :lol
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Mister Gold

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #864 on: November 12, 2022, 05:09:40 AM »
I fully anticipated that The Eleventh Hour would win the crown from the moment I saw the thread open up for submissions. And rightly so.

While it took me a bit to really fall head over heels with the song myself, I think that all things considered The Eleventh Hour is to Fates Warning what Hallowed Be Thy Name or War Pigs are to Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. It's the band's quintessential song. I may never personally consider Parallels to be the band's finest album, but there is no denying that it is the most prominent and beloved entry of the Ray Alder era and with it, The Eleventh Hour stands atop the hill. When I think of classic Fates Warning, I think of The Eleventh Hour first and foremost. It absolutely deserves this ranking! :metal

For my tastes, the song is only really overcome by Guardian and The Light and Shade of Things. While I'd put The Eleventh Hour and Guardian on equal footing, the fact of the matter is that I became a Fates Warning fan through the John Arch material- with Guardian as the chief song that won my heart over to this band. It didn't take me long to also fall in love with the evolution that the band had overtime after Arch's departure.

Meanwhile I find that TLaSoT is something of a marriage and celebration of the entire career of Fates Warning from the Arch days all into the late Alder era. Its structure is classic Alder era, the guitar work is more akin to the atmospheric material from the Pleasant Shade of Gray/Disconnected era, the heavier aggression is modern Fates to a T and Ray Alder's vocal melodies on Light & Shade feel like the final culmination of Alder's long road of adjusting his range through forced limitations with time and becoming a more emotionally expressive singer through that- all while creating one of his more unusual and utterly inspired melody phrasing with the back half of that chorus feeling right at home with something John Arch would concoct.

I'm fairly sure that if I took the time to sit down and really go over the list more critically, the following list would be a bit different in the back-half of lowered ranked songs. But it's the list I was able to think up with the time available to me and it still rings true, especially from the Top 25 onwards.

Mister Gold's Top 50 Fates Warning Songs List
50. Down to the Wire
49. We Only Say Goodbye
48. So
47. Something from Nothing
46. Eye to Eye
45. Chasing Time
44. Point of View
43. Pieces of Me
42. Firefly
41. Fata Morgana
40. One
39. SOS
38. Into the Black
37. Leave the Past Behind
36. Shades of Heavenly Death
35. Giant's Lore (Heart of Winter)
34. Valley of the Dolls
33. The Sorceress
32. Traveler in Time
31. Epitaph
30. Damnation
29. Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen
28. The Longest Shadow of the Day
27. Falling Further
26. One Thousand Fires
25. At Fate's Hands
24. A Pleasant Shade of Gray, Part IX
23. A Pleasant Shade of Gray, Part XII
22. Prelude to Ruin
21. Another Perfect Day
20. A World Apart
19. And Yet It Moves
18. Exodus
17. White Flag
16. Part of the Machine
15. The Ivory Gate of Dreams
14. The Ghosts of Home
13. The Road Goes On Forever
12. Still Remains
11. Monument
10. Through Different Eyes
9. Pale Fire
8. Wish
7. Life in Still Water
6. From the Rooftops
5. The Destination Onward
4. Nothing Left to Say
3. The Eleventh Hour
2. Guardian
1. The Light and Shade of Things
Beyond the limits of the mortal frame
To the farthest boundary of eternity
Where I, the Cosmic Sea
Watch the little ego floating in me.

Offline pg1067

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #865 on: November 12, 2022, 11:45:31 AM »
I just looked back and saw that the first reveal was on October 10, which means today is the first day in over a month where I haven't gotten up and tried to think of something clever to write about that day's song(s).  It's been a lot of fun being on this side of things, but I envy everyone on the other side.  I'd have had a lot of fun being on the other side.

Thanks to everyone for participating and, if he's lurking, thanks again to KevShmev for letting me have the baton for a month.

My hope is that we'll all (myself included) check out some songs we hadn't listened to much and that anyone following the thread who hasn't gotten into the band will do so.

And with that...

"There's a bass solo in a song called Metropolis where I do a bass solo."  John Myung

Online wolfking

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #866 on: November 12, 2022, 01:25:31 PM »
Cheers for running Paul, amazing job.
Everyone else, except Wolfking is wrong.

Offline Lethean

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #867 on: November 12, 2022, 03:53:13 PM »
This was a lot of fun to participate in.

The Light and Shade of Things was #2 for me, and The Eleventh Hour #20. 

Fates Warning is one of my favorite bands and they have so many great songs and great albums and I enjoyed giving the entire catalog another listen during all this.

Offline Samsara

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #868 on: November 14, 2022, 08:31:59 AM »
Paul,

Thanks for doing this one. It was a lot of fun. Your humor was absolutely appreciated as well.

Good times!

B
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Offline Dublagent66

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #869 on: November 14, 2022, 08:40:46 AM »
- If I'm counting right, 44 songs in my list were also in the aggregate. How did I do there?  ;D

There's a good question.  Here's how many songs on everyone's lists made the top 50:

1. nick_z.....................44/50
2. Tomislav95..............41
3T. devieira73..............40
3T. Awaken..................40
5. Dublagent66............38
6. pg1067....................36
7T. SoundscapeMN........35
7T. Lethean..................35
7T. Samsara.................35
7T. wolfking..................35
11. WardySI..................34
12T. romdrums..............33
12T. Mister Gold.............33
12T. Puppies_on_Acid......33
12T. Zoom E...................33
16T. TAC........................32
16T. sfam2112................32
18. The Realm................31
19. jammindude..............28

Top 5!  Nice!  :tup
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Offline DragonAttack

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #870 on: November 14, 2022, 10:48:29 AM »
Nice job on the countdown, Paul. I can't believe that DTF actually got this one right. ;D

Where’s your ice cream truck?😃

I’ve been following this, even though I think I’ve only heard two FW songs prior to this. On my bucket list to go through the Top Twenty next year (the same goes for Iron Maiden).

Kudos pg1067 for your work on this 👍 And, to those commenting throughout. Very educational
...going along with Dragon Attack's Queen thread has been like taking a free class in Queen knowledge. Where else are you gonna find info like that?!

Offline pg1067

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - It...is...on!
« Reply #871 on: December 30, 2022, 03:50:55 PM »
Since when is it called Shelter Me/Circles?

Ha! Yeah good question. I was just writing it like that as everyone else is. It is just Shelter Me (to me).

Pg explained that in the OP


On the off chance that someone isn't familiar with this.

This is Shelter Me (from Inside Out):  https://youtu.be/kHliWCJWhvw

This is Circles (from the Chasing Time compilation album, which was released almost exactly a year after IO):  https://youtu.be/2c7XD_As4hM

They're different versions of the same song which (as explained in the original post) I counted as a single song for purposes of this countdown.  I've never read anything about this, but Circles appears to be the original version.  It's in a different key, at a slower tempo, and with mostly different lyrics.  There's a also an interlude that eventually found its way into the song Outside Looking In.

I finally figured this out (although I got it mostly right in my earlier post).  From the liner notes of the Chasing Time compilation:  "'Circles' is one of the few songs we've recorded that never saw the light of day.  If parts of this demo from 1993 sound familiar, there's a good reason.  The bridge section wound up becoming the bridge for 'Outside Looking In,' and the other sections except for the chorus were used in what became 'Shelter Me.'  We pushed up the tempo and changed the key, as well as re-writing the lyrics.  Looking back now it's hard to remember why we scrapped this one."  Joe Dibiase
"There's a bass solo in a song called Metropolis where I do a bass solo."  John Myung

Offline HOF

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Re: Official top 50 Fates Warning countdown thread!! - #1 Song Revealed!
« Reply #872 on: January 01, 2023, 06:45:25 PM »
I still prefer Circles to Shelter Me.