Tournament of INSTRUMENTALS: AND THE WINNER IS ... (FINAL RESULTS)

Vote for your FAVOURITE instrumental track

  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .
Forostar

Forostar

Ancient Mariner
And the winner is......

Number 2 (Silver):
Rush - La Villa Strangiato
Tournament history:
1st round: Alestorm - No Quarter: WIN
2nd round: Iced Earth - 1776: WIN
3rd round: Rainbow - Still I'm Sad: WIN
8th final: Racer X - Technical Difficulties: WIN
Quarter final: Iron Maiden - The Ides of March: WIN
Semi final: Metallica - The Call of Ktulu: WIN

Battle for spots 1-2 in top 10:
Rush - YYZ: LOSS
Final spot: #2 (Silver)


Number 1 (Gold):
Rush - YYZ
Tournament history:
1st round: Jaco Pastorious - Opus Pocus: WIN
2nd round: Mason Ruffner - Courage: WIN
3rd round: Pink Floyd - A Saucerful fo Secrets: WIN
8th final: The Scorpions - Coast to Coast: WIN
Quarter final: Iron Maiden - Losfer Words (Big 'Orra): WIN
Semi final: Metallica - Orion: WIN

Battle for spots 1-2 in top 10:
Rush - La Villa Strangiato: WIN
Final spot: #1 (Gold)

Top 10:
01. Rush - YYZ
02. Rush - La Villa Strangiato
03. Metallica - The Call of Ktulu
04. Metallica - Orion
05. Iron Maiden - Transylvania
06. Iron Maiden - Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)
07. Iron Maiden - Genghis Khan
08. Iron Maiden - The Ides of March
09. Racer X - Technical Difficulties
10. Dream Theater - Stream of Consciousness

11-16 (based on this round):
11. Pink Floyd - One of These Days
11. Running Wild - Final Gates
13. The Alan Parsons Project - Sirius
13. Focus - Hocus Pocus
13. The Scorpions - Coast to Coast
16. Joe Satriani - Summer Song
[/spoiler]

The running of this game took half a year, but before, there was a preparation period of several months in which the game was discussed, suggestions for songs were done, and in which I tried to figure out a tournament schedule that would fit the purpose as much as possible. I made several categories that would represent a certain level of strength, based on what I expected on how populair a song could be. The strongest category consisted out of -you already can guess it- the 8 songs that ended up highest! I really thought that the 4 Maiden songs, these 2 Metallica songs and the Rush songs would be the most populair. That's why I didn't want them to meet in an earlier stage than in the quarter finals. After all, we wanted to find out which track would become the most populair.

I hope that the second goal of the game -learn about "new" music- served its purpose as well. If I speak for myself, I enjoyed discovering a song CosmicEddie suggested. Haunting guitar playing, fantastic really! Also, I thought some Al Di Meola songs which Flash suggested were awesome.

I had a great time because of your involvement. Thank you all for taking part! If it's not too much trouble, I'd be glad reading your discoveries if there are any. ;-)

----- older version of this opening post:

Welcome to final of the tournament!

Don't forget to also vote in:
The Battle for the Bronze!

1 vs 2
1:

2:
 
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I regard the first half of Strangiato (even more than half: until 5:49) as one of the best pieces of music ever recorded. Best guitar solo by anyone outside of Europe! :D
But the following 4 minutes bring it down. In the first years knowing this song I didn't mind that much, but now I prefer YYZ, a song that bulks with energy and rhythmic greatness, plus: it also has a touch of atmosphere, due to the excellent colours created by Lee's synth. Beautiful clear guitar solo as well. All parts of the song are good! Just as with Maiden's The Trooper, through the years YYZ never gets worse. Timeless.
 
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Strangiato. But either of these are worthy champions.
 
Ariana said:
Disgusting.
Click to expand...

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(Although I did vote for Ktulu last round)
 
Ariana doesn't like Rush :P

I don't like the fact that there's two Rush songs in the final when there were so many better songs in the game so far.
 
What you've got here is failure to communicate.

- Ariana made a general comment in respect to her dislike of Rush
- Brigantium made a general comment in respect to her decision
- Ariana thought that Brigs thought "Disgusting" comment was a reaction to her vote (Considering her equal dislike of Rush)
- Brigs got confused due to this misunderstanding
- NP misunderstood the misunderstanding, thinking Brigs didn't get the idea that Ariana doesn't like Rush

Inspector Flash out.
 
Strangiato. Possibly Lifeson's and Peart's greatest technical work. Even the band said it is exhausting to perform. While agree that the first half is stronger, I disagree with Foro about the last 4:00 of the song "falling apart" -- I actually like the "Monsters" riff as an interlude before returning to the main theme, and it adds a touch of fun and whimsy to an epic track.
 
There's a great case to be made for both songs. YYZ is definitely an amazing achievement - especially for a band that is still learning how to write concisely, but Strangiato doesn't waste a single second either. It's cool because both are perfectly representative of what Rush was doing at the time. Strangiato era Rush was a band try to take expanded song forms as far as they could go while still remaining coherent, while YYZ era Rush was trying to pack as much of a punch as they could in the long songs, but in a shorter structure. Both songs capture this brilliantly.

I understand the frustration over two Rush songs in the final, but frankly I can't think of any other songs that have appeared in this game that would be more deserving of these top spots. Except for maybe Ktulu. Both songs are pinnacles of instrumental Rock as far as I'm concerned.
 
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