Re: Pete Townshend guitar hero?

[ACLGC <antonioclaudiocerqueira@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Pete Townshend in the last 5 years or so has turned
into a rather boring and predictable musician.

This is not true. His guitar on "Can You Help The One
You Really Love" is amazing, brilliant, skilled, full
of harmonics and dissonant but beautiful chords -
fruit of a genius.

>  He was once one of the more innovative guitarists
around: 60s, 70s, and 80s - "Live at Leeds" proves
this in front of an audience.  

This is true.

> He was/is an incredible rhythm player, beautiful and
innovative. He has emotive leads on record that are
beautiful, "How Many Friends", "New Song", "The
Seeker" too many to list, well, all of Quadrophenia is
incredible (full stop).

This is very true - it was left out only Bargain as an
example of great leads.

> I always enjoyed that what Pete used to play on
guitar you could hum, "Slip Kid" for example, unlike
Satriani or the 80s Guitar Gods, Pete's playing was
distinct and emotive, a beautiful musician, for
certain.  

Slip Kid is the most innovative use of feedback and
distortion I've seen. 

> His playing the past 4 or 5 years has become
standard and boring full of triplet-hammer on runs and
banging the guitar, My ears and eyes began to suspect
that he was falling into a pattern, then the DVD of
the "Royal Albert" confirmed it for me; I think the
"Royal Albert" is the single worst example of his
playing I have heard and seen and I have seen "Blues
to the Bush" bootleg video as another example that is
very poor too.  

This is kind of true. I didn't like Royal Albert too.
The guitar is very soft, almost inaudible. It is
full of scale progression in a kind of Van Halen
style, but where is the loudness, the power, the
magnificence? Certainly it is in 60's and 70's - pity
on that. Is that because he gives up Gibson in
privilege of Fender? Is that because the ears problem?
Is that because Rabbitt is standing the rhythm (if it
is true, go out Rabbitt!)? What is exactly we don't
know, all we can do is to complain and to lament.

> Also his playing on Jagger's recent solo effort is
pedestrian and there is not a lick of his guitar
presence that is above a nameless studio musician's
and worse not Pete. What I have liked about Pete's
guitar playing is how he attacks, preens, pulls, and
rips music out of the guitar.  I feel he has lost
passion as a musician the past 5 to 10 years though,
he does not write anything of merit or simply refuses
to write and his guitar playing has turned real poor
during this time.  

This is not true! Psychoderelict, for instance, and
despite its market failure, has great songs.
 
> And despite this I do I think the most incredible
guitar playing I witnessed from Pete was at the Harbor
Lights show in '98 for his warm up to Woodstock and
some of his live albums available on Eel Pie have
some moments of brilliance, his playing often melodic,
snarling, and even atonal (Scofield and Mike
Stern-like) at times and I heard and saw him singing
the same notes he was playing - the sign of a good ear
and as a musician, a crucial skill.  But as painful as
this feels to me - and as a musician who has played
around the world to admit - I think he is playing out
the string lately.

What exactly is this that you are saying - "playing
out the string"? I simply didn't understand.

> Any other musicians or Who lovers care to weigh in
on their thoughts of Pete and the others as musicians
the last 5 or 10 years or prior.  I would love to hear
other views on this.  Caveat...rational, non-flame
views are certainly encouraged to keep a debate and
discussion flowing.

As Scott Schrade said, "His solos are much too chaotic
& manic to be called "standard." It's almost as if
they're "anti-solos."  They're not always pretty or
decorous but that's good." - I totally agree with
that. His solo, for instance, in English Boy on
Psychoderelict Video is chaotic & manic & brilliant.
Totally different from Live at Leeds era, but still
eccentric. My only complaining is volume, loudness. I
want all that noise back, please!

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