Great British Songwriters: Pete Townshend & Ray Davies
While reading the bio of Pete Townshend on the British music magazine New Musical Express’s website, I found this line quite telling of the difference between the British and American audiences.
Whilst Townshend’s solo work has never matched the quality of the songs he wrote for the Who, taken as a whole catalogue it is highly impressive and he joins the likes of Ray Davies as one of the era’s best songwriters.
According to NME, Pete joins Ray Davies as one of the era’s best songwriters, only after his entire Who and solo catalogue is combined. Pete Townshend is a great musical force and deserves every accolade afforded him, as does Ray, but unfortunately here in America, most people don’t know who Ray Davies even is, and if they do, just barely. It’s a shame, really.
Here’s a great version of the song “In A Moment” from Ray’s latest solo album Working Man’s Cafe.
May 14th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Ray Davies put out a few good songs with the Kinks. Outside of that, even with the Kinks, most of his stuff is marginal, at best. Townsend put out better stuff with the Who, but both are still overrated. Big time.
May 15th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Modern American listeners wouldn’t know a good songwriter if the songwriter slapped the listener in the face with their cock. British and American music journalists along with true music fans have celebrated Richard Ashcroft for years, yet the Verve had only marginal success in the States. And don’t get me started on the 90% of Bruce Springsteen’s work that has gone completely unrecognized by the casual pop radio listener. That’s why I get so sick of everyone who loves the Beatles raving about what they did for music, but not seeing the forest for the trees when it comes to people like Springsteen, Ashcroft, Mark Coyne, et al.
May 15th, 2009 at 6:33 am
Pete’s Empty Glass, White City and Psychoderelict albums are as solid as anything he did with The Who.
May 16th, 2009 at 8:36 am
In my mind, Pete Townsend contributions to Rock and Roll are equivalent to what Larry Bird contributed to the game of basketball. There’s been a lot of good ones in both pursuits.
The writing, the lyrics…His works continue to do new things for me in the same way every drive down Moss Avenue allows me to notice new things architecturally.
-Scott
May 16th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Before LB, you never saw the fall away jumper from the high post performed so effectively and with so much fade that MJ himself later added it to his repertoire. Now lots of people do it.
You never saw the wreckless anger or the windmill guitar moves performed with bloody fingers. You never heard about bands trashing hotel rooms or musical instruments or planting dynamite in a drum set. He and drummer Keith Moon just egged each other on to excess. Quadrophenia is kind of a man thing. I think chicks don’t get that raw rage. “I am the Sea” which leads into “The Real Me” is justice incredibly moving. Being a former acoustic bassist, I love how the bass line carries the melody. Makes me want to belt down a few double shots of Whiskey.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:03 am
Ray is actually going to be releasing a Kinks Choral Collection record on the 15th June inspired by the recent Crouch End Choir performances which you might be aware of. You can already watch and listen to previews of this new material on his MySpace page. His official site has lots more information too, including some tour dates and promotional videos that might interest you.
http://www.myspace.com/raydavies
http://www.raydavies.info
Hope you enjoy!
David
June 11th, 2009 at 2:56 am
Oh, and for those of you in London at the moment, in case you haven’t yet heard, Ray will actually be performing a “secret gig” tonight (11th June) at 17:30 just next to Waterloo Bridge in front of the National Theatre along with Ian Gibbons and the Crouch End Festival Choir. He’ll be playing “just a few songs”, but the scene will be amazing, and for those that turn up the performance will not cost a single penny.
Source: http://raydavies.3.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=4974&st=0
If you’re going, make sure to leave early because of the tube strikes!
David
October 20th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Even Pete considers Ray Davies to be a superior songwriter. Below pretty much sums up Pete’s view:
As self-professed Kinks fan Pete Townshend said for The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll: “The Kinks were much more quintessentially English. I always think that Ray Davies should one day be Poet Laureate. He invented a new kind of poetry and a new kind of language for pop writing that influenced me from the very, very, very beginning.”