Santana? Pete Townsend?

you have not listened enough of Pete Townsshend then,lol. he is mr rock.
he might not do outstanding guitar hero solos but then he doesnt claim to be a guitar hero. His riffs and a few of his solos make him get in the top ten.

long live rock
Ken

he has quite a bit of solo work, in fact the last WHO album I would say is Pete Townshend with guest star Roger ,lol.
He also done an album wit hthe late Ronnie Lane from SSmall faces, brilliant album, more of a bluesy sort of album.
but if you ever get the chance to listen to the album "Odds and Sods" you will hear superb guitar work from him. Some of the songs from this album were redone and put on who's next, i.e "pure and easy" it sounds much better on odds and sods because like you say about synths etc, too much of that on who's next but still sounds good to me.

Also if you watch the who live and it is only Pete on guitar ( when roger hasnt got one strapped round him pretending he can pull it off) you will see how much work he actually does with the guitar, with no rythum guitar to back him up I think he desreves a place in the top ten.

Ken

Townshend live was something to see.  Not a technicain like some of the other greats and a little sloppy sometimes, but creativity and innovation put him in the class with the best.
I'm not sure which movie I'm thinking of, 67  Monterey Pop, Woodstock or Isle of Wight in Kids, or maybe all 3 but Pete does some great work on his SG equipped with a pair of P90s'.  Windmill and all, he created a sound and style from scratch.

you can make the same argument for Moon on the drums. Not a Baker or Bonham or Bruford but he created a style where there wasn't one before.

And Entwhistle, with Jack Bruce, was the outstanding bass player of that generation.

if you throw in Zeppelin, you can make a case for any of the members of these 3 power trios as the best* on their respective instrument in rock. yes John Paul Jones was that good on bass.

*Include Jeff Beck and Jimi in the argument.

so true!!!!

As a guitarist/composer Pete is in my top 3 of songwriters of all time because of his creativity.

This thread has made me listen to more of my who albums. Today I was listening to "faces dances" their last studio album and although it has a bit...or quite a bit of synth it also has superb guitar stuff on the last two tracks. They are live tracks and you can hear just how much he is playing. The two songs.....How can you do it  ( a bit different from the recorded version) and John Entwistle's " the quiet one" Pete's guitar on this track is far far far better than the recorded version. And to let you know how tight a band they are or were the recorded version and the live version there is only a difference of seconds in the time of play.
bad thing, or not bad but something I think was missing was Moon's drumming. Kenny's drumming is excellent though it is very structured and perfect.

a few other of pete's great guitar work ( although dont go looking for "guitar hero" solos are

The man in the purple dress
I am one
Squeeze box,
going mobile
I can see for miles seeker
and listen carefully to the guitar only in "who are you" ignore all other instruments.

Ken

Who is CSI ?

First thing about Townshend is he's a writer. Most of the Who songbook is down to him. Second he's talented outside the guitar, most of the synth arpeggiations on Baba and WGFA are his and they are amazing.

Guitar-wise he combines both rhythmn and lead lines in a fluid way, he's doing the work of two regular guitarists. Second when he does solo it's not always 'by numbers' (see I can name check who album titles too). Townshend often innovates live on stage, playing sparse eloquent harmonic passages. Many other players solo the same every time. Once you know when Townshend has gone outside the bounaries of the song it's absolutely thrilling. He takes risks.