Credit: Far Out / Ray Davies
Sat 5 September 2026 15:30, UK
Something that Ray Davies was perfect for was ensuring that he was championing the idea behind a song, rather than just his own individual performance.
Davies knew that while he was a good guitar player, he had more to offer when it came to vocals and lyric writing. As such, while he continued to play his part in the band, occasionally producers and engineers would bring in external help so that the very best could be brought out of every single facet of the guitar.
“Pete Quaife was an excellent bass player, Dave was one of the great underrated guitarists of the rock era, and Ray was an adequate, though not great, guitarist, mainly on rhythm,” said producer Shel Tamy, “That’s why, when we finally got to record an LP after ‘You Really Got Me’ became a hit, I hired Jimmy Page to play rhythm guitar. Ray didn’t want to play; he just wanted to concentrate on singing.”
Granted, in that instance referenced above, Davies denies that Page was much of a help when it came to laying down rhythm guitar. However, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t aware of his limitations as a guitarist. He was always willing to admit when someone he heard or played with was better than him, and one six-string aficionado he was adamant was out of his league was Pete Townshend.
Davies had played with The Who when they were The High Numbers, and even back then, before they had truly made a name for themselves, it was clear to Davies how special the entire band, but specifically Townshend, were. He acknowledges that while both bands went down very different paths, so much so that it’s hard to compare the two, Townshend was on another level when it came to playing guitar.
“We weren’t in the same league [laughs],” said Davies, “The High Numbers opened for The Kinks, on several occasions. I always knew they’d be outstanding someday. When I say ‘a different league’ to The Who, I mean we were playing a totally different game. The Kinks were always in their own little world, while The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi, all went off on that very American journey, very corporate. Pete and I are friends, but we don’t push it. We respect each other, and part of that is respecting each other’s privacy.”
Perhaps one of the things that Davies appreciated the most about Townshend was the fact that he, too, wasn’t a selfish musician. He was a great guitar player, sure, but he was always willing to set aside playing a solid solo or forcing a killer riff into a song if he didn’t think the track as a whole would benefit from it.
Further reading: From The Vault
The entire band was good for this. You had a great bassist, guitarist, vocalist and drummer, all of whom were capable of going off on mad musical tangents that could rival any soloist on the planet; however, The Who wanted to write good songs. They were willing to set ego aside in a bid to get the best out of a piece of music as a whole. The connection between this mindset and that put forward by Davies is pretty evident.
”Drum solos are fucking boring,” said Keith Moon, hardly holding back his words, “Any kind of solo is. It detracts from the group identity”.
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