Who It's Hard CD

The Who: Pete Townshend (vocals, guitar, keyboards, synthesizer); John Entwistle (vocals, horns, synthesizer, bass); Roger Daltrey (vocals); Kenney Jones (drums).

Additional personnel: Andy Fairweather-Low (guitar); Tim Gorman (electric piano, organ, synthesizer).
Producer: Glyn Johns
Reissue producers: Jon Astley, Andy Macpherson.
Recorded at Turn Up-Down Studios, Surrey, England, in June 1982 and live at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada on December 16-17, 1982.
Driven by Pete Townshend's arching musical ambitions, It's Hard was a final effort from the Who. Featuring layers of synthesizers and long-winded, twisting song structures, the album featured the anthemic "Athena" and the terse "Eminence Front." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Cub Koda
Driven by Pete Townshend's arching musical ambitions, It's Hard was an undistinguished final effort from the Who. Featuring layers of synthesizers and long-winded, twisting song structures, the album featured few memorable melodies and little energy, with only the anthemic "Athena" and the terse "Eminence Front" making a lasting impression. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Who fans tend to dismiss the two studio albums that the group made with former Small Faces drummer Kenny Jones after original drummer Keith Moon's death in 1978, but both FACE DANCES and IT'S HARD are solid rock albums that deserve to be judged on their respective merits. Recorded in 1982, IT'S HARD was the Who's final studio album and it is arguably the least rock-oriented album that The Who made. At the time this album was recorded, Pete Townshend was experimenting with writing in a variety of pop styles and both of the singles from IT'S HARD, "Athena" and "It's Hard" showcase an adventurous, near-theatrical approach that is actually well-suited to Roger Daltrey's somewhat dramatic singing.
On other songs, like the ominous "Eminence Front" Townshend sticks to familiar Who territory. However, it is bassist John Entwistle who provides such Who-like rockers as "It's Your Turn." Now remastered and featuring four live bonus cuts, IT'S HARD is ready to rediscovered by Who fans who didn't give this album a fair chance back in 1982.
Driven by Pete Townshend's arching musical ambitions, It's Hard was a final effort from the Who. Featuring layers of synthesizers and long-winded, twisting song structures, the album featured the anthemic "Athena" and the terse "Eminence Front." [The compact disc reissue adds four bonus tracks to the original 12-song lineup, all of them live. These alternate versions of "Eminence Front," the title song, and "Cry If You Want," along with John Entwistle's "Dangerous," all come from performances at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada. Although no specific recording dates are given in the booklet, these bonus tracks offer far more lively versions of these songs than their original studio counterparts.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Cub Koda
Driven by Pete Townshend's arching musical ambitions, It's Hard was an undistinguished final effort from the Who. Featuring layers of synthesizers and long-winded, twisting song structures, the album featured few memorable melodies and little energy, with only the anthemic "Athena" and the terse "Eminence Front" making a lasting impression. [The compact disc reissue adds four bonus tracks to the original 12-song lineup, all of them live. These alternate versions of "Eminence Front," the title song, and "Cry If You Want," along with John Entwistle's "Dangerous," all come from performances at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada. Although no specific recording dates are given in the booklet, these bonus tracks offer far more lively versions of these songs than their original studio counterparts.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Cub Koda