-- Who - It`s Hard | (Audio CD) MSRP $ 18.98 Amazon Price $ 14.99 Savings $ 3.99 | |  Release Date: 03 June, 1997, Mca
TRACK LISTING - Athena
- It`s Your Turn
- Cooks County
- It`s Hard
- Dangerous
- Eminence Front
- I`ve Known No War
- One Life`s Enough
- One At A Time
- Why Did I Fall For That
- A Man Is A Man
- Cry If You Want
- It`s Hard (Live)
- Eminence Front (Live)
- Dangerous (Live)
- Cry If You Want (Live)
Usually ships in 24 hours | | | A good album, but not up to WHO standards | | Their last studio release, IT`S HARD, like FACE DANCES before it, succeeds on some levels, but fails on others. Most obviously lacking is , of course, the irreplacable Keith Moon. His style was too important to The Who for his absence to be overcome. Valiantly, however, they attempt to compensate for his absence with songs that are superbly written and arranged, and they make no attempt to imitate Moon`s style on the drum arrangements, which was probably the best move. Of the songs, this album has several "keepers", and a couple that probably wouldn`t have made the cut on earlier records. "Eminence Front" is the outstanding song, and is considered a Who classic. "Athena", a moderate hit single, contains great visual imagery in the lyrics. "One at a Time", a virtually unknown song even to classic rock radio, is, in my opinion, one of John Entwistle`s best contributions to the Who catalog. | | | | Only buy this CD if you¿ve purchased every other Who album | | I have a theory that a great rock band has approximately 10 years from the time of their first record until the point at which they are washed up and spent. Not that they can`t produce decent material after that, but it becomes inconsistent and more of a hit or miss type scenario. Some bands, like the Beatles know when to call it quits, and thereby preserve an incredible legacy. Other bands like the Rolling Stones don`t know when to quit and become a parody of themselves. Then there are the bands like Led Zeppelin, in which fate intervenes and they quit after a member dies which happens to coincide with their decline, thus making their decision to give it up a bit easier. The Who could`ve fallen into this later category but chose not to, and the result of which is a legacy that includes mediocre releases like It`s Hard. If the Ten Year Rule were applied the Who would`ve quit after By Numbers in `75, which was the first sign of their downfall. They should have most definitely quit by `78 with the death of Moon, however they chose to soldier on with a new drummer releasing Face Dances and It`s Hard. The only bright spot on this album is the intro groove of Eminence Front, the rest of the song and the rest of the album is pretty unremarkable. Only buy this CD if you`ve purchased every other Who album and simply want to complete you`re collection. | | | | Should I stay or should I go? | Listening to Pete Townsend`s lyrics 20 years on from the release of `It`s Hard,` it`s clear he felt the Who had run its course.
Listening to some of the songs from the band`s 1982 swan song, it`s clear he was right.
Several, including `Cooks County,` `One at a Time` and `Cry if you want,` are throwaways. Others like `It`s your turn` and `Dangerous` are clearly passing the torch to younger bands like the Clash to carry on the rock and roll tradition Townsend believed so vehemently in. (Little did we know at that time that Joe Strummer and company would soon burn out and U2 would assume the Who`s stature among band`s that mattered).
Still, there is enough of the Who`s old firepower smoldering among the ruins to think they had a fighting chance had they continued to solider on into the 1980s.
The title track belies Townsend`s anguish amid its double entrande: Does it mean the band is still relevant or that the weight of its past is crushing its future? `Eminence Front` exposes the hypocritical stance Townsend had battled since the band became superstars and left its audience in the wake. Finally, `Why did I fall for that` is a vicious indictment of not only the Who, but its fans, who continued to worship the Emperor long after it was clear he had no clothes.
I give this album three stars because I was just coming of age as a Who fan - a mere 12 years old when it was released - and thus look more kindly on it than someone who cut their teeth on obviously superior work like `Who`s Next.`
A must for Who fans who want to study Townsend`s haunted psyche. Newcomers may want to familarize themselves with one of the all-too-many hits compilations before diving into this hit-and-miss collection | | |
-- zzzz
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