IT'S HARD

By 1982 THE WHO was really in its last days as a permanent band. They survived for some years after the death of Keith Moon, but without him their sound changed a lot. Having a new drummer (Kenney Jones) since 1979, who really was not really "new" in the music bussiness , because he previously was a former member of the SMALL FACES in the sixties and of THE FACES since the late sixties to 1975, it was obvious that his style of playing the drums was very different from Moon`s. But also, the music from the band (composed separately by Peter Townshend and John Entwistle) also changed. They were in their late thirties, and the music also lost some "power" that it even was there in their "Who Are You" album from 1978, their last album with Moon on drums. By 1982 Townshend also had some substance abuse problems which required from him being in rehabilitation, a thing which he achieved early in that year. Anyway, the band recorded this album which sounds a bit "lighter" musically and lyrically in comparison to other albums they recorded with Moon. Kenney Jones is a good drummer, more technically oriented than Moon, maybe more disciplined in his drums playing than Moon. But Moon, even if he was not as technically oriented and disciplined as Jones, really was at the centre of the music style of the band, playing with a lot of power which was one of the characteristics of the sound of the band. Anyway, Jones played the drums in this album very well...but he does not sound as Moon. But Jones did his best while he was in the band.

This album sounds more oriented to the Pop Rock of the eighties. The album still sounds like recorded by THE WHO. But I think that they really were looking for how to adapt themselves as a band to the musical changes of the eighties. With lyrics about Cold War and Nuclear Weapons, social and economical problems, and even some ballads, this album as a whole is not bad, but it also is not very interesting. The best songs from this album are "It`s Hard", "Dangerous" (composed by Entwistle and a song which sounded better played in concert than in this studio album), "Eminence Front" (the best song in this album and with a keyboard arrangement which sounds to me a bit inspired by the keyboard sounds from "Baba O`Riley " from "Who`s Next"), "A Man is a Man" and "Cry if You Want".

Roger Daltrey said in interviews that he really does not like this album. Anyway, this album is not too bad, and in fact it really sounds a lot inlfuenced by Pete Townshend`s sound as a solo musician. When they finished their "farewell tour" in late 1982, Townshend tried to compose more songs for the band to record a last studio album for their record labels. But by the end of 1983 Townshend announced the end of the band saying that he could not continue composing songs for the band. They released in late 1984 a last album (a contractual obligation) recorded live during their "farewell tour" in 1982 and titled "Who`s Last" , which is not a not very good live album which does not include any songs from this album and their previous album from 1981 titled "Face Dances". This "It`s Hard" album was their last studio album with Entwistle (who died in mid 2002) and Jones, until Daltrey and Townshend released a new studio album in 2006 as THE WHO titled "Endless Wire".