It's Hard (studio album) by The Who

Worst Who album up to this point. Totally lifeless and uninspired. The Who should have quit after Keith Moon's death. Keith being the driving force behind Townsend's writing. Everything after "It's Hard" was even worse.

Better than I remember, though obviously far from the best the Who could do. Eminence Front is an all-time classic. Cry If You Want and Athena are good. The rest ranges from solid to so-so. Nothing is atrocious. Unfortunately a lot of the songs suffer from being forgettable, hence why I started this review with "better than I remember."

From llibnanoon 07/13/2020 17:49

Times a changing for the Who on this one. Eminence Front is still a classic! Rating (75.83)

From Fischman 01/12/2017 00:44

I was hugely disappointed in this album when it first came out, but it has really grown on me over the years. In addition to the two big hits (Athena and Eminence Front) there are some good deep cuts like One At A Time and Why Did I Fall For That. I suspect it's only so despised because it's a pale shadow of what the Who were capable of, but if an average band had put this out, it'd probably get a lot more love.

I enjoyed it a lot, but really, it's nothing special.

The Who's tenth studio album, is even more disappointing than the previous LP, face dances. It's hard, for one, doesn't contain a hit single, and although there are a couple of very good tracks here, you can't say any of them are true Who classics. Who are you, had the title track, and, face dances, had, you better you bet, but, it's hard's, lead of single was the wimpish, Athena, a very un-Who like song. Elsewhere, the title track, is a bit weak, and there are other so-so cuts such as, dangerous, and, one life's enough. The album's redeeming moments are the excellent funk of, eminence front, the superb, I've known no war, and closing track, cry if you want. The Who were really at a dead end, and even though, it's hard, isn't a bad album, it's better than, who are you, but the band were a shadow of their former selves by this point, thankfully Townshend called a day after this, well, at least for 24 years anyway.

This record has some great material on it. Not their best album by far but it's c'mon it's The Who.

From ledemoncleaner 07/01/2015 20:29

Eminence Front is one of the best songs the group has ever recorded. With it's distant synth beats and flaming guitar work. But the rest of the album is pretty much a snoozer. And this is coming from a group who made such watershed rock albums as "Who's Next" or "Quadrophenia".

Best Track: Eminence Front

"Eminence Front" and "Why Did I Fall for That" are fantastic, and the title song is decent. Not much else to recommend this.