This album was unfairly derided in the past, with Daltrey in particular not liking it. That's a shame, because Daltrey's singing is outstanding on the album, very passionately giving his voice to the songs. Also, Kenney Jones does a fantastic job of drumming; yes he's not Keith Moon, but people only seem to remember Moon at his peak, forgetting that he could do some mediocre song performances as well as the incredible ones. Jones is well beyond adequate here, his drumming is a reason to enjoy the album and sometimes he carries songs that otherwise aren't all that memorable. Towshend's guitar work is also very good throughout. The only weaknesses in the album are that half the songs are mediocre, or needed a bit more work to make them great. And that John's bass isn't given a chance to shine as much as it usually does.

There are two outstanding songs on the album, "Eminence Front" and "Athena" - these rank with the top tier of Who songs. And there are some nearly great songs that just needed a little more polish to reach the top tier, "It's Hard" (the title track), "Why Did I Fall For That", and "Cry If You Want". There are 2 songs which are interesting in that they were written by John yet sung by Roger - and Roger gives his all singing them, as if they were written by Pete. Those are "It's Your Turn" and "Dangerous", and these are nearly great songs, just lacking that final bit of something to make them first rate Who songs. Of the two, probably "It's Your Turn" has the better lyrics and "Dangerous" has the better music, but both are worthy of being heard, and memorable in a good way.

The rest of the album doesn't grab me that much. "Cook's County" is a weak song, only somewhat saved by some instrumental parts. "I've Known No War" tries to be anthemic, but seems pointless lyrically and repetitive musically. IKNW does manage to get Pete's birth date worked into it, and tries to make that correspond with the end of WWII (he's off by a little over a week, and mentioning Albert Speer seems strange and inaccurate - Speer was not "deleted" in 1945 but lived to 1981). "A Man is a Man" has a nice piano sound to it, but as a song it sounds like a reworking of "Imagine a Man" (from "Who by Numbers") but not as good. "One Life's Enough" is Pete's attempt to be sentimental; it's thankfully short but a weak song. And "One At A Time" is John's attempt to revisit "My Life". While "My Life" was a great song, "One At A Time" is discordant and awful.

Overall this is an inconsistent album, but one that still has elements of greatness, and is essential for even somewhat moderate Who fans (i.e. not just the die-hard fans). Overall it's nearly as good as the "Who Are You" album, and that's pretty strong praise. It's better than "Face Dances" IMO, though I do wonder if they could have taken the best songs from "Face Dances" and added the best of "It's Hard", to make a truly classic Who album. Given that those albums were released less than 17 months apart, it's interesting to think what might have been. Then again, "Face Dances" was the first new Who album in 3 years, so waiting another year and a half beyond that was not in the cards. And fans can now create their own digital album out of the 2, If they so desire.

Brand	N/A
Rating	4.6 (492 ratings)
Price	$9.98
Category	Supergroups

It's Hard

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