The Who – It’s Hard Review 

Hard it may be for any artist to have survived the 1980s, The Who gets off lightly compared to their peers. There seemed to be something of a complete collapse in interest for legendary musicians at the turn of the 80s. They were unable to keep up with the synth style of the times, the pop reactivity of Duran Duran and Madonna simply too much to comprehend for Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Paul McCartney. Each had troubled solo offerings during this period, and The Who is no exception. So rough a time it was that The Who bowed out on It’s Hard and did not release another album for twenty years. Geffen Records had played a hand in dismantling Young, but for The Who it was a whole other story. They sounded somewhat like themselves, reacting to the loss of drummer Keith Moon. There’s no replacing him, but they try all the same. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend push on through, defiant against the changing instrumental times. They’re a rock and roll outfit, and they don’t forget that on It’s Hard.  

Opening track Athena is solid work from Daltrey and the gang. Not The Who at their best, but it’s a nice opener that doesn’t overstay its welcome. None of these songs do, and it may be the lighter tone that keeps it from feeling like a slog. It’s Hard, rightly or wrongly, highlights the lack of impassioned drumming. A slower tempo, a softer instrumental flourish, dependent on other instruments, is what The Who offers. They make the absence the focus. What The Who does here is expound their grief. They do it far better here than they did it on their follow-up, Endless Wire, which was another exploration of how the loss of a band member changed their sound. It’s Hard has some early successes with It’s Your Turn a stark and solid piece of suffering, backed with harmonies and an instrumental build like no other heard on the album. They do prog-rock thrills better than Yes were at the time, and it’s quite a shock to hear.  

Light instrumental work means the band takes on a whole new shape. That title track has the hallmarks of alternate 1980s rock to it, but The Who handles it quite well. They’re welcoming in this new wave of sound and keeping it at arm’s length all the same, for fear it’ll affect their process for dealing with the loss of Moon and their adaptation to a new period. It’d not be a long-lasting one, but the band certainly seem thrilled by the opportunity to continue creating. Quite light, and quite enjoyable too. That’s the basis for It’s Hard. Townshend shuffles off into the instrumental background and instead The Who focuses on some relatively solid soundscape building. They manage this best of all on Dangerous, though the lyrics could use a bit of work. Bass-driven work on Eminence Front is a standout, not least because it shows the band focusing on new instrumentals. They ahd become dependent on Moon, and with his absence is a chance to explore new sounds.  

It’s Hard is successful measured on a metric of exploration. What an album to have ended their careers on, however brief the end may have been. A B-side filled with brutal best bits from The Who, like I’ve Known No War. An outstanding selection of songs on the second side of It’s Hard turn the album around entirely. Instrumentally sharp, relying on the Townshend and John Entwistle pairing as Daltrey shifts gear and heads into a spectacle-producing vocal performance. It’s moments like this that highlight the camaraderie found in grief, a tone which would sadly be the backdrop to the album after It’s Hard, some twenty years later. That marching drumbeat on album closer, Cry if You Want, is as touching as it is the perfect send-off to one of the most influential bands of their time. The Who ended it once with a strong album, returned twice more to the studio, but never got close to the quality of It’s Hard.