Published on Jan 26, 1998
Let me get the blasphemous statement out of the way early in the
review: The Who should have broken up in 1978 when Keith Moon
died.
When Moon died, he took with him a creative spark and youthful
energy that Roger Daltrey and company had made a career on for well
over a decade. After a period of regrouping, The Who reemerged with
former Faces drummer Kenney Jones and released
Face Dances, an album that some claimed was not typical Who
material.
After the disappointment of
Face Dances (which I’ll admit I haven’t listened to in some
time), The Who had a decision to make: try to return to the roots
they came from, or continue in the same vein of
Face Dances and hope for the best. On
It’s Hard, they chose the second road — very bad idea.
The album opens strongly enough with “Athena,” a gentle number
that puts more emphasis on Daltrey’s vocals and what sound like
synthesizerss bubbling lightly in the background rather than Pete
Townshend’s guitar work. It also is one of the few hit singles I
can think of that didn’t feature a guitar solo.
The only other well-known number on
It’s Hard is “Eminence Front,” featuring Townshend as lead
throat. In retrospect, this isn’t a bad song, though it takes a
little too long to develop into the rocker it eventually becomes.
Still, it was a powerful swansong for The Who.
If only anything else on
It’s Hard stood out like these two songs, it would be a
better album. But the sad fact is that The Who had taken a serious
turn for the worse on this one. Daltrey’s singing and Townshend’s
playing often sound like their hearts just aren’t in the music
anymore — a criticism that many levelled against the Kenney
Jones-era Who.
A lot of the songs seem to talk about the losses of Moon and
former managers Kit Lambert (who died in 1981 after falling down a
flight of stairs) and Pete Meaden (who bought the farm three weeks
before Moon). The title track sings about the difficulties we all
face in life (“So I’m thinking about my life now / I’m thinking
very hard / Deal me another hand Lord, this one’s very hard”),
while “A Man Is A Man” seems to cry out to their lost bandmate and
answers those who claim to be wilder than “Moon The Loon” was
(“Well I met a man who really lives / He really does it all / But
what matters is the heart he gives / He makes your talk seem
small”). Despite the power they tried to capture in the lyrics, the
bored-sounding performances take all the punch away.
And by the time The Who does get down to kicking their act into
gear on “Cry If You Want,” it’s too late — the chance has been
wasted, and the writing can easily be seen on the wall for The Who.
(The band would call it a day in 1982, and play their farewell
concert in 1983 — that is, until they were enticed out of
retirement.)
But as much as some people may blame Jones, I refuse to put the
blame on him for the late-model Who. Fact was, anybody who took
over the drum throne after Moon’s death was in for a tough fight,
and to the band members left behind, there simply was no
replacement for Keith Moon.
Daltrey has reportedly said about
It’s Hard that this album should never have seen the light
of day. He doesn’t know how right he is, ’cause this is a sad
picture of a band’s decline, and should be avoided by even the
diehard Who fans.