The Who's album "It's Hard" 1982: ATHENA ANYONE??? BIMBLE SAYS

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Re. "Athena" - yeah but then you get Daltrey throwing up his breakfast every time he burps "She's just a GIRRRLLLLLL-UUUUHHHH!"

hahahaahahha

I love this record! I'm late for work, but yes Bimble, yes.

Rolling Stone gave this album 5 stars when it came out. Really.
I do kinda like "Athena," however.

Ha, I just checked the website and it's STILL 5 stars. Still crazy after all these years.
It figures. Just when the Who had ceased to matter much–the band members having channeled a lot of their power and volatility and commitment into solo careers, employing the Who chiefly as a vehicle to take a greatest-hits revue on the road – it figures that they'd make their most vital and coherent album since Who's Next. It's fitting that It's Hard is a great record because, given the inverted world of Pete Townshend's mind, it's what you were least expecting.

athena and eminence front are unstoppable; rest of the album isn't much though. I really don't like any full who albums after 'quadrophenia' until 'endless wire'. townsend is my preferred who vocalist

it's a bomb

townsend is my preferred who vocalist
Yup. In Dave Marsh's book, they actually thought about sacking Daltrey early on because of his violent temper. They figured they'd be fine because Townsend had such a distinctive voice.

Rolling Stone gave this album 5 stars when it came out. Really.

They wanted to get an exclusive Who interview/story, which is why they gave it that ridiculously over-the-top review. RS does that from time to time.

"Eminence Front" (and lately "Cry If You Want") aside, the Who have pretty much disowned this album. Even Daltrey said, "I hated it. I still hate it. Hate it, hate it, hate it!"

I wonder who wrote that RS review. Parke Puterbaugh? DeCurtis?

(Yeah, I know I can easily look it up for myself and will probably do so in due time. But it's fun to guess...)

It was Puterbaugh.

"'I've Known No War' is a song that could become an anthem to our generation much the way 'Won't Get Fooled Again' did a decade ago

Entwistle's songs, particularly "One At A Time" and "Cry If You Want," are pretty OK...

And, um, I love Daltrey's voice. I love Townsend's voice, too, but yeah.

"Cry If You Want" is a Townshend song, and kind of a brilliant summing-up to this generally crappy album and the petering-out of their career...by far their best Jones-era song.

i bought this specifically for Eminence Front and dont think i've ever heard the rest of the album

Though there isn't anything as good as "You Better You Bet" or "Another Tricky Day" on it, it's a better album than Face Dances. Six very good songs by my count.

Never understood the hate for this record. . .'Cry if You Want', 'Cooks County', 'It's Your Turn', several others, all strong tracks and an admirable performance given everything the band had been through in the previous four years. Daltrey disowns both Jones records, has for quite some time.

" the Who have pretty much disowned this album. Even Daltrey said, "I hated it. I still hate it. Hate it, hate it, hate it!"

Still doesn't absolve him of the crime of putting it out. They were a long way from Quadrophenia at this point.

Bimble is there anything that sounds like the 80s that you don't just love

Oh plenty of things, John...Huey Lewis & The News can go fuck themselves, for starters.

Besides...*someone* has to keep the 80's flame burning around here!

It was Puterbaugh.

Woo-hoo!

I'm delighted that Jeff Wright has posted to one of my threads. It's nice to know you're still around, Jeff. We were pretty good penpals for some years.

Killer one-line put down at the time: "Just because IT'S HARD doesn't mean you have to play with it." Caption to the photo that went with the NME review IIRC.

Still doesn't absolve him of the crime of putting it out.

Supposedly, after they finished recording, Daltrey took Townshend aside and said, "OK, we've gotten that out of our system. Now let's make a record that we can actually be proud of." Townshend adamantly refused to do any further writing or recording (It's Hard took only two weeks to record), telling an apoplectic Daltrey he pretty much had no choice but to live with it.

Hey, at least it got Pete out of rehab, and made Jones enough money on the "Farewell" tour to successfully sue Don Arden for Small Faces royalties.

so that Daltrey could work on his awesome solo albums?

(how are they anyway?)

70s solo albums were hit-or-miss; Daltrey is very solid big-production pop, with one of his absolute best vocal performances ("It's a Hard Life"). Ride A Rock Horse is crappy, but One Of the Boys and the McVicar soundtrack are decent. Everything after that is utter shite.

Alfred please check your email. Thanx

Speaking of the McVicar soundtrack, the rest of the Who are the back up band on several tracks, but does anybody know which ones? I'm assuming "Free Me" is one of them.

oh damn you I haven't even heard that yet. arrggh

gave this album probably my first in-depth listen yesterday, it's actually very good. that is all.

and I realize I was lukewarm on it up above, so maybe I did listen to this at some point and my feelings have just changed. but I like this more than Face Dances and honestly, maybe even more than The Who By Numbers.

Townsend's voice is sublime; I'm thinking of I Can't Reach You, the Blue the Red and the Grey, and the M8 of The Punk and the Godfather, where it serves as a turn into introspection after the Daltrey swagger and rage.

Another sublime Townshend: "Sunrise"

Oh god, Sunrise is beautiful

I don't really have any time for any Who albums after The Who by Numbers ... I like 'Who Are You' and 'You Better, You Bet' but if I'm to be honest with myself, that's really about it.

me either, but I think the totality of 'it's hard' is better than most of Who Are You (the album) and Face Dances

Fun fact: "Sunrise" dates to 1964. There's an early demo of it on last year's My Generation box. Pete and Keith fought over its inclusion on Sell Out -- Keith wanted "Jaguar" instead, mainly because he sang lead on it.

"Jaguar" is great, I'd have swapped out "Medac" to put it on the album.

I wish there was, like, an Astrud Gilberto bossa nova version of "Sunrise"

Entwistle's tunes on the last three Who albums are all solid.

The ones on Who Are You and "The Quiet One" are good, but by It's Hard he'd settled into this awful FM-AOR thing -- "It's Your Turn" might be my least favorite Who song.

(And Entwistle didn't have any songs on the last Who album.)

'Success Story' is the last Entwistle song I like.