It's Hard

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It's Hard is the final studio album (although a new album - with the working name Who2 - is set to come out 2006) by British rock band The Who and the second album after drummer Keith Moon died. It was released in 1982 and originally released on Polydor in the UK peaked at number 11 on the United Kingdom album charts and was released on Warner Bros. originally in the US where it peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts in the United States.

There are two schools of thought with consideration to It's Hard. Some view it as an album inspired by the tense political climate of the early 1980s, as Pete Townshend did. Others see it merely as The Who fulfilling the contract to their American record label, as Roger Daltrey thought. The split in opinion is evident in reviews of the time, as well; It's Hard was praised by some critics and panned by many others. Most notably, the album received a five-star review in Rolling Stone.

The first track, "Athena," is one of the few songs that was well received on It's Hard. The demo version was called "Theresa," named after actress Theresa Russell. It was written after Pete Townshend had met Russell and promptly fell for her, only to be rejected the next day. His frustration of her not reciprocating his love is expressed in this song, which he renamed "Athena" as to hide who the song was really about. Townshend planned on "Athena" to be part of the revival of Lifehouse. "Athena" peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Pop Singles charts. The lyric sheet for "Athena."

In the years since its release, "Eminence Front" has become the most consistently critically acclaimed and recognizable song from this album. Many people who dislike It's Hard as a whole still think "Eminence Front" is one of the best songs The Who has ever recorded.

The album cover, designed by Graham Hughes, depicts a young boy playing the Space Duel arcade game. It is a reference to Tommy, with the pinball table that the main character played with updated to the times. It was not popular with Townshend, who criticized it shortly after the album's release because of the lack of the band's input.

See also 1982 in music.

1 Track listing
2 Personnel
3 Personnel - Production
4 External links
5 References

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Track listing

"Athena" (Townshend) – 3:46
"It's Your Turn" (Entwistle) – 3:39
"Cooks County" (Townshend) – 3:34
"It's Hard" (Townshend) – 3:47 (extended on the 1997 remastered version and had some different guitar parts on the beginning of the song)
"Dangerous" (Entwistle) – 3:15 (extended on the 1997 remastered version and the vocals were remixed)
"Eminence Front" (Townshend) – 5:39 (on the 1997 remastered version, the vocals were remixed to be on both speakers and used some different bass parts)
"I've Known No War" (Townshend) – 5:45 (on the 1997 remastered version, the vocals were remixed)
"One Life's Enough" (Townshend) – 2:21
"One at a Time" (Entwistle) – 2:55
"Why'd I Fall for That" (Townshend) – 3:18 (extended outro on the 1997 remastered version)
"A Man Is a Man" (Townshend) – 3:48
"Cry If You Want" (Townshend) – 4:35 (extended outro on the 1997 remastered version)

The 1997 digitally remastered reissue of It's Hard added four live tracks:

"It's Hard" (Townshend) – 4:56 (This version was recorded on the last show of The Who's tour in 1982 at Toronto on December 17.)
"Eminence Front" (Townshend) – 5:44
"Dangerous" (Entwistle) – 3:48
"Cry If You Want" (Townshend) – 7:12 (This track was recorded at the same show as aforementioned "It's Hard" track.)

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