The Who
It's Hard

The penultimate studio album marked by The Who is "It's Hard" (1982). With the passing of legendary drummer Keith Moon, the three surviving members plus one new member behind the drums have to deal with their own shadows. They try to reinvent themselves, but nothing: the album sounds extremely dull. It pains me to speak in such terms about a Who album, but it is inevitable. Few brilliant ideas (and there were already hints of this with the two previous works before this) and the same old soup, served cold here.

The album opens with "Athena", a not too bad track but far from the glory days of the past, followed by tracks that leave nothing behind, songs you just want to skim through and would hardly listen to more than twice unless you're a huge fan of theirs. However, two exceptions must be made: the first is "Eminence Front", the only true gem inside the album, a real treat for fans (and not only) where electronics, rock, and pop (and even a hint of prog) blend, and whose lyrics can stand up to the wonderful musicality of the piece; the second is "Cry If You Want", a track that closes the album and bitterly invites the listener to cry because this marks the end of a first part of the group's history, which will only return to the studio 24 years later.

Ultimately, it is an utterly avoidable album. If you want to approach this band that made Rock history, go back to listening to their early works, those were real masterpieces. If, on the other hand, you are a fan and love this album, explain to me why I can't digest it.