Re: It's Hard

[Rich Bogovich <rbogovich@yahoo.com>]

Pasting from a few messages...

>> Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000
>> From: "Sharon and Benjamin"
<bubu@idirect.com>Subject: albums
>> Sorry to be away for so long.  I'd like to ask 
>> a couple of questions if I may.  Who here loves 
>> the album It's Hard?  I happen to think it is a 
>> solid album but it has been panned left, right 
>> and centre.  Come on, besides Eminence Front 
>> there are some stellar tunes on that record.  
>> I've Known No War, It's Hard, Athena, Cry If 
>> You Want, One At a Time, It's Your Turn,
>> Dangerous.... who here agrees?  The same can 
>> go for Face Dances (another overlooked album).  
>> How Can You Do It Alone, You, Daily Records, 
>> Cache Cache, Don't Let Go the Coat, The Quiet 
>> One.....all classics in my opinion.
>> WHO here agrees?  I'm looking forward to some 
>> input on these most valuable inquiries.

Among the replies:

> Face dances is a pretty weak album as a whole 
> though, It's hard was an improvement, The two 
> albums were just such a decline in quality from 
> For instance WHO ARe YOU

I happen to think It's Hard is vastly
underappreciated.  On the other hand, despite being
very fond of "Another Tricky Day," "Don't Let Go The
Coat" and "The Quiet One," I almost never listen to
Face Dances.

I've argued at length in years past that It's Hard is
better than Who Are You.  I do think that the JAE
songs on WAY are better than his three on It's Hard,
but not vastly so.  I also think the title track "Who
Are You" is probably The Who's best post-Quad song
(though I could make a case for the underrated "In A
Hand Or A Face").  Nevertheless, It's Hard is more
consistently above average.  A timely analogy might be
the Univ. of Wisconsin basketball team.  Though it
lost today, without a superstar it beat several
highly-ranked schools through the combined efforts of
decent players.  When I listen to Who Are You, I
almost always program my CD player to skip all of
Pete's songs except the title track.

I'm much more likely to listen to It's Hard than a few
other albums besides Who Are You and Face Dances,
including A Quick One, the original My Gen (I can hear
the few excellent tracks elsewhere) and even Tommy (I
much prefer it live).  I wouldn't even listen to Sell
Out as much if it weren't for "Mary Anne," the
commercials, and the bonus tracks.  Yes, Sell Out has
some songs with very charming and clever lyrics, like
"Odorono," "Tattoo" and the aforementioned shaky hand
song, but other than "ICSFM" and a little "Armenia"
wizardry it doesn't exactly ROCK; the original
would've been much improved had "Jaguar," with Moon's
terrific drumming, been included instead of the tame
"Sunrise" or "Silas Stingy."  Heck, it doesn't even
have much in the way of darn good "power pop" like "So
Sad About Us," much less "Substitute."

It's Hard vs. By Numbers or Odds & Sods?  Those are
tougher calls for me.  Those both are a bit uneven
with some excellent songs but also some weak ones.

Lest many of you think me completely off my rocker, I
rank Quad and Who's Next #1 and #2, head and shoulders
above the rest.

On a somewhat related note, someone asked:

> I'm sure we all listen to Tommy, Who's Next, 
> Quad etc regularly - do people listen to Who's 
> Last, Join Together ever...?

I almost never listen to Who's Last, though I do enjoy
"Twist And Shout" very much.  I do play Join Together
from time to time.  I enjoy the Overture (it brings
back memories of being near the front of the stage for
the very first time) and several other tracks that
aren't on other live Who releases.

Rich B.

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