The Who - It's Hard

LPs (vinyl) Sampled: Polydor (UK), Warner Brothers (USA), Warner Brothers – promo copy pressed on Quiex II vinyl (USA), Polydor (France), Polydor (Argentina), Polydor (Japan)

CDs (original mix) Sampled: Polydor-1st pressing (Germany), Polydor-2nd pressing (Germany), Warner Brothers-1st pressing (USA), Warner Brothers-2nd pressing (USA), MCA (USA), Polydor (Japan)

LP Comments: Both Polydor (UK) and Warner Brothers (USA) sound just about the same. The promo Quiex II is a better quality of vinyl, but in this case, it doesn't seem to improve the sound.

LP 2022 Record Store Day Comments: World wide distribution from (Germany) Polydor/UMC LP. The album was expanded to (2) two LPs (on orange and yellow colored vinyl) to improve sound quality. However, the sound on this LP is slightly dull compared to previous releases. This LP adds several previously unreleased tracks, "Eminence Front" (Roger Daltrey lead vocal version), "One Life's Enough" (Pete Townshend lead vocal version), "Cry If You Want" (Extended version) as well as "Dangerous" (unedited version - which was previously released on the 1997 remixed CD, but this is the first vinyl release).

Note: MCA subsequently pressed this on both vinyl and CD, after the Who deal with Warner Brothers fell apart. I have not listened to the MCA LP at this time.

CD (original mix) comments: This album seems to be the only one of the Who releases that Polydor (Germany) updated since their initial releases and before the reissue series. The first pressings of this CD (both Polydor (Germany) and Warner Brothers (USA)) were made at the Polydor plant in Germany and sound identical, but unfortunately, pretty bad--as they are overly dull and muddy. The 2nd pressing from Warner Brothers was made in their USA plant and sounds excellent. The updated Polydor (Germany) sounds excellent too. The Polydor (Japan) CD seems somewhere in-between the original USA/Germany pressings and later USA & Germany pressings, but still dull and muddy sounding. The 2011 Polydor (Japan) Remastered Original Mix sounds very good too if you want a great copy of the original mix - this is it.

CD (remix) comments: All 3 of these CDs (Polydor (Germany), Polydor (Japan) and MCA (USA)) sound different from one another. None of them sound bad, just different. Both the Polydor (Germany) and MCA (USA) suffer from too much compression in the mastering process, but otherwise sound fine. The Polydor (Japan) version seems to be stripped of most of the extra compression and has the extra bass (which is present in most of the other Japanese Who CD releases). However, in this case, it helps the album sound "punchier", as if it's more "live" sounding. I can't seem to find an explanation for what happened which caused the differences on this release, but as long as the differences aren't bad, they are acceptable.

Summary: If you like the original mix of the album, seek out the 2nd pressing (made in the USA) Warner Brothers (USA) CD, The MCA (USA) CD, the 1993 pressing of the Polydor (Germany) copy or the 2011 Polydor (Japan) remastered, original mix. If you like the remix, go with the Polydor (Japan). Overall, it sounds better without the extra compression and the extra bass. The 2022 (Germany RSD LP) has great bonus tracks (on side 4), but the sound quality is slightly dull compared to previous releases of the album.

Other Comments: For some reason, most of the Who fans in the UK I've encountered do not like this album (American fans seem mixed—I love it). However, after the album was remixed, it seems to have gained more respect on both sides of the pond.

Original Mix: Athena, It's Your Turn, Cook's County, It's Hard, Dangerous, Eminence Front, I've Known No War, One Life's Enough, One At A Time, Why Did I Fall For That?, A Man Is A Man, Cry If You Want

Remix: Athena, It's Your Turn, Cook's County, It's Hard, Dangerous, Eminence Front, I've Known No War, One Life's Enough, One At A Time, Why Did I Fall For That?, A Man Is A Man, Cry If You Want, It's Hard (live), Eminence Front (live), Dangerous (live), Cry If You Want (live)

2022 Record Store Day (RSD): Athena, It's Your Turn, Cook's County, It's Hard, Dangerous, Eminence Front, I've Known No War, One Life's Enough, One At A Time, Why Did I Fall For That?, A Man Is A Man, Cry If You Want, Eminence Front (Roger Daltrey Lead Vocal Version), Cry If You Want (Extended Version), One Life's Enough (Pete Townshend Lead Vocal Version), Dangerous (1997 Remix Unedited Version)

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