Pop/Rock

The Who will headline a sold-out show tomorrow beginning at noon at JFK Stadium

Who are lucky? The ticketholders By Ken Tucker Inquirer Popular Music Critic

Like any self-respecting Who fan, I have prepared for the band’s arrival in Philadelphia tomorrow by reading the recent slew of magazine interviews given by guitarist/leader Pete Townshend, and by listening closely to the band’s new album “It’s Hard” (Warner Bros.). And like many self-respecting Who fans, I’m a little . . . disappointed.

I doubt that even the most rabid Who fan could seriously rank “It’s Hard” as one of the band’s best releases; the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine carries a five-star rave review of the record that can’t carry the weight of its forced praise — didn’t believe it for a minute, did you? While “It’s Hard” has its share of excellent music — the funky blues of “Eminence Front,” the slash-and-bang guitar chords that end “Cry If You Want” — it’s an album that is rather thin in breadth of both thought and melody.

Which is to say, if this is indeed the Who’s “farewell tour,” as Townshend and lead singer Roger Daltry have suggested it may be, is it possible that Townshend, as the group’s principal songwriter, has run out of ideas he wants to discuss in the context of this particular band?

Certainly, all of the musicians on “It’s Hard” are working at peak form. As one who’s always found Daltry’s supple yell enjoyable only as a vehicle for Townshend’s lyrics, I must say he sounds more warm, more subtle — more knowing — than at any time since the great Who album, “Who’s Next” (1971). Bassist John Entwhistle has contributed three stalwart tunes in addition to some coursing bass-guitar playing. And drummer Kenny Jones has evolved a real alternative percussive style that distinguishes him from his predecessor, Keith Moon, who died in 1978.

No, the weaknesses of “It’s Hard” lie, I’m afraid, with the band’s greatest musician, Pete Townshend. When the Who exploded onto the rock scene in the mid-’60s, the media played up their onstage antics — Townshend’s leaps, Daltry’s microphone-twirling, and most of all, the band’s destruction of their instruments at the climax of their performance.

But very quickly, it became clear that what really distinguished the Who was Pete Townshend’s amazing abilities as a songwriter. Townshend possesses the pop genius of being able to render complex ideas in quick, simple terms. Better than anyone else, he has written songs that express ambivalence about being a rock star, and his nonstop spiritual crises haven’t weighed him down with ponderous self-examination. Even in his invention of that highly dubious form, the “rock opera,” his Tommy remains at least listenable, its plot pleasingly knotty, its lyrics inveiglingly allusive, its melodies rarely less than compelling.

Townshend’s current round of public confessionals, conducted in magazines like Rolling Stone and a numbing two-parter in Musician, focus on his recent bouts with alcohol and pills. Only Townshend could chronicle his dissipation and subsequent resurrection (he’s as clean as a whistle now, he testifies) without seeming self-righteous. But there’s an increasingly niggling, conservative edge to many of Townshend’s comments that can also be found in his recent solo album “All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes” and in “It’s Hard.” On the one hand he’s upset about the imminence of nuclear war, and bravo to him for yelling about that. But on the other, his protests are couched in banal language that’s very unusual for a man as articulate as Townshend.

At other times, it’s not at all clear what Townshend is driving at. On “Athena,” the first single to be released from “It’s Hard,” the refrain is “She’s just a girl — she’s a bomb,” which some people have interpreted as a slap at women. I might too, except that Townshend has also written “A Man is a Man,” an obvious — even too obvious — satire of macho principles that comes down on the side of women decisively.

The conclusion to be drawn from these songs and other, overstated ones like “I’ve Known No War” and “Cooks County” is that this is a Who at loose ends. Fortunately, however, none of the flaws of “It’s Hard” should weaken the Who’s live show tomorrow, since at JFK Stadium they can simply steamroll over the watery lyrics with sheer volume and stagecraft. For those lucky enough to have tickets after the band abruptly cut their two Philadelphia shows to one, it ought to be an interesting performance.

If you go

The Who will be at JFK Stadium tomorrow. The show starts at noon, with two opening acts, Santana and the Clash. The performance is sold out.