The Candidate

by Dave ThompsonWhen Steve Harley's "Freedom's Prisoner" single hit the airwaves in fall 1979, it would have taken a lot to convince the longtime fan that the man hadn't resparked all his old glories again, and was about to embark upon a musical journey as scintillating, and as fascinating, as that which launched him in the first place. A tidal wave of intriguing lyrics, a captivating chorus and a dynamic that was pure Psychomodo, it was Harley's finest 45 in half a decade. It was also a total fluke, as the accompanying album flopped onto the streets and proved itself (as too many times before) to be little more than a clutch of substandard songs, glued together by alluring production alone. "Audience with the Man" and "From Here to Eternity" do bear repeated listens, but too much of Candidate clung so lifelessly to the stylus that it was hard to believe our hopes had ever soared so high.