The Candidate (album)
| The Candidate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Steve Harley | ||||
| Released | September 1979 | |||
| Recorded | February 1979 | |||
| Genre | Pop rock | |||
| Length | 40:19 | |||
| Label | EMI | |||
| Producer | Steve Harley, Jimmy Horowitz | |||
| Steve Harley chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| 24.000 Dischi (Italian Dalai editore book) | |
| Smash Hits | 5/10 |
| Q | |
| Record Collector | |
The Candidate is the second solo studio album by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley released in 1979. It was produced by Harley and Jimmy Horowitz.
Having spent almost a year living in Los Angeles, during which time his debut solo album Hobo with a Grin was released, Harley returned to London at the end of 1978. In mid-November 1978, various UK music magazines reported that after returning to England at Christmas, Harley would form a new band, record a new album in February and plan a world tour for later in the year. Speaking to the Daily Star in December 1978, he described Hobo with a Grin as "an experience", adding: "But this time I'll do things very differently. I'll get the band together, then record the album in a fortnight - the way I always used to."
The Candidate took three weeks to write, while recording took place during February at Abbey Road Studios. The entire album was also mixed and mastered at Abbey Road Studios, except mixing for "Freedom's Prisoner", which took place at Morgan Studios. Afterwards, Harley began planning a British and European tour for later in the year. When talking of forming a new Cockney Rebel line-up, Harley commented to Daily Mirror's Pauline McLeod: "There will undoubtedly be some of the old group members of the group in the line-up. Maybe Jim Cregan could join up for it if he's not busy recording with Rod Stewart."
Speaking to Maggi Russell in early 1979, Harley revealed of the new album:
"I needed the energy that London has. West Coast musicians have done it all before, and they're very blase. Here people put their heart and soul into their music. Stuart Elliott and Jo Partridge from Cockney Rebel worked on the album with me. It's very important when you're spending 12 hours a day in the studio with a bunch of people that you get on well, that you share a sense of humour. Otherwise you all end up having a bad time. "Hobo with a Grin" was a difficult album, and hard to market. My new album leans back more to the early Cockney Rebel sound, a similar tempo, more commercial perhaps. I have made a record that I believe in. If the music press review it maturely I'll be glad, but that is doubtful. I'm really hoping for a good 1979, and I'm putting everything I've got into it. I'm back, and they are all going to know I am. You could spend a lot of time in this business getting affluent with success, but I'm more interested in my own sense of achievement. I hope my fans like it too."
In an interview with The Evening News in October, Harley spoke of his return from America and the album's creation:
"I spent almost a full year out there and did nothing except swim and sunbathe and head for some party or other at night. I had a rented house in Beverley Hills – it was costing me about £300 a week and all I did was lie by the pool and have friends to stay at the guest house. I then realised that I was getting nowhere fast and booked London's Abbey Road studios for two months. I called my old Cockney Rebel drummer Stuart Elliott and asked him to put me a band together. I came back to London, and within about three weeks I had more than enough songs for an LP. I'm pleased with "The Candidate" – it's the best album I've done in ages."
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