AMG Review of Ear Candy

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Ear Candy qualifies as a genuine oddity in Helen Reddy’s catalog, a record that finds the queen of Australian soft rock paired with the king of L.A. sleaze, Kim Fowley, and his henchman Earle Mankey, a pair who were just coming off of the teenage kicks of the Runaways. Fowley and Mankey pushed Reddy toward unusual territory, but that doesn’t mean they lead her toward the gutter: they encouraged Reddy to write, prompting a surprising five originals on this ten-track album, let her dabble with synthesizers on the lurching “Long Distance Love,” and had her do a Cajun stomp with “Laissez Les Bontempts Rouler.” While “Midnight Skies” bears trace elements of Fowley’s bubblegum -- it could have been the theme song for a sugary Saturday morning #Sid & Marty Krofft ripoff in 1972 -- and the reverbed “Baby, I’m a Star” plays a bit like diluted Lee Hazlewood, Fowley and Mankey keep Reddy within her soft rock wheelhouse, and while there are no big hits here, there are few dull spots, and the odd moments help make this one of Reddy’s most interesting LPs.