I was just six years old in 1975, when E.L.O. released their fifth album, “Face the Music.” “Evil Woman” was the first single and the band’s first worldwide hit.
I have a fond memory of hearing this song while riding with my Dad in his red Ford F150, running errands in Belvedere, South Carolina, where we lived for a few years. In retrospect, the song must have been on the radio, since it’s not the kind of music he listens to, now or then. (I recall that eight-track tapes of Elton John and Olivia Newton-John, both going through country phases, were in heavy rotation.)
Two years later, I bought my first album (vinyl, of course) and it was E.L.O.’s “A New World Record,” arguably their best. But, to my taste, no song on that record sounds better than “Evil Woman.”
(Funny note: my wife used to think the chorus was “Medieval Woman.” Listen for yourself. I can’t hear this song now without hearing Jeff Lynne sing “medieval woman.”)
