• Writer: Jeff Lynne
• Producer: Jeff Lynne
• Recorded: Spring 1975 at Musicland in Munich, Germany
• Released: September 1975
• Players:
  Jeff Lynne — vocals, guitar
  Bev Bevan — drums, vocals
  Richard Tandy — keyboards
  Kelly Groucutt — bass, vocals
  Mik Kaminski — violin
  Melvyn Gale — cello
  Hugh McDowell — cello
• Album: Face the Music (United Artists, 1975)
• Also on:
  Ole ELO (United Artists, 1976)
  ELO’s Greatest Hits (Jet, 1979)
  Afterglow (Epic, 1990)
  Strange Magic (Legacy/Epic, 1995)
  and other compilations
• ELO was formed in 1970 by three former members of the Move — Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, and Bev Bevan — who envisioned a unique synthesis between rock band and string section. They initially viewed ELO as a side project to the Move.
• Wood surprisingly left after the first ELO album in 1972.
• Evil Woman” was ELO’s second Top 10 hit, following “Can’t Get it Out of My Head.” It also hit Number Ten in the U.K.
• The dancey, discoey strains of “Evil Woman” caused something of a controversy within ELO’s following and the music press, which heretofore had recorded the group as something of a progressive rock band.
• The “Evil Woman” single was backed by a live recording of “10538 Overture,” which had been ELO’s first single in 1972.
• The Face The Music album was ELO’s top-seller to that date, peaking at Number Eight in the Billboard charts.
• Face The Music was engineered by Mack, who would go on to a successful career as a producer working with Queen and Billy Squier.
• ELO previewed the Face The Music album to the British press at a circus party, which the group entered riding atop a herd of elephants.
• ELO received the Outstanding Contribution to British Music award at the 24th annual Ivor Novello Awards on May 4, 1979 in London.
• ELO was one of the first bands to be admit to using taped music during its concerts.

FAST FORWARD:

• Though ELO broke up in 1986, Bevan, Kelly Groucutt, and Mik Kaminski went on to lead a spin-off called ELO II from 1991 to 1999.
• Lynne has gone on to produce successful albums for George Harrison and Paul McCartney, as well as songs for Roy Orbison, Ringo Starr, Brian Wilson, and others. He also produced the two “new” songs for The Beatles Anthology and is a member of the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys.

Lynne re-launched the band in 2000, but it was short-lived due to weak sales for the album Zoom.