Album · Electric Light Orchestra
Face the Music by Electric Light Orchestra
Face the Music is an album by Electric Light Orchestra, released in 1975. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 77 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Evil Woman”, on 46 lists with a best position of #8.
Face the Music, ELO's fifth album, hit the racks in September 1975 on United Artists, with Jet putting it out in Britain that November. Jeff Lynne produced it at Musicland Studios, and he'd clearly decided the grand symphonic sweep of Eldorado was spending too much time in the orchestra pit. This time the tunes come first: tight, radio-ready pop-rock from a rock band that still hauls its own string section along, bows sawing away right up front.
Bev Bevan pounds the drums, Richard Tandy handles keyboards, Kelly Groucutt plays bass and sings, and Mik Kaminski's violin and Hugh McDowell's cello keep the chamber flourishes coming. "Evil Woman" struts with pure pop swagger, "Strange Magic" floats off into the ether, and "Fire On High" charges in like the soundtrack to a space chase. The makeover paid off: no ELO record had gone platinum before this one.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Face the Music on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evil Woman | 46 | #8 | – | 1997–2026 | |
| 2 | Fire On High | 28 | #22 | – | 1997–2024 | |
| 3 | Strange Magic | 3 | #371 | – | 2020–2022 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.