1 November 1980
I must say, I’m pleasantly surprised; this is better than I remembered, or at least not as bad as I feared. It’s still a Bee Gees joint, of course, so as a composition ‘Woman In Love’ is as bland and workmanlike as its title. But at least it doesn’t have the trademark deadening Gibb falsetto vocals that stink out other merchandise of theirs, like Diana Ross’s ‘Chain Reaction’.
What ‘Woman In Love’ does have, of course, is a real-deal superstar at the top of her game. The sound of La Streisand going full battleship in the chorus, informing us that being a woman in love “is a right I’ll defend / Over and over again”, is undeniably impressive; her over-and-over-again suggests an equally-pained over-and-over-before. Now that’s a Streisand Effect.
