Elf Albums [Import]

Elf, Dio | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 30, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Import [Generic]
• ASIN: B000005REW
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,810 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #68 in Music > Imports > Hard Rock & Metal

Editorial Reviews

UK collection brings together Elf's second & third albums, Carolina County Ball & Trying To Burn The Sun (1974 & 1975), featuring Ronnie James Dio, before Rainbow. 17 tracks with fold-out sleeve containing detailed notes & photos. Connoisseur Collection.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dio @ his best, audio @ it's worst, March 15, 2003

By 

VOODUE "voodue" (Long Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elf Albums (Audio CD)

I am a huge fan of Dio's. These 2 Elf albums are both in my top 5 Dio albums of all time, and I have all of his albums, Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Dio. I was extatic when I found this 2 CD set. Then I listened to it. The audio quality is horrible. It sounds like it was recorded from a cassette tape, an OLD cassette tape! At one point (Liberty Road) the music actually DRAGS. It slows down for a couple of seconds before coming back to the original tempo. I stongly suggest buying "Trying to Burn the Sun" and "Carolina County Ball" seperately. As for the content of the albums, well, what can I say? AMAZING(5 stars)!!! Dio captures the emotion of each song like it was his only child. Dio calls this music "honkey-tonk-rock", and, though, if you are a fan of Dio's later work, you might think, "How in the world is THAT voice going to be anything but heavy-HEAVY metal?", it works. And it works brilliantly. Dio should get back to his roots and try another album like these. The voice of an angel and the voice of a devil coming from one man. You must experience Dio. And the best way to do that is to buy these albums. The Rainbow albums that follow are also a must. Through Elf, Rainbow, and Black Sabbath, you can actually hear the graduation (ever so suddely) from honkey-tonk, to medievel, to full blown knock you off your seat metal, i.e. "Falling Off the Edge of the World" from The Mob Rules. These Elf albums are a great place to start a journey that is the life of Ronald Padavona(Dio).

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for the music 3 stars for the transfer, March 25, 2004

By 

peter tucci (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elf Albums (Audio CD)

These two albums are definitely among Dio's best work,along with rainbow and a couple of the Sabbath recordings.Both are better than the first Elf album..It has more diverse styles of music than any of the other bands mentioned.Boogie shuffles to blues-rock to soothing spacey ballads to swaggering beats.The problem with this release is that there is a glitch at the beginning of Liberty Road.This is an official release so the only excuse for this is if something damaged the original master since the original release.If so ,I think it should be easy enough to fix by lifting that second or two of music from later in the song as it is repeated ,or from a copy of the vinyl.I have the original and it doesn't have that glitch.Any way it's pretty much inexcusable for an official release.Although personally, out of all of the songs from the Tryin'to Burn the Sun album ,liberty road isn't particularly a stand out so I'll only deduct one star over all.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dio before his days as evil rock wizard..., May 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Elf Albums (Audio CD)

I've been into Ronnie's music for several years now and own about 90% of his output from his days with Rainbow through his latest, "Angry Machines" with his own band. I've known about how he started his career with Elf for a while but have never seen any of these albums in the music stores until just the other day when I found this compilation of his final two Elf albums. Wow, I had no idea what a shock I was in for when I popped this in the CD player! The shock being two-fold: 1) this is drastically different stylistically and musically than anything he subsequently released, 2) this is some of the finest, most cohesive (as a band) music I've ever heard! At first, I have to admit, I laughed a little at hearing Ronnie sings lyrics like "Annie's on her fanny" from Annie New Orleans, etc. But after that initial reaction, I got right down to the music itself... which just kills pretty much everything else I own (in a good way)! Elf was a great band who deserved a lot more attention back in their heyday. It's damn fortunate that Ritchie Blackmore discovered this band and paved the way for Ronnie's future fame. Otherwise, these albums would probably be long time gone; only to be found on vinyl in some garage sale. I can't understand it either... this band had better arrangements of songs and more interesting lyrics (although often pretty silly and lax) than three-quarters of the bands out in the early-70s. Most of the influences here are '50s and '60s southern style music (some honky tonk and hoochie coo) complete with rolicking piano and sweet vocal harmonies. Some songs on "Trying to Burn the Sun" come close to early Rainbow output... such as Streetwalker. Others are better than anything Rainbow ever did (and I love Rainbow): "Rocking Chair Rock n' Roll Blues" and especially "Wonderworld." In a matter of a few days, this album has achieved status as one of my ten favorite all-time. Who knows, maybe my initial awe will fade but any way you look at it, this stuff RULES!