Elf Albums eng

Dio!There is no such thing as a bad Dio performance.Once you are ready for the honky-tonkin' piano, then you are ready for Ronnie with ELF. It is only due to the vagaries of the music biz that these guys never busted out beyond the Purple circle: these songs, performances and recordings are excellent, and, gives Dio fans something to dance around to when we are feeling more on the jolly side of things.I view them musically as developing alongside of but in no way intersecting with Jethro Tull. They are (musically) the link between Cream and Queen, whereas Rainbow is the link between Deep Purple and, well, Dio (the band). In other words, there is a discontinuity stylistically between Elf and Rainbow, and certainly from Elf to Dio (the band) or Heaven and Hell era Sabbath; i.e. Elf is not metal. It is good time classic rock, with hard rock leanings. To me this is GOOD news for the hardcore RJD fan because wow! you get to hear his amazing one-of-a-kind voice in basically a different genre, but still with his full commitment. Ronnie needed metal, and metal needed Ronnie, but he was a dedicated performer, musician and songwriter for almost 20 years before that merger really took place.

This would easily rate 6 stars if it were remastered. Elf was a band that deserved a much wider audience than they garnered as they were an amazing live act. Fortunately for us Mr.'s Paice and Glover happened to see this band live and noticed the talent that this road hardened act possessed starting with the indomitable Ronnie James Dio on vocals, the incredible Mickey Lee Soule on keys and the more than able drumming of Gary Driscoll. Although the band went through some personnel changes from the time that the Purple men decided they deserved a recording contract with Rock Fienstein leaving and bringing in a bass player to allow RJD to focus solely on singing I for one think these 2 albums are lost gems found. The man could sing anything and sing it as well as anyone ever has. If you're a fan of RJD and you don't own this you should, and if you're not you will be after you hear this collection. Highly recommended.

This was a great addition to my ever growing Dio collection. Some really great stuff here. Sort of a piano heavy blues Southern rock feel to most of the songs. There are some gems in the bunch that stand out over the rest and can compare to anything Dio ever recorded. You can hear some of the early Rainbow greatness in a few of the songs. The guitar work is solid. If you are close minded and/or only like blistering heavy metal this may not suit your tastes but I find it fascinating to hear the absolute greatness of Ronnie's voice early in his career. Some great work here, both classic, and historically important. If there had been no Elf Dio's career may not have progressed the way it did. One note on the sound quality. I though it was excellent, no issues at all, and certainly no glitch that others had mentioned in one particular song. Purchase with confidence, this is amazing!

The late, great Ronnie James Dio....no one else can ever come close to sounding as timeless as him, barring Glenn Hughes. Here he is with the largely forgotten band Elf, a project aided and abetted by Roger Glover of Deep Purple fame, and admired by Ritchie Blackmore of the same band. Elf's latter two albums are showcased here, and they are absolutely amazing! Ronnie might be best known from his work in Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his own band, Dio, but a lot of his earlier work showcases a greater variety of music, including 50s crooning and some bluegrass music. There's hardly anything out there that Ronnie couldn't do! I'd suggest looking further back in his recording career, particularly when he was Ronnie Dio and the Prophets, you might uncover some surprises along the way!

Every Rock God had to have a start somewhere and ELF was the group that started Dio along the long hard road to stardom. If you're a real fan of quite possibly the best voice in Heavy Metal then you need to pick this up. These tracks are Ronnie James Dio's launching pad to the top of the heavy metal "Rock God's" throne.

Excellent product and service. This is a must-have for any fan of the late great Ronnie James dio. This is some really different stuff from his early years. Not like his time in rainbow or black sabbath. But still very good music. With a sort dark folksy type of feel to it. But Ronnie still shines through like the great singer songwriterIn which he became. This is highly recommended.

Just got this yesterday and listening to it the second time right now. I have the first album called elf, wonder if that's oop. Anyway a few reviews say the audio transfer on this disc is lacking. Sounds good on this end. The packaging doesn't mention remastering but it sounds like it has been. Sounds very clean. It's not the super loud mastered sound that is common on todays discs. If you like the high volume remasters have you seen this: [...] .Something to think about.

Elf made some really good music that never really received much recognition. I like Ronnie James Dio's singing and this material really put him into different territory than his late 70's to 80's music. This CD has Elf's 2nd & 3rd albums on one CD.

I was a little put off initially at this as it is so different from Dio's other material (I'm assuming since you've come this far, you already know of Dio from his Rainbow/Sabbath/Solo music). However, when I did actually listen to the tracks, they are incredible; RJD showing the world how it's done! It really is amazing how much one man (man? god? Who knows?!) can do, in that he can turn his hand to so many different styles of music and always make amazing songs!I am a somewhat die-hard Dio fan, but I'm not viewing the album through rose tinted specs and am the first to admit not every track is super (what album ins't like that though?). It isn't just Dio's talent, but the brilliant musicians supporting him that make the whole package really something unique and special to listen to. Recoring quality is fine (equal to any of his other albums; sadly not flawless but still good enough to crank up).A fantastic cross between country-rock and blues, this album is different to his other material (i.e. not heavy), but still has that Dio vocal magic!If you are a Dio fan, you won't be dissapointed, and if you like the above genres, you'll wonder why you have't come across this before.Buy it now! (Worth mentioning that this is actually two albums in one... Even better!)

I've got all the Dio albums and stuff he did with Sabbath and Rainbow. He's a fantastic rock singer, what a voice. Until now I didn't have any of his early tracks with Elf. Don't expect heavy metal, but still a great sound. And the lyrics are delivered as only Ronnie can. Some great tracks (wonder world). I'm looking forward to getting some more Elf stuff soon.Ronnie James Dio is clearly "The King of Rock and Roll"RIP.

Excellent!

excellent

Les 2ème et 3ème albums de Elf regroupés sur un CD! Immanquable tout simplement, d'autant plus qu'ils sont proposés à un prix défiant toute concurrence. Ces albums sortis respectivement en 1974 et 1975 présentent, dans la lignée du 1er, du boogie rock avec des accents blues et avec beaucoup de piano joué par Mickey Lee Soule. Ronnie James Dio chante toujours aussi bien et on reconnait nettement le chanteur qu'il sera dans Rainbow. Ecoutez les superbes rocks sur lesquels son timbre de voix se fait étincelant : "L.A. 59", "Ain't it all amusing", "Annie New Orleans", "Do the same thing" sur "Carolina county ball" et "Liberty road", "Good time music", "Black swampy water" et "Shotgun boogie" sur "Trying to burn the sun". Le guitariste Steve Edwards donne toute la mesure de son talent à travers des soli inspirés et bien ciselés. Mais, ce sont peut-être les morceaux les plus calmes qui permettent de prendre la pleine mesure du talent vocal de Ronnie. Ainsi, "Happy" avec ses choeurs enchanteurs, "Rocking chair Rock'n'Roll blues" avec une accélération progressive du meilleur effet pour finir par un petit solo de batterie ou "Wonderworld" sur lequel Ronnie chante d'une manière emphatique et un peu lyrique à tel point que l'on peut rapprocher son intonation de celle de Freddie Mercury, et, par ricochet, ce morceau a des airs de Queen de la première époque.Bref, 2 albums avec le 1er Elf, à recommander aux nostalgiques des (Small) Faces, Humble Pie et autres Mountain et à conseiller aux adorateurs de Ronnie. Un seul point négatif : le livret sur lequel on a du mal à distinguer les notes, écrites en rouge sur un fond gris.