Favorite Albums: Elf - Trying To Burn The Sun

Trying To Burn The Sun is the last Elf album, and similarly the last Elf album to be included in my Favorite Albums list (aha a stupid joke). Check out my articles on their other two albums, Elf and Carolina Country Ball, for more Elfy goodness.

It seems that the band seemed to know this was to be their final release, as Trying To Burn The Sun pulls out all the stops. The album includes some of their best songs, most varied compositions, and almost every track of the record has a centralized story - something I love within my music. This album, on a song by song basis, is the greatest of the Elf albums. It contains their best tracks, all collected very nicely in one place.

Awesome Songs: Elf - "Streetwalker"

As I was working on my 'Favorite Albums' article for the last album by Elf, Trying To Burn The Sun, I began writing about the amazing song "Streetwalker" which appears on the album. After giving a bare-bones version of the song, I still ended up writing half a page on the subject. So I either had to slim it down, or start a new article... Guess what I chose.

As I said in my previous Elf article, "Carolina Country Ball" is my favorite song by the band, but the finale of Trying To Burn The Sun, "Streetwalker" takes a close second place. It is an amazingly well put together piece of rock and roll. Strong is form, melody and narration, I can't help to belt out the lyrics each and every time I hear it - especially the ending of the track.

== Check out the track on YouTube (better this way then the old) ==

Favorite Albums: Elf - Carolina Country Ball

Continuing on with last week's edition of Favorite Albums, dedicated to Elf's debut album, I thought it prudent to work on the second disc in their discography; Carolina Country Ball. This is the album where the group begins to pick up steam, having toured with Deep Purple for over a year, working on their composition and sound. It begins a direction more into the rock aspect of blues rock, joining in with the rock 'n roll era, and is a real step up in the story-telling aspects.

First thing, the name; you see, while the album if officially titled Carolina Country Ball, it was released in parts of the world (most notably the USA and Japan) as L.A. 59. No reason for this switch has ever been offered, and while it really doesn't change anything - there aren't two different track lists out there - it does strike me as a bit odd. Personally I much more enjoy the song "Carolina Country Ball" over "L.A. 59," so I prefer the original title, and will continue to address it as such.

Favorite Albums: Elf - Elf

Unbelievably, it has been almost a full year since the passing of the legendary Ronnie James Dio. I still can hardly fathom is and it puts a pit in my stomach every time I think about it. Although the man is best known for his metal career; both solo and with Black Sabbath (as also Heaven And Hell), my favorite recording to benefit from his amazing voice are from his short-lived blues rock band, Elf. I've already written a bit about the band, once when I first discovered them, and again while I was going through the entire Ronnie James Dio catalog (a full year before his death). Now that it's been a while, I believe that I can adequately describe these amazing records (all three of them) and why they are included within my Favorite Albums.

Elf, the group's debut album, is a great first release from the group. As I stated before, this is their most 'pure' album, and by that I mean that this album takes upon the sounds of blues and mixes them with a semi-big band jam sound. The following pair of releases are much more rock-oriented (while still keeping the hint of blues) as the group was influenced by the sounds and styles of Deep Purple, who they were opening for continually throughout their career. So this is the album that best signifies the 'true sound' of the band, for better or worse.

Retrospective: Ronnie James Dio - The Elf Years

s my Month of Dio continues, I focus (again) on the awesome blues/rock band Elf.

• Elf - 1972

The first, and my favorite, release of this blues-rock band (heavy on the blues), before they were influenced by Deep Purple. This, as I described to my friend, is "a blues band without the slow, mournful tunes about 'my lady leaving me.'" This is, in my mind, the definitive of what blues-rock should be - the heavy piano, the light non-distorted guitars, the story-telling lyrics, all requirements of a great band.

• Carolina Country Ball - 1974

And thus begins the progression of Elf, from being a Blues band with rock influences to more of a 50/50 blues and rock band. The songs off of Carolina Country Ball have more guitars, and more distortion then their previous release. It's still very enjoyable, but you can hear the change taking place, due to the band opening and touring with Deep Purple for four or five years.

• Trying To Burn The Sun - 1975

Trying To Burn The Sun is the last release of Elf (if you don't count the Rainbow years), and completes the band's transition into a Rock band with Blues influences. Going back and forth from this album to their first, you can hear the change and, except for Dio's voice, it sounds like a completely different group. Still a great album, no matter how much criticism I spout out, I cannot deny that the music is still stellar. Rock, blues, whatever, Elf rocked, and still rocks.

After Trying To Burn The Sun, Elf became the backing band for Ritchie Blackmore's solo project, a project that would eventually become Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. After the release of the first album, Rainbow became a full fledged group, disbanding Elf permanently.

For more on Elf check out my Previous Article about the band

New Band: Elf

Recently I have been listening to the "Recommendations" of my Last.FM account. It's their compiled list of bands that are similar to the majority of your library, but not artists that you've listened to alot. I use this station to find new bands in the same genres of the artists I already love. That's how I originally discovered power metal, three years ago, and how there were more doom bands than Type O Negative. Now, I use it to expand my knowledge of power, thrash, folk, and stoner bands (the stoner is the most recent, expect a Current Trend to appear).
Every now and then an artist pops up that I had heard of before, but I haven't seen much of their stuff over the years. Just the occasional song, or cover song, nothing to sink your teeth into, just a teaser. That's how it was with Elf.

First let me star off by saying, Elf is a fantastic band! While they only released 3 albums in their short tenure, every disc is chock-full of great songs, and catchy rhythms.

History
The act was founded by singer and bassist Ronnie James Dio (of future solo and Black Sabbath fame), keyboardist Doug Thaler, drummer Gary Driscoll, and guitarists Nick Pantas and David Feingstein, both of who were Dio's cousins. Originally called The Electric Elves, then shortened to The Elves, then just to Elf in the beginning of the 70's.
Elf's self-titled debut album was produced by the members of Deep Purple, who saw the group auditioning in 1972, and for the next few years, Elf had a steady gig opening for Deep Purple's world tour. It was during this time that Elf released their next two albums, Carolina Country Ball in 1974, and Trying To Burn The Sun in 1975. Also in 1975, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple with the intent to release solo works. He liked Dio's soulful voice, and thought he would be perfect for his latest project, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Following their band leader, the rest of Elf helped record Blackmore's then-solo project, taking time from touring and recording their own music. After the album was recorded, Blackmore decided to scrap his solo effort, and instead created Rainbow into a full-fledged band, replacing all of the Elf members except for Dio. Without a singer, and without the support of Deep Purple, the members of Elf parted ways, and the band was no more.

Discography
Elf (1972)
The band's first album, and truly their only true album. After this release the band began being influenced by Deep Purple, and because of this, their other releases sounded more like a bluesy-Deep Purple and less like the boogie-rock Elf that was founded.
This is the album that I heard when I was younger, so when I began my trek through the track list, I recognized a few of the songs off the bat. "Hoochie Koochie Lady" is my favorite off the album with "First Avenue" a close second. It's work like this that make me wish that the group had released more albums, at least one more before being discovered by Deep Purple.

1. "Hoochie Koochie Lady" – 5:32
2. "First Avenue" – 4:23
3. "Never More" – 3:50
4. "I'm Coming Back For You" – 3:27
5. "Sit Down Honey (Everything Will Be Alright)" – 3:48
6. "Dixie Lee Junction" – 5:09
7. "Love Me Like A Woman" – 3:47
8. "Gambler, Gambler" – 4:26

Carolina Country Ball (1974) - Released as L.A./59 in the US and Japan
This is the album where the sound starts changing, not that it's a bad thing, it's just different. Elf's sound started becoming more complex and layered (the Deep Purple influence), and was more rock-oriented then their debut album, for better or worse.
The best song is the title track, I really liked the groove of the entire song, I was pleasantly surprised at the sudden change of styles from the previous album - at least for this song. After the first track, the other songs I enjoyed were the more original-sounding material, "Ain't It All Amusing" and "Rocking Chair Rock 'n' Roll Blues," both classics.

1. "Carolina County Ball" - 4:46
2. "L.A. 59" - 4:21
3. "Ain't It All Amusing" - 5:01
4. "Happy" - 5:28
5. "Annie New Orleans" - 3:01
6. "Rocking Chair Rock 'n' Roll Blues" - 5:36
7. "Rainbow" - 4:00
8. "Do the Same Thing" - 3:10
9. "Blanche" - 2:31

Trying To Burn The Sun (1975)
Elf's final release, this album made the full jump to rock with blues undertones, very little straight blues in the entire album. Again, this doesn't make it a bad album, just not the sound of the original Elf. Make your own decision whether it's good or bad.
This album had a lot more songs that I enjoyed overall, the only two I didn't really like were the somber, slower melodies of "When She Smiles" and "Wonderworld." They were just too slow and teary-eyed for me. Again, the first track was the best ("Black Swampy Water"), followed by "Shotgun Boogie."

1. "Black Swampy Water" - 3:43
2. "Prentice Wood" - 4:37
3. "When She Smiles" - 4:54
4. "Good Time Music" - 4:30
5. "Liberty Road" - 3:22
6. "Shotgun Boogie" - 3:07
7. "Wonderworld" - 5:03
8. "Streetwalker" - 7:07

So there you have it, the history and works of one of the best unknown bands of all time. While they didn't have the impact of Deep Purple, or even their follow-up act, Rainbow, Elf was still an amazing band. One I plan on listening to until I am 60, by that point the music will be over 70 years old. It'll the the "oldies of the oldies" and I'll embarrass my grandkids every day. Good times...