& Before Elf There Were Elves

This CD consists of many of the songs by The Elves (1967-1971) during the period of Ronnie James Dio's early career after Ronnie & The Red Caps, and Ronnie Dio & The Prophets, but prior to becoming Elf. The songs sound remarkably good and clear for their age, with only some slight tape hiss in the quieter passages. The disc has both studio and live tracks. Ronnie's voice is sublime! His brilliance as a singer is apparent from the beginning. The song selection is excellent though not complete. Missing are the 4 singles by The Elves in 1969-1970, as well as 2 singles from 1967 by The Electric Elves. Those tracks would have been very welcome, but what is present is fantastic! My favorites include "Buckingham Blues," "Driftin'," "Smile For Me Lady," and "Wakeup Sunshine". It comes in a digipak with liner notes and a lenticular cover, alternating between two images depending how you hold it. This is a stellar release for Dio fans! It left me wanting to hear much more from Dio's early period!

Dio shows here in his earlier works how great he truly was. As a die hard metal fan, but also a fan of rock I have to say I was blown away by this cd. Dio and the rest of the band, especially David "Rock" Feinstein, for how good these songs really are. I wasn't expecting it, and that's my ignorance, because Dio has always put his heart and soul into his music.

I am a very big fan of Ronnie.i LOVE HEARING THIS OLD STUFF THAT WAS RELEASED.IT JUST SHOWS HOW FAR HE MOVED HIS CAREER FORWARD.I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THEY OPENED FOR BAD FINGER,WHAT THE HECK,IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN BAD FINGER OPENING FOR THE ELVES.GREAT ALBUM.VERY RAW SOUNDING IN THE ASPECT OF A LIVE SHOW.IT SOUNDS GREAT.I REALLY COULD DO W/ OUT THE FEW BALLADS,BUT THAT'S JUST ME.SOME WRITERS WHERE MADE FOR SINGING BALLADS,BUT IT JUST DOESN'T DO RONNIE JUSTICE.YOU NEED TO HERE THAT POWER AND GROWL OF HIS VOICE.THAT'S RONNIE

Jusy I have to say that this recording is a jewel of the rock music. Because is a documentof the real beginning of the rock singer Ronnie James Dio. You can hear the clear and power voice in the origins. His voice that now is a true legend in Rock and Heavy Metal. The songs of this CD shows a mixture of blues, hard rock, somekind of progressive rock and beauties ballads with great feeling and hard riff in the guitar. The parts of the songs remains the three later albums made by elf and the first richie blackmore's rainbow album. This recording is for a true Dio's fans and classic rock. We rock on.

Happily surprised. I really like all of the lost albums, out of print for decades things that you have. I so tired of the adult rock stations in the Denver area. I can hear Don't Fear The Reaper 5-6 times in a day. I love the song but these stations just run stuff into the ground they play it so much. You and your vast array of music old and new is fantastic. Thanks!

I have been a fan of Ronnie James Dio since 1979, I have seen him live multiple times and have most of his CDs and DVDs, this new one & Before Elf there Were Elves, is very enjoyable, the quality is good. It is Dio the Heavy Metal King of Rock and Roll, in training. A different genre of music than Metal but still the voice and talents of DIO. It is well worth your time and money to buy it, DJ

It dio u have to love it

THIS IS A GREAT CD WHICH HAS RONNIE JAMES DIO---SOUNDS EXTREMELT DIFFERENT FROM DIO-BLACK SABBATH AND RAINBOW BUT STILL VERY COOL--SINCE HE IS GONE NOW THIS WILL B WORTH MONEY AND ITS EXTREMELY COOL TO HEAR WHAT HE SOUNDED LIKE BE FORE HE WAS WELL KNOWN

as a fan of dio who has the elf album you may think three stars why? it's worth 5 stars for the holographic cover but is let down by the instruments as loud as they are, and almost drowning out ronnie's vocals and even with ronnie playing bass which spoils the listening of the album

Being a Dio fan since a kid, I have never delved too much into his early days besides the last couple of Elf albums so I thought as I am currently completing some of my collection of CDs I thought I would buy this.It is a weird album with DIO (of course) over powering the rest of the bands with his immense vocals. You can tell there is more to come from DIO and Ronnie knows he can sing even more powerfully but holding it back as the band is not heavy enough.It is more blue and folky music mixed with rock, very American of the time. Very enjoyable.

This is an excellent find. The sound sounds great, it is a must for any Ronnie James Dio fan. This really is a brilliant release. Buy it .

Excellent!

Ja, DER Ronnie James Dio ist hier zu hören - in seinen Jugendtagen. In akzeptabler Klangqualität bekommt der geneigte Hörer die Jugendsünden des später so legendär gewordenen Frontmannes von ELF, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Black Sabbath und DIO zu Gehör. Und siehe da, mehr noch als die ELF-Alben, die der Meister vor Rainbow aufgenommen hatte, zeugen diese noch früheren Aufnahmen davon, dass der Weg in den harten Rock nicht der einzige gewesen ist, den er hätte einschlagen können. Da sind durchaus noch Anklänge von klassischem Rock'n'Roll, ja bis hin zum Doowop zu hören, das gebotene Programm hier ist vielseitig und wirkt natürlich nicht wie aus einem Guss. Vielmehr stellt es eine Sammlung früher Aufnahmen dar, die für Dio-Spezialisten von Interesse sein dürften - wer Hard Rock oder gar Metal erwartet, sollte die Finger davon lassen. Mir gefällt die CD, es war interessant, diese Frühwerke zu hören und sie werfen ein etwas anderes Licht auf den großen kleinen Sänger. Ob ich sie aber noch einmal hören werde, ist fraglich. Ist schon eher was für Archäologen ...