Elf - Driftin' (1972)

Elf - Driftin' (1972), from the compilation "War Pigs'72"

The early-'70s rock outfit Elf is best-known as the group that gave singer Ronnie James Dio his start and he would eventually set his sights on a tougher, metallic sound, fronting the likes of Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his own solo band, Dio. The group went through several name changes in the late '60s (the Electric Elves, the Elves), before settling simply on Elf and issuing a self-titled debut recording for Epic in 1972, produced by Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover. The group's best-known lineup consisted of Dio (who was at this time going by his real name, Ronald Padavona, and also doubling on bass), guitarist David Feinstein, guitarist/keyboardist Micky Lee Soule, and drummer Gary Driscoll. The album went largely unnoticed, as did the group's subsequent two other releases, L.A./59 (issued under the title Carolina Country Ball outside of the U.S.) and Trying to Burn the Sun, as the group guested on Roger Glover's 1974 album The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast. Through their affiliation with Glover, Elf was brought to the attention of former Purple leader/guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who invited the entire group (sans their guitarist) to join forces as the prog metal outfit Rainbow, resulting in the release of a self-titled effort in 1975. Slowly but surely, however, Rainbow turned out to be nothing more than a solo vehicle for Blackmore rather than a true band and the former Elf members left the group one by one before Dio was the last one remaining until eventually leaving the group himself in 1978.(allmusic.com)


This set was recorded in early 1972, shortly after the band dropped the name "The Elves" and became "Elf", and not long before recording the first album. The sound quality is amazing, a lot of covers as well as unreleased material, and what's more : Ronnie James Dio covering "War Pigs" more than 7 years before joining Back Sabbath !

LINE-UP :
Ronnie James Dio - vocals / bass
Gary Driscoll - Drums / Percussion
Dave "Rock" Feinstein - Guitar
Mickey Lee Soule - Keyboards

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Elf
• Ronnie
• Dio
• Padavona

[Diofan1952]

What a voice! Dio is the best singer ever!

Thank you for uploading GarratyPL.

[zeppelin8787]

:O:O:O queen style :P <3 it...i wonder..if io would sing queens songs...how would that end up?!

[motlencore89]

wow, great to revisit this song.

[beroth77]

rob is great in his falseto stile.plant is awesome in studio...and a shame pathetic singer live.embaressing really.freddie never reached the high notes live,roger taylor helped him everytime.Dio was a true performer,sung unbelivable well live.s the live performances that separate the boys from the men.and please ,its a fact,no way to argue about,first queen reccord 1973.first dio record 1958.with several bands and stiles,never dio was influenced by freddie.this song came before any queen work

[CityFannn]

@zeppelin8787 Technichly... it was out a year before of Queen's First album. so actually its a Dio Style.

[praetorianus72]

It sounds like queen, but Dio was first. So queen sounds like elf

[dylanesque66]

love you rjd

[CentraCross]

I really don't think Queen had heard of Elf before they broke through.

[ValeriaElf]

This is so beautiful...

[hermygagala]

@jackinjones45 Kay thanks for rectifying that. Cheers mate. You do know what you are talking about.

[jackinjones45]

@hermygagala u right man.. i wanted it to write it the other way went wrong...anyway u got it right and let everyone knw..cheers

[hermygagala]

@jaknichols85 Yeah ok pick one of the most famous vocalists to be the best. Are you fucking kidding me? Fame means fucking nothing about vocal talent I mean look at fucking tom araya and james hetfield. plant was an amazing singer but the best; definitely not.