Elf / Ronnie James Dio
Trying To Burn The Sun

The third studio album Elf was recorded in an environment that was extremely unsuitable for concentrated songwriting. The fact is that by mid-1975, Ritchie Blackmore had already left his home in the person of Deep Purple. Without thinking twice, he suggested to Ronnie to remove the guitarist from the group and thus create a new band called Rainbow. Actually, that's what happened. But first, Elf had to release another disc. One can imagine what kind of "inspired" work was going on in the studio under such circumstances. Nevertheless, we must give credit to the musicians - "Trying To Burn The Sun" is quite good, although significantly inferior to the two previous discs. The music has not undergone any changes, despite the fact that this time an orchestra was invited to record several tracks. Three things are especially pleasant to listen to. The cheerful rock and roll opening "Black Swampy Water" is filled with a fair share of optimism and good mood. The next track "Prentice Wood" was even better, a kind of hymn to walks in nature instead of stuffy city streets. Well, the most impressive piece on the disc is the beautiful ballad "Wonderworld" with the participation of the above-mentioned orchestra, where maestro Dio's fantasy lyrics first began to appear. The rest of the material is not particularly memorable and is clearly created for the sake of dismissal. So the end of Elf's career was not very convincing. But there is no need to be upset, because Ronnie's further creative path was, to put it mildly, more successful. Everything that happens is for the best.