ELF / Ronnie James Dio
Carolina Country Ball

Some time after the release of their debut album, Elf was noticed. And it was none other than Deep Purple themselves who noticed them! Inspired by the band's music, the kings of hard rock took the young talents on tour. Needless to say, this meeting changed Elf's fate dramatically? Firstly, on the advice of his new friend, Ritchie Blackmore, Ronnie Dio replaced guitarist David Feinstein with the more experienced Steve Edwards. Secondly, the maestro focused only on singing and bassist Craig Gruber was accepted into the band. And thirdly, due to production by Glover and Paice, the budget for recording the second album was significantly increased. As a result, "Carolina County Ball" sounds much better than the debut, the band's arsenal now includes brass instruments and female backing vocals. Only the style remained unchanged - we have the same retro hard rock, with simple lyrics and zero meaning. Apparently, due to the good control of the masters of their craft, there are almost no bad songs on the disc. The cheerful and energetic action songs "L.A. 79" or "Annie New Orleans" are guaranteed to cure a bad mood. The melodic slow "Rainbow" (the title is in the style of a prophecy, don't you think?) brings extremely pleasant thoughts. Well, the differently tempo epic "Rocking Chair Rock 'N' Roll Blues" and the simply magnificent title track, containing many jazz elements, stand out especially. So, the patronage of the "big brothers" from Deep Purple is noticeable to the naked eye. The irony of fate - it seems that Purple helped Elf, but the near future will show that the group's collapse happened precisely because of comrade Blackmore. Well, "Carolina County Ball" can be considered the best work of the Elfs.