David Feinstein, Lunch Counter, ca. 1938. Lithograph.

Tuesday, June 5: The Rods, “Crank It Up”

Elf: Elf (1972)

As you can tell by its very ring-worn jacket, this copy of Elf’s self-titled debut came with a lot of mileage, but the wax inside was in surprisingly great shape -- suggesting that its former owner, or owners, may not have been particularly smitten by Ronnie James Dio’s early ‘70s outfit.

Said outfit had only recently abandoned its old moniker of The Elves and drawn the attention of Deep Purple’s legendary rhythm section of Roger Glover and Ian Paice, who signed Elf to Purple Records (Epic in America) and produced this virgin offering. 

With our hero Ronnie (then going by his birth name of Ronald Padavona) in charge of vocals and bass, his cousin David Feinstein (later of The Rods) on guitar, Mickey Lee Soule on keys, and Gary Driscoll behind the kit, Elf showed little evidence of their leader’s future Castle Metal adventures.

Instead, predominant boogie rockers like “Hoochie Koochie Lady,” “Sit Down Honey (Everything Will Be Alright)” and the southern fried “Dixie Lee Junction” (all of them closer in style to The Rolling Stones than to Black Sabbath) featured Soule’s honky tonk piano, as much as they did Dio’s inimitable pipes.

Elf does crank out some gritty hard rock on “I’m Coming Back to You” and “Gambler, Gambler,” but the most revealing track for modern fans will be the complex “Never More,” with its lilting piano that later leads to powerful riffs, and dramatic vocals (think Dio doing Freddie Mercury!) containing this prescient lyrical nugget:

“Hell and Fire, burning higher; Now I can see the ever after.”

Clearly, Ronnie’s heavy metal fantasies were on the cusp of bursting forth, but Elf would endure three more years of fruitless toil before Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow-tinted vision changed the lives of all involved ... for good and bad.

Some of this text originate in my All-Music Guide review of Elf.

Cover Art by Les Edwards

Elf 1972 Epic ————————————————— Tracks: 1. Hoochie Coochie Lady 2. First Avenue 3. Never More 4. I’m Coming back for You 5. Sit down Honey (Everything Will Be Alright) 6. Dixie Lee Junction 7. Love Me Like a Woman 8. Gambler, Gambler —————————————————

Ronnie James Dio

Gary Driscoll

David Feinstein

Micky Lee Soule

THE RODS – Metal Will Never Die (The Official Live Bootleg Box Set 1981-2010) To Be Released By Cherry Red Records

Cherry Red Records (UK) will release THE RODS–“Metal Will Never Die”, the Official Live Bootleg 4 CD Box Set 1981-2010 on February 25, 2022..The 4 cds feature live sets from 1981, 1982, 2009 and 2010. While every effort has been made to produce the best possible audio, limitations in the material drawn from various, non-standard, and unofficial sources means that the quality may not be up to the…