From the "Ronnie James DIO The Elf Albums"  booklet:

Although Elf never had any real chart success and came to the attention of most people through their relationsip with Deep Purple, these recordings show that they deserved a wider audience. CAROLINA COUNTY BALL and TRYING TO BURN THE SUN were their second and third albums respectively, and the blending of Elf's more traditional country blues rock with a feel for hard rock numbers still sounds interesting today. Indeed the epic Wonderworld is perhaps superior to many of the Rainbow tracks which were to follow soon after.

Blackmore's poaching of  Elf for his own album effectively brought their career to a halt. Within months the band was dispensed with and only Ronnie remained. It was a good career move but it can't have been easy to part company with musicians he'd worked with for so many years.

Dio's recording career began as far back as 1958 with a single for a local label. (Incidentally, if his birthdate really is July 10th 1948 as his biography states, he was just ten when he cut this disc). Not only was Dio then going by his real name of Ronald Padavona, but he played trumpet on the session as well as contributing backing vocals -  the drummer had taken the lead. Ronnie slowly realised he had a better voice, and took on the role as well as ditching the trumpet in favour of the bass. In 1961 his band, by now named RONNIE DIO & THE PROPHETS cut their first single with Ronnie on lead vocals, and two years later did a live album too. In 1967 Ronnie's cousin joined the group, and inspired by the relative shortness of the two, the band changed their name to THE ELECTRIC ELVES, and later THE ELVES. Three years on, following the death of their keyboard player, they became a four piece, Ronnie was still handling  bass and vocals. Mickey Lee Soule came in on keyboards and Gary Driscoll was playing drums. By 1971 they were actively looking for a recording contract and earning their living across America playing clubs, college bars and the like.

At this time Deep Purple, who were busy trying to reestablish themselves in America, came into the story. During a break from shows on their January 1972 visit, Roger Glover and Ian Paice happened to see Elf live in  a club and were impressed by their potential. The pair both had some production experience and offered their services. Elf landed a contract soon after, and while Deep Purple flew home for a break Glover and Paice stayed on in America to produce the album.

Although issued only in America, Glover was soon able to sign Elf to the Purple Recors label ensuring wider release for the band's future efforts. Following this Elf were offered support slots on Purple's American tours. In early 1973 their guitarist quit and Elf decided to bring in a new guitarist and a bass player, leaving Ronnie free to concentrate on vocals. Deep Purple also went through personnel changes at the same time, but although Glover left the band he retained his involvement with Purple Records. He produced Elf's second album, CAROLINA COUNTY BALL, at studios in Britain early in 1974 and they went out supporting Deep Purple's UK tour that year. Glover also had Dio as guest on his Butterfly Ball album, and even tried to persuade him to join a new group he wanted to form. He was not the only one interested in Dio's vocal abilities, however.

By late 1974 Ritchie Blackmore was already becoming disillusioned by Deep Purple's new line-up, and began to make plans for a solo single. With studio time booked he asked Ronnie if he could help out. The session went so well that Blackmore promptly decided he wanted to do an album. So it was that come the New Year Elf found themselves doing two albums. The first was TRYING TO BURN THE SUN, taped at Kingsway early in 1975. With that out of the way, Dio and Elf moved straight over to Germany to help Blackmore put down his solo album Rainbow.

It is interesting to compare the two. Although both Dio and Glover say Blackmore didn't play on the Elf LP, the band were certainly influenced by stuff Ronnie had been writing with Ritchie. Dio puts the Blackmore-like guitar on some tracks down to the fact that their own guitarist was a keen fan. Tracks like Wonderworld, Liberty Road and others certainly wouldn't sound out of place on the Rainbow album while the production has a better sound (courtesy Glover) than Ritchie's did.

Once Blackmore had done his own album, with Dio on voals and the rest of Elf in a session capacity, the situation became even more confused. He decided to quit Deep Purple and set up his own group on the strength of the LP, which would be called Blackmore's Rainbow. TRYING TO BURN THE SUN was due out in the middle of all this (the press release incidentally claimed Blackmore played on it) but to avoid problems it was cancelled, and came out in June but in America and Japan only. In April Blackmore officially left Purple and announced the formation of Rainbow. Initially they would comprise Blackmore plus all of Elf (except their guitarist). Within weeks Ronnie was the only one left as Blackmore began forming a new line-up which he felt more suited to touring.

Elf were thus no more. It was only in 1984 that their last album finally achieved a European release. By then Elf and Dio's name had become almost inextricably linked with the Purple family tree. Despite Ronnie's own successfull career with his band DIO and a stint (or two) with BLACK SABBATH, many fans miss the freedom and range of expression which marked his time with ELF and RAINBOW.